Cost of Picking up Your Own Pellets

Here is how I'd do my math::

10 miles round trip @ $0.15 per mile for a total of$1.50
30 minutes spent
cost per hour $10 @ 0.5 hour = $5
tons per trip = 1
tons used annually = 4
total = $26 (1/2 of what my pellet dealer charges for 1 skid)

There are several problems with their formula that I can see:
-Mileage is charged at $0.56/ mile which is WAY more then actual cost. That figure is just what businesses reimburse for mileage. If you combine a pellet pickup with a trip you had to make any way, you've eliminated it altogether in my mind!
-Why do I need to charge myself $10 an hour? Not a very big wage, but I don't charge myself for mowing the lawn or taking out the trash...how are pellets different?

I see their point, but clearly as a business that specializes in pellet delivery, they have a reason to make it look like delivery is actually cheaper, when it's not going to be for most people. I'll keep being a cheap b@stard who prefers to do a little work and save some money

I hope the same guy that came up with this math isnt in charge of their end of year accounting...

Their costs seem about right imo

The 10 Mile RT problem should be..

3 ton total/.75 ton per trip= 4 trips total
10 miles round trip x 4 trips= 40 total miles
1.5 hours per trip x 4 trips= 6 total hours
$10 per hour x 6 total hours= $60 total labor
40 total miles x .56 per mile= $22.40 mileage

Grand total of $82.40 vs the $104.80 that they are showing. The difference is $22.40 so their mistake is the word "Round Trip" they are charging the mileage twice.

My Energex Pellet dealer has his wharehouse less than 1/2 mile from my house.
he would deliver 2 tons for $70.00.
.[ same as Home depot charges which is 1/4 mile in opposite direction.]
Either way, Much cheaper to pick up myself.
Hell, I would push them in a Shopping cart to my house before I would pay someone $70.00 for a 1/2 mile trip.

One thing I like about the dealer stored pellets is we can pick them up several bags at a time. Since my wife is out traveling around wasting gas anyway, she might as well drop in and pick up the pellets each week. Cost nothing, she goes that way several times a week. Dealer cost ? He gets $75 for the first ton and $25 for additional tons per load. So one ton would be $75 and two would be $100 if he delivers them.

Now if I specifically go to get a ton at a time, I hook my trailer up , lose about 2 MPG for having that tag along and go out of my way to get them. That's going to cost me money I would not have spent if not getting pellets.

hell, I can haul 9tons in a single trip.....way cheaper for me to pick up my own

Actually, it's a very well thought out analysis. The only thing missing perhaps is a mortality risk assessment (ie risk of personal injury loading and loading, motor vehicle accident, etc...). Worse for me, I would "impulse buy" and walk out the facility with purchasing other non necessary items for addl $. Anyway, I have them delivered!

I used to pickup my own but I can get 4 tons delivered for $40. At that price it's a no brainer.

john193 said:

I used to pickup my own but I can get 4 tons delivered for $40. At that price it's a no brainer.

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No kidding, that's a great deal!

The woodpellets.com formula is pretty funny, I think they target folks who look at the final number and won't give it a second thought. Here we like to analyze everything, though. This year I got 4 tons from a store 24 miles from my house. It would have taken me 6 round trips to pick them all up in my truck, at a total fuel cost of ~$66. I don't bill myself for my own time, so the fuel cost would have been my total spend. Anyway, my friend and I who live about a mile apart I both got our pellets from the same store. In all, we had 7 tons delivered and they let us split the $60 delivery cost, so we each paid $30. Definitely a no brainer.

In order for me to move my pellets to storage, I have to unwrap the pallet and move the pellet bags 5 at a time into my basement using a dolly.Having all those pellets just sitting in my driveway until I can put them away would be an inconvenience to say the least. Picking them up one at time allows me to keep the driveway clear.

I use my company vehicle, on company time and company gas. Which means no out of pocket costs on the vehicle side and the company is paying me while I pick them up. So I make money while picking them up. Oh, don't tell my company. Thanks.

Interesting caculations.....
the only thing I don't understand is the cost of Personal Man hours in the equations.
To me It's all part of the sweat equity of owning a home . People who spend countless hours searching for, choping,spliting,stacking wood for heat come to mind.. Jesus H. is there anything harder and tedious than doing all that for heat even though it's concidered Free Heat..Many many man hours there if u include carrying logs/kindling into the house day after day.
I mean mowing your grass, doing yard work or fixing something broken, Painting etc is all part of having a house..
All or any work should be a givin.unless it's cheaper to pay someone... right? wrong? silly?
Example: Is Paying a service to cut your grass cheaper than doing it yourself [since u don't have to drive somewhere [Cost of driven gas] to get a gas can filled [cost of gas for mower] or is that just for the convenience of not having to do it yourself ? maybe I'm comparing Apples/Oranges here..

I'm with you

This was the first year I had my pellets delivered. After the 4 tons were left in the driveway, I unwrapped them, and put them in the truck 25 bags at a time, then backed the truck up to the walk out basement door and moved them on a cart, re-stacking them in their final location. May sound like a lot of work, but it's actually real easy and goes very quickly. The whole operation took about 2 hours.

Well I used to rent the truck at lowes for $20. Now that lowes switched to hertz then dropped them and currently has no rentals. I emailed a complaint and got Free shipping. cant beat that.

UpStateNY said:

Note that buying any vehicle to haul pellets can make it almost impossible to justify any savings from burning pellets.

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YEP...Gotta agree with that...
between buying a New Harman P61A last year and including Exhaust & Installation, we're in for $5,000.00.
heating oil used to cost us over $2,000 yr. Now $1,000 yr heats our house so 1st yr started to re-coup our Investment.
No need to buy a [Pellet] vehicle and go into the hole even more...

This is something you see all the time, is it worth it or not...
We see people drive over to the yard, put 25 bags into a car, go home
unload, come back, repeat..

People will give a $10 tip at a restaurant, to a girl that brings two plates
of chicken parm and two drinks from the kitchen.
But it's not worth 10 bucks to bring 25 40#bags to your house, and put
them into your garage?? Really?

To each his own..

Dan

(I know, that is not the rate everywhere... but the deal here was, early buy,
2T, $40 delivery 15 miles.)

UpStateNY said:

Awesome and you did not need to buy a $40,000 diesel pickup truck just so you can save money burning pellets.

Note that buying any vehicle to haul pellets can make it almost impossible to justify any savings from burning pellets.

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A halfway decent trailer can easily carry a ton of pellets.

The main reason that delivery is worth it to me is that they put the skids in my garage with a pallet jack. I don't have to touch a bag until it's time to put it in the stove.

Hummm let me see.... I have a VW Passat... I can get 15 bags stuffed into my car... that's 13.3 trips (say 14 trips)... but I have a diesel and get 50 mpg..... Lord I'm tired already!

On the other hand... THEY deliver - THEY place 4 tons in the garage where I point (pointing is free) and I get to keep drinking my Crown Royal and ginger... PRICELESS!!