Okanagan or Barefoots?

[iceman]

BTU hope you don't think I trying to rain on the parade but it's interesting to have the ear of an "insider" and I hope you think of us here not as crazy fiber hoarders but as your customers.

What other energy supplier expects users to store 12 months of fuel at thier home?

Is it the customers job to change how we work? Or the suppliers job to adapt to the behavior of the paying customer? The vast majority of $ spent in retail is at xmas season, have you ever hear walmart say, "jees could you shoppers even out your demand cycle for us?"

Many of us would buy tonnage as needed throughout the season if we did not get hosed on pricing in january.

New industries don't get a pass because they are new, they should be driven to improve as I'm sure you are.

Price should be cost to produce product + cost to distribute + profit margin. Your pricing SHOULD NOT be any more dependant on the price of oil/LP/nat gas than most other products, especially when compared to those with similar raw inputs such as wood furniture, flooring, building supplies. (yes I realize there are more variables than I'm talking about but you referenced the cost of other energy supplies.)

Hope everyone's weather is as perfect as ours here in New Hampshire today!

my main point is that if a 15% swing in volume is the difference between this year and last year the pellet industry needs to get its act together.

I will make you a deal mascoma, as soon as you (am referring to the general public by that) can plan far enough ahead to let me know to give me some lead time as to how much you are going to buy, when and where you need them and treat this industry as a 12 month affair instead of all rushing to the door trying to get thur it at the first signs of cold weather each year, then maybe my industry can plan accordingly so we will have enough supply in place right before you plan on purchasing, so the dealer doesn't have to finance his stock and can order properly with what your exact needs will be..

When more people will buy there yearly needs in April/May/June and not Sept/Oct/Nov then we will see a smoother distribution flow and since last year people were buying 5 tons when they needed 3, when they had only bought 3 for every year in past, it did create some problems.

This is a relatively new industry and not everything is as fine tuned as other more established products that have several years of history to refer to. But some of us have made HUGE commitments to make this work and by Gawd we are bound and determined to make it so...

Oh, one more thing, tell me the price of LP, Heating Oil, natural gas, coal, wood and electricity for the next 5 years, so I can plan accordingly as to what to expect from them, then maybe I can price accordingly out further also...

i agree with you but the price of oil/nat gas etc effects the cost to produce the product+ the cost to distribute which "they " (companies) will NEVER pay for ... it will always be us that pays the extra so their profit can stay the same or be higher
isn't it amazing how much this stuff costs? pellets are 250 to 300 in most places.... remember when oil was 3.50-5 a gallon ? what was the price of pellets?
if i remember it was somewhere between 275-350 a ton????? gas got as low as 1.39-50 gallon in may /june around here ... oil was 1.39 gallon in june.....a barrel is in the 60s now and pellet prices havent shown a "dramatic" drop at all! earlier suppliers were selling them for pretty much the same price now and that was the "cheap" season!
not picking on anyone, just trying to make a point... i have been burning pellets for a longtime and it ticks me off to think 7 years ago oil was 1.19-1.50 a gallon and now is 2.09 but pellets were in the middle of winter 175-180 DELIVERED for a superior brand (thats when dry creek was the "best") and now in aug-sept pellets are just about 2xs as much??? in the "cheap" season those were 125-150 a ton!
thanks for letting me vent!! (now off to go buy some pellets)

 

[Stentor]

.......

Many of you wouldn’t get screwed pricing wise if you just did a little better job of planning ahead some, than buying your heat products in January. If you bought it in May thru August, I bet you get a better price, better selection, and could have it delivered if you need to have that done within the same week….maybe not so much in January.

........

We have competition in our industry just like everyone else and if we can’t product our product that we can sell for profitably over propane or oil then we will sell very little. If someone doesn’t like our product and don’t see the value in it...they will use something else……but pellets and bio-fuel aren’t simply judged on the cost factor against this other items, but they do have to be competitive or the industry wouldn’t exist.

Great questions…keep ‘em coming

BTU,

1. I bought and took delivery this spring. I'm trying to decide if that is a good habit for the future. The alternative is to try to buy later in the year and try for a lower price but hold on to my money until the fall. Some years I might win and get a better price later, other years I might lose by having to pay more in September than in May. My theory today is that ON AVERAGE I would get a better price over the years by buying earlier instead of trying to time the market. You agree?

2. What do you mean by "aren't simply judged on the cost factor"? Environmental issues, ambiance and comfort, avoiding foreign oil, things like that?