Are you seeing any sales at the New England Big Box Stores this Spring?

More guns and ammo???

 

All set........ thanks.



Dan

 

I was at the Concord, NH HD Sunday checking out at the garden center when I heard something about pellets. An associate was talking to a guy behind me that had a bunch of bags of pellets. The associate said that for some strange reason they just got a huge shipment of pellets on Saturday. Naturally I had to butt in and ask if that meant there would be a sale. Unfortunately the associate didn't know.

Heck, maybe their buyer is looking at the price of oil and propane going up and pre-buying pellets at a price that is lower than it would be in the fall and they will sit on them. Usually one would think not, but this store has plenty of storage area, so could be. Guess we'll find out.

 

Yea, WILL be an interesting spring/summer/fall. I just don't know what to think.....pricing is out, and its high. We sent out our 5,ooo mailers for the spring sale....been pretty brisk. I don't know what supply will do, but find it unlikely that prices will decrease at this point. I am more concerned with supply. We can commit to a certain amount of volume, but eventually one runs out of money and space sitting on product and waiting for fall. I don't really trust the suppliers to provide what they say they will, as they've boinked us in the past. I dont make the pellets........and can only sell what I can get....thats 9 brands today.
FWIW, I think there's little downside to buy now......possibly alot of downside in waiting until late summer/early fall looking for killer deals.....
Time will tell......getting my pellets early.

 

Ditto.
Dan

 

i think waiting it out till end of summer/fall hoping to get maybe 20-25.00 ton discount is really not worth it IMHO.. whatever $$ we saved usually get's Pi.....d away on something else right?
getting or putting your order in now takes any guess work or leg work out of it come next heating season providing it's with business that takes orders ahead..
i really hate surprises especially pellet prices or Availability!!!....
yrs ago used to get from HD and every September it was me calling every day to see if pellets trucks had arrived....
one' shortage year; was Panic time... " not sure if we are getting any this season" Plus cannot order ahead so Got Out of that stresser every season and started ordering my supply each spring from local dealer.. bit more than Box store prices [ Specially good softies ]but no way a deal breaker for peace of mind..

 

One should never say never... so I will not.
However.. I REALLY doubt you are going to see any price reductions in the fall..
We are hearing some really serious stuff about prices/availability.
Can't even get a price right now on some brands..
What does that tell you?

Dan

 

Deff agree with "never say never".. hope there is availability for ya'll then..

 

Well if the two guys who are directly involved in the biz are buying now..

Getting another ton this week.

Thanks guys.

 

yea, we as dealers cant say that, because:

1. people think that all youre doing is trying to scare people into buying product, I mean, why worry? its not like pellets are like toilet paper or anything?
2. there will always be a Craigs List dealio where someone has some product in their garage they are looking to unload

Still, I think the risk this year far outweighs the benefits of waiting this year. Do I KNOW they will be in short supply? Nope.
Do I KNOW that fuel has been steadily increasing in price since Jan 20th (ahem)? Nope
Do I KNOW that this COVID thing will be done by summer/fall? Nope
Have I seen a mad dash of people who chose not to plan ahead of time scrambling for product and getting the blame for that? Yep.....but this year, hey, we tried!

Bon chance, procrastinators, but maybe, just maybe it'll pay off and youll save $10/ton?

So, yea, I think it will be interesting the late summer/fall. Old Chinese curse: "May you live in interesting times"

Rain fire!

 

Just being honest...
I chucked another 2 tons into my basement this morning.
I have 5 in there now. I'm good for next winter.
And I know they will be more expensive in the late fall..
As mentioned by a couple of the other guys,
trucking is insane.. some truckers retiring, just giving up,
and there are no young bucks willing to shell out a few hundred thou, to get started...
Oh... and rail also went way up.. And a lot of the good stuff carried by non BBS,
comes from BC/Washington state.. Guess how it gets to eastern Canada?
NOBODY is trying to 'scare' anyone... just giving you a perspective on what
your local dealers are facing today..

Dan

 

I was checking out at the local HD the other day and was reading the sign they had posted on the Plexiglas by the cashier. The sign listed all the items that had quantity limitations, some propane tanks, patio heaters and....pellets? They were limiting those to 4 tons per person. I honestly can't say if the local HD had any left at that point time.

 

ULP!

 

Just a follow-up, I did get that 3rd ton of pellets, local dealer had (1) ton left after pickup. ... They were already spoken for.

Well set here for next season. Thanks again for the heads-up gentlemen.

 

count me in as well. ordering as much as cash flow will permit, given trucking issues. i want as much product on hand as possible. I don't think we'll see any price reductions over the summer, and mills have already stated increases.

At the museum, we are only doing small building projects this year due to building material prices.

 

Not a pellet guy but noticed a couple pallets out front of the Leominster Home Depot with $199 spray painted on them. No idea what they were.

 

Prob green supremes but no way to confirm.

 

Keep in mind.. BBS want to get rid of their stuff asap
to make room for bark mulch, fertilizer etc.
Do NOT look at those prices as anything else but that.

What we have received for news for the 22/23 season, is gloomy at best..
two of our best sellers are iffy right now.
Dealers, wholesalers, distributors are working on next years plans.
This current year is done..

Dan

 

Did they say what the issues were? Raw material? Transportation costs/availability? Labor? Demand signal?