Is there a pellet shortage already!

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JohnD

New Member
Oct 12, 2013
78
Salem, NH
No, seriously, is there a pellet shortage already? I live in Salem, NH and can't find pellets for delivery unless I spend $375/ton for the Okanagan Douglas Firs! Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions!?
I'm starting to get frustrated and nervous! I've been calling all local dealers for a week and nobody seems to have anything!
 
Myself and many others on here have been begging people to buy their pellets early knowing in our guts that this would happen if they didn't.

I'm sorry you're having difficulty.
 
By me, in Eastern Long Island NY, it's like this in the early fall. Most of the small supply in the Big Box stores has already been bought by the pallet. But by October and November, supply catches up and there is more to be had. Especially after last year, people are scared and buying earlier and more just to be safe.
 
I'm seeing it as well around me....Box stores are in short supply and the pellet dealers are rationing already....
Of the 15 different brands of pellets they sell, pelletsdirect.com only has Corinth and Currans in stock....
 
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No, seriously, is there a pellet shortage already? I live in Salem, NH and can't find pellets for delivery unless I spend $375/ton for the Okanagan Douglas Firs! Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions!?
I'm starting to get frustrated and nervous! I've been calling all local dealers for a week and nobody seems to have anything!


If you have the capability to pick up yourself, McManus Fuels has good prices (Barrington--45 minutes or so north of you). you could also try All Basics in Merrimack NH.
 
I'm seeing them around my area - Western MA - but mainly Green Supreme (yuck).

Unfortunately, I'm going with mostly oil this year for a few reasons:

  • My stove is in the finished basement and it's very hard to get heat to the second (third via basement) of the house.
  • My GF, who now lives with me, doesn't like the idea of overheating the first flow to get the heat upstairs. She thinks 72 is too warm! Hopefully she will change her mind when she sees how much the heating will cost her (we split it) To keep her happy, I told her I'm willing to give it a try.
 
No, seriously, is there a pellet shortage already? I live in Salem, NH and can't find pellets for delivery unless I spend $375/ton for the Okanagan Douglas Firs! Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions!?
I'm starting to get frustrated and nervous! I've been calling all local dealers for a week and nobody seems to have anything!

It should settle down in Oct. I pre ordered my DF's in July so I'm locked in to two tons. However the lady said they would not be having the extras around the yard this season, Okanagan wanted their pre orders in for production purposes and did I want any. So ya, I ordered two tons. Other yards have had a couple pallets of pellets here and there of random brands at first but now it looks like more have been moving just moving both in and out of the yards !! I can get Energex right now for instance. Now to early Oct is when I planned to buy my shoulder season pellets all along. Looks like that will be Energex or LG this year. Spruce Pointe unfortunately is priced out of my league this year, no go.. I bought DF's for 10 bucks a ton less back in July !! Prices are nuts down here on or near Cape Cod anyway but they are crazy to charge that for Spruce Pointes, admittedly a good pellet but not that good..
 
No, seriously, is there a pellet shortage already? I live in Salem, NH and can't find pellets for delivery unless I spend $375/ton for the Okanagan Douglas Firs! Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions!?
I'm starting to get frustrated and nervous! I've been calling all local dealers for a week and nobody seems to have anything!
There's a shortage only to the extent that people have loaded up this year, because of last year's shortage. My local HD, where I ordered 5 tons, and free delivery, tells me that the wait is now 6 weeks. Of course there are bags sitting here, if you want to buy by the bag.
 
No, seriously, is there a pellet shortage already? I live in Salem, NH and can't find pellets for delivery unless I spend $375/ton for the Okanagan Douglas Firs! Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions!?
I'm starting to get frustrated and nervous! I've been calling all local dealers for a week and nobody seems to have anything!
Not to spend your money for you.... but if you're that nervous, I would grab those DFs before they are gone too! Better to spend $75/ton more than you would care to for wonderful pellets than to be stuck with crap IF you are even able to get those! Heck a week from today is October 1st and I bet a lot of people by you have already been turning on the heat - if only enough to take the chill off the house!

I paid $305/ton for LaCrete in July - now they are either listed as Out of Stock or up to $345/ton near me in CT !!!

Let this year's extra expense be a hard lesson learned.... buy your pellets in April / May 2015!!
 
Just like gasoline. 6 years ago we all bitched because we had to pay $1.65 for a gallon of gas and now we rejoice when the price goes down to $3.30! Same thing will happen with pellets. We'll be happier than a pig in poop to pay $305 instead of $345 for a ton of pellets, thanks to the fools who paid $15 for a bag of pellets. Should have burned the furniture.
 
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No, seriously, is there a pellet shortage already? I live in Salem, NH and can't find pellets for delivery unless I spend $375/ton for the Okanagan Douglas Firs! Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions!?
I'm starting to get frustrated and nervous! I've been calling all local dealers for a week and nobody seems to have anything!
Have u tried hd or lowes ?
 
My sister in law is in southern New Hampshire and she has a hell of a time finding anything at pellet houses. Agway's pellets were on the come. Home depot (fireside and green supreme) and Lowe's showed Greene team but only has something else I can't recall.

The local TSC had a lot of choices. It was the one by Exeter. Best of luck.
 
I got mine relatively early, but I've been seeing little to no stock at Lowes and HD here too, so not sure if you necessarily have to grab something that expensive just to have them, but you may have to shop further from home to find what you're looking for and be ready to pull the trigger if you find it.
 
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I got mine relatively early, but I've been seeing little to no stock at Lowes and HD here too, so not sure if you necessarily have to grab something that expensive just to have them, but you may have to shop further from home to find what you're looking for and be ready to pull the trigger if you find it.
Same here got my firesides in tilton for 215 ton and ordering more feel a shortage again this year need some stock to sell later in the season .lol
 
The local guys I bought mine from in April are now experiencing a backup in scheduling - out to November and on-hold for any further orders. Today they also announced that they have a 10 bag limit for pick-up on what they carry, which at the moment is Northern (Cubex), Ambiance, and NEWP. They expect the limit to be dropped in a few weeks if they can get more stock in. HD in Nashua, NH still advertising MWP pallets in stock at $239/ton. Lowes near me appears to be out.
 
The delivery thing is a killer right now. My advice to those worried about getting pellets before the
Cold sets in... Consider a U Haul... Low ramps, easy enough to unload.
Prices start at around 19.99+.79 per mile. Not a whole lot different than delivery, just an extra step.
We' ve loaded a few, people were surprised it wasn' t ridiculous.. There are no places locally
that are delivering right now, and indeed some places are out.. We may have to go to 1 or2 ton max
purchase, if shipments are as crappy as they have been lately. It's horrible.
So... short answer... yes there is a shortage of sorts now.
 
The delivery thing is a killer right now. My advice to those worried about getting pellets before the
Cold sets in... Consider a U Haul... Low ramps, easy enough to unload.
Prices start at around 19.99+.79 per mile. Not a whole lot different than delivery, just an extra step.
We' ve loaded a few, people were surprised it wasn' t ridiculous.. There are no places locally
that are delivering right now, and indeed some places are out.. We may have to go to 1 or2 ton max
purchase, if shipments are as crappy as they have been lately. It's horrible.
So... short answer... yes there is a shortage of sorts now.
Lowes and Home Depot are delivering
 
I thought the discussion was leaning more to those looking for stuff other than box store stuff..
Yes, those guys still deliver if they get them.
Did u pick up the stove chows ? I called tonight all sold out . When I was there the other day they had like 35 tons
 
OK. On this theme of shortage, I checked in CT with 2 large pellet dealers, 1 in MASS and my prior work checking in NH. Sorry but RI has no pellet dealers, except for smaller single variety landscaper/entrepreneurs... sorry it is what it is... Go Rhody.

So CT has 1 LARGE dealer which has taken down their prices on every variety of pellets they sell (on the same page their other product prices remain.... ) and the second is standing by their prices, but also noted some SOLD OUT varieties.

Also, in MASS a large Dealer is completely sold out with the exception of Corinth and Curran, all the desirables are sold OUT. They have normally a dozen or so brands. Now they have 2-3.

NH as stated above in my earlier post w delays at pellet houses.... I wonder if trucking has better margins on other products bc when I've talked to dealers they always mention the truckers...

Thoughts anyone?
 
Why o why didn't we make arrangements in April or May don't want to sound smart but I just got my stove in June and heeded to the warnings from this site why???
 
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Why o why didn't we make arrangements in April or May don't want to sound smart but I just got my stove in June and heeded to the warnings from this site why???

Agree. Even in the case of my inlaws, their stove is being installed next week. Friday they'll have a stove and I watched inventory dwindle at an accelerated pace before I could convince them to get things ordered and delivered.
 
No, seriously, is there a pellet shortage already? I live in Salem, NH and can't find pellets for delivery unless I spend $375/ton for the Okanagan Douglas Firs! Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions!?
I'm starting to get frustrated and nervous! I've been calling all local dealers for a week and nobody seems to have anything!
OConners in Billerica, MA www.oconnorhardware.com deliver. I do not know if they will deliver to Salem but call them. they are selling energex, NEWP and inferno's for 279. Last time I drove by they had plenty.
 
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