Questions about buying truckload of pellets off season

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iceguy4

Minister of Fire
Nov 16, 2011
1,039
Upstate, NY
Just have some quick questions... First let me state my boiler can burn anything. I have burned vermonts to summersets and IMHO...better pellets... but not worth the extra $$. That said, I'm looking for connections for a full load of pellets semi close to new york. I also want a discount of some kind. I'm thinking spring will be best ...Ideas??
 
My guess would be spring also. Maybe you could buy up left overs for a nice price. Im sure storage for a summer will cost money so they might unload them at a discount.
 
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Didn't oldmtvernon do this recently?
 
Didn't oldmtvernon do this recently?

Yup. Hey Iceguy, I assume you have a Harman boiler, so how about fixing the spelling of Harman in your sig? Us Harnam owners are a little sensitive about the spelling.
 
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I tried buying in bulk and have not had a big enough break in price to make it worth my while in my area anyway. Just keep an eye on big box stores in early spring, ask the store manager when they may discount,be it seasonal or quanity purchase, to be picked up or delivered. Suffering here with another cold spell and hope it don't last till June. 7+ months of heating season going to suck.
 
Yup. Hey Iceguy, I assume you have a Harman boiler, so how about fixing the spelling of Harman in your sig? Us Harnam owners are a little sensitive about the spelling.

Well subsale-r it seams ur the onley 1 whoo has a proubllem with my mrs-speling of harmon...butt conceder it correcked-ed,,, anyway who was it who said..."never did think much of a man who could only spell a word only one way" :)
 
Might change you mind when the FBI shows up thinking someone spelled YOUR name wrong. I could elaborate but I would get called racist.
 
Well subsale-r it seams ur the onley 1 whoo has a proubllem with my mrs-speling of harmon...butt conceder it correcked-ed,,, anyway who was it who said..."never did think much of a man who could only spell a word only one way" :)

I doubt I'm alone.
 
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Hey ICE, we used to buy in bulk. Back when we were burning New England Wod Pellets, we would go through a distributor and buy a tractor trailer load. We had to hire a guy to offload with a skid steer with forks but just divided by the ton and split them up with a couple of families. Always worked good for us, just had to pay before April 1st. I checked around last year, but was too late because we switched brands because of quality from NEWP. you should start checking in the spring.
 
Hey ICE, we used to buy in bulk. Back when we were burning New England Wod Pellets, we would go through a distributor and buy a tractor trailer load. We had to hire a guy to offload with a skid steer with forks but just divided by the ton and split them up with a couple of families. Always worked good for us, just had to pay before April 1st. I checked around last year, but was too late because we switched brands because of quality from NEWP. you should start checking in the spring.

I have a backhoe and a pallot jack so unloading should be a snap. I also have a super-duper connection for shipping. I plan to offer pellets here, split the load here, or offload on craigs list, or just burn them myself. I expect to burn 10 tons a year when its all said and done. is that a halfway good pellet and what kinda discount did you get.
 
Do you have any anyone the delivers pellets your area? In Maine there is a company or two that have started making bulk delivers like the oil company. There is an indoor storage system. Here is one of them (broken link removed to http://www.maineenergysystems.com/Bulk_Pellet_Purchases.htm)
 
Do you have any anyone the delivers pellets your area?
Not at the moment...that I'm aware of...Albany NY...anyone??? I plan to build a shed in the spring to accommodate both bags and a hopper. I'm in the process of procuring the equiptment to automaticly move pellets INTO the hopper on my boiler from my new shed . so if bulk comes to our area I will be ready.
 
Just have some quick questions... First let me state my boiler can burn anything. I have burned vermonts to summersets and IMHO...better pellets... but not worth the extra $$. That said, I'm looking for connections for a full load of pellets semi close to new york. I also want a discount of some kind. I'm thinking spring will be best ...Ideas??
OK...Few things here. First, you say that your biler can burn anything and that you have burned "Vermonts to Somersets"...That's like saying that you have driven everything from "BMW to Mercedes." Vermonts to Somersets are both at the upper end of the spectrum. So don't go buying 24 tons of just anything, or your "dream deal" may turn out to be nothing less than a nightmare.
Now...lets talk about these "monster savings" that you are seeking to achieve. Most dealers are making anywhere from $40-$60 per ton. Let's keep it simple and make it your target to save $50/ton.Therefore, you will need to be able to convince a mill to sell to you directly, and you will need to get them to sell to you for the SAME price as a dealer who buys anywhere from 500-2500 tons per season.
Now. let's presume this is possible. Now you will need to get a truck to pick them up from the manufacturer's warehouse. Once the truck is scheduled, you will need to unload the truck. If you own a forklift then you are all set. If you don't you can rent one for about $400/day, which will cut into your "savings" to the tune of about $18/ton on a 23 ton load. The driver will need to be fully unloaded within 2 hours of arrival or you will be loooking at standing charges of about $100/hour. If all 24 tons are for you, then you will need a spot to keep them for 4 years or so until they are gone. And if you do have a barn or building to store them in, then you will in essence, have just "rented out" that space for the next 3 years for about $750. If this is an order where you and some buddies are going to split it up, then I can just about guarantee that you will wish that you never got into this, and certainly wish that you were not the "lead man." I have been on the proactive end of trying to put these things together for customers. Rarely, (in fact I can't rcall one time) where it was something that they chose to do again.
If we were making margins of $100 per ton on pellets, then there would definately be some better savings on a truckload, but the margins just are not there. If you do decide to go for it, keep a diary of how it goes, and check it against my post. This may sound very familiar to you. I do wish you luck, I really do. But if you can pull this off and make it work, then come and work for me. :)
 
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Not at the moment...that I'm aware of...Albany NY...anyone??? I plan to build a shed in the spring to accommodate both bags and a hopper. I'm in the process of procuring the equiptment to automaticly move pellets INTO the hopper on my boiler from my new shed . so if bulk comes to our area I will be ready.
Here is a bulk (broken link removed) out of Dorset Vt
 
Here is a bulk (broken link removed) out of Dorset Vt[/quoteI filled out their questioner hopefully they will deliver to my area. Thanks for the "heads up"
 
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