Here's a link to an interesting read . http://community.woodpellets.com/2014/03/24/10-reasons-for-the-2014-wood-pellet-shortage/
I'm not pellet user, but it seems from this article that pellets should be thought of like firewood? Get it, store it early, have extra… makes sense.
Very informative article. A friend of mine deals mostly with a small scale provider. When his supplier ran out their supplier wanted a $30, 000 deposit to guarantee delivery. Needless to say the small business chose not to put themselves in that spot. Luckily he found a serious hoarder that sold him a ton at his cost and did not jack the price up like some stores around here. He called 23 stores and the ones that did have them wanted over $9 and like a 10 bag limit.
If I burn through everything I got left ( 40 bags) that 'll put me at 1/2 ton more than last year and the most I ever used too.
Good reading. I think the comment about box stores is more subjective than objective. HD and Lowes won't make a practice of selling an item at a loss for years on end. They could stop selling pellets altogether and still get along just fine. You would still go to anyone of them for any of the other things they sell. They only sell items they make a profit on. Absurd to suggest otherwise. I do agree that if your intend is to heat your home with pellets, you need to plan ahead. There are just too many external influences on the fuels market to keep it stable. If your complaint is no room, make room and consider it part of what goes with burning pellets or wood. Easiest thing to do is to store what you can, then keep buying and burning pellets. When the shortage hit, you have your back up supply to keep you going. From what I have seen, it always seems to come in the last part of winter.
It seems that some suppliers are price gouging customers around here in south central PA. One of my suppliers earily buy starting April 1st AWF $277, AWF White Pine $307, Hamers $269, O Malley $259. They claim the best price of the year!!
Grocery stores and big boxes will sell items all the time at a small loss (lost leader), if they feel it will get them market share. They do it all the time and quite frankly wood pellets will fall into that category depending on market... Not always, but it certainly happens. It's a cost they are willing to pay, to get bodies in the front door....(Being able to get one of the Maine pellets on Long Island NY for $209 might be a good example of that....just saying)
I guess I am missing something with this post. I'm not really familiar with pricing in your market, but which price(s) are you referring to as being a gouge?. To me, these prices don't seem to be out of line, maybe a tad higher than in the past in the PA market, but certainly not anything I would consider to be gouging anyone...enlighten me please.
I am definitely not convinced that the box stores are selling at a loss. The boxes near me sell for 219 a ton. CT Pellet has Maines Choice, a box store pellet also for 229 and they are a fair distance from me in MA. And I am sure there is profit and extra freight and probably not getting as good a price to begin with than the box stores. I tend to believe that there is more money being made by everyone along the chain when we are paying 280 for NEWP than when we pay 219 for them at the boxes. But the boxes are IMHO still making money and the volume probably lends to quite a bit of profit.
I'm hoping that those prices are not the best price of the year. This will be my third year for these pellets so maybe its the time of the year for the price rollercoaster ride (i hope)
Yeah, finally!!! I was up in Wilkes-Barre today and was horrified by the 4" or so of snow they got!!!
