There is a big difference between giving dealers plenty of notice for a very small price increase, because of increased direct costs and jacking up prices because you simply can....and that happened a lot in 2008
Yes there is a difference, but as you stated the reason you are NOT gauging is not to help people, but to benefit your brand and company in the long run.
Well I see it differently....I'm not gouging because it's not the right thing to do....which in the long run, helps my brand/company and our industry in the long run....we are here for the long haul, not just a short term hit and run. I'm not putting myself on some pedestal, cause if we saw this coming in the late summer or very early fall, who knows, maybe we would do it differently....all markets are driven by supply and demand...that is just a simple fact of life and making a profit is a very important part of running a company. I realize not everyone agrees with that. You can call it what you want...
HD, Lowes. TSC. Walmart, are retail outlets also in it for the long haul. and they are profit driven. I dare say their purchasing agents and marketing teams are VERY CONSIOUS of their marketing and pricing strategies. They remain very fluid and move from and to manufactures as their markets dictate. One of the reasons the brands change so frequently. So they sell us here MWP when the pellets are abundant, and whatever they can get when the market is lean. What they want is to keep their customer base. They know what their customer base is looking to pay. At the same time, we have a lot of local outlets, privately run, that also sell pellets. They are a few buck more, but at the same time are selling all the supply they can get. Win Win.
Just watched the news and the '10 bag limit' has come to West Michigan. Well, at least as far as the box stores go. Unless production really ramps up, I don't think I'll be seeing any spring early buys this year.
Last year, the box stores didn't go down in price until around September. Then they went down in all of them.
Listen, I am all for you making as much profit and running your business however you like. It is a tough market and competition will crush you if given the chance. Do what you need to do to survive. My problem lies with the fact that you came on here telling people that they should not do what's best for them when you are only doing what's best for you.
well, don't we all do whats best for us first? Doug doesn't sell directly to the end user- when I hear that he does, I will not buy from him anymore. That being said, Doug has NOT increased his prices in the past month or so, and if there is ay gouging going on, its going to be on the retail end of this.....I am out of pellets ATM, but before we ran out on Saturday, early last week, I was selling tonnage to folks who told me they were reselling them. I didn't give them any "quantity discounts" not allowed to any customer who came in.....but when I am selling tons to folks who intend to resell them, I am guessing that might be termed gouging.......we ended up limiting everyone to 10 bags per person on Thursday, got a truck of NEWPs and a truck of Turman in on Friday, as well as the stock I had on hand (about 27 tons), and were sold out by 1pm on Saturday.....10 bags at a time....that's 7.6 bags per minute. Just got off the phone with a guy from Boston College......that's roughly 85 miles from here...and he cant find any pellets........now waiting on a supplier or two to let us know when our next shipments will arrive......pays to plan ahead, huh?
I don't see how anybody makes money on pellets, when you figure the cost of doing business to handle them. Gary
Lousy...please shoot me if I ever sell direct to the public....don't know how you do it sometimes. Propain...have a good balance of the winter and stay warm...if you neighbor is freezing, throw the guy a couple of bags to help out. It will make you sleep easier that night.. Save Money.....trying to figure out the boxes is like trying to figure out how the airlines price their tickets Have to sell volume and keep your costs as low as possible.....or it really doesn't work
Lol....I have zero issues sleeping at night. My conscience is clean and I don't have to pretend to be doing something nice on this forum to clean it even more. My neighbor's dog sh!ts on my lawn....I hope he freezes his a$$ off.......
as said above....volume.....only way to make money with the breakage, etc. Now that pellets seem to have been commoditized, its even more difficult......I wont bore you with the issues
my neighbor's dog $hi^ts on my deck, right next to my pellet grill.....if this keeps up, that thing is gonna disappear behind a stone wall somewhere......any of you dog folks got any ideas? Ive tried telling the neighbor, so far, hasn't worked.......
I spoke to my neighbor numerous times and that didn't work.....I had to move on to taking pics and sending animal control over. Unfortunately some people cannot be talked to
one call to the town. dogs are not allowed to be off leach or out of voice control in most places. your neighbor will be fined. that often results in a change in behaviors.
I bet by April all this blows over, And we may see an overstock "IF" they aren't careful. Some may actually bring in too much. if they can't sit on them, They "may" reduce them to move them. All "hear say" and one never knows. But I did score some Hamers at below normal cost one spring due to an over stock right after a shortage/struggle year. I don't need pellets, But if HD-Lowes or TSC had them I woulda got some. I am a pig and I must keep my family warm and I too will sleep just fine at night. If I hear someone is struggling I will toss/barter them a few to tide them over if need be. But I will also tell them like it is and they may not want to hear what I have to say. But they "WILL" hear the pig's riot act and why you must be prepared for winters like this! I won't be to too sympathetic unless they have unusual circumstances and even then I may have deaf ears!
Oink brother pig. I present the following for those that always forget or don't want to remember http://www.bartleby.com/17/1/36.html .
I did a quick look online and I don't see a box store within 40 miles that shows pellets in stock. A couple of the stove/pellet dealers I checked show they have them in stock, but didn't mention if they are rationing. I don't need any, as I went full hog last fall. I'll let the wanna be piglets scrounge up what they can find. Sweating my azz off the weekend before Labor Day loading/unloading pellets in 85 degree heat paid off this year, and I'm definitely glad I picked up that "extra ton" in October, even though my wife thought I was insane (at that time) for wanting to have 6 tons on hand. I might go one step further and have 7 tons on hand for next season.
If we use up our stash, and let the day by day shoppers get the remaining pellets, then come fall, we and they will be in the same boat. The pressure will be on and there will be no bargains to be had. Who benefits from that? Right, didn't take long to figure that out. Pellet pigs, keep a stash It encourages competition because you are in a position to shop around.
