I'm in SE Ma. both Tractor Supply and Home Depot are on back order for pellets. The smaller more expensive dealers still have them. Aubuchon hardware has Green Supreme but they don't know for how long. Anyone know the scoop behind this ?
What's with big box stores out of pellet stock already
- Thread starter alternativeheat
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Ah! The joys of computerized reordering using sales history and not good forecasting. Did you guys get colder sooner than normal and a lot colder?
It's been a mix of weather but ya we had some pretty cold weather early. And further north ( Maine ) I guess they have a solid snow cover and iced over ponds already, maybe our pellets went there. But then I heard a rumor of two pellet factory fires up north, totally unsubstantiated thus far. Thought someone here might know.
Sounds like our cheaper local seller. Always out of pellets you would think after this many years they would be able to figure it out. The other suppler always has pellets but at a little more $. I asked yesterday when i picked up a pallet what the issue was and they tryed to blame it on the supplier.. The supplier is 5 hours away and these guys have their own trucks if they needed to pick up.. Not smart in my opinion as they are loosing out to the competition as when they run out they are out for a few weeks at a time.
2014 was the last time we saw any sort of pellet crunch around these parts but everyone did that year. Of course as soon as Aubuchon Hardware got wind of the shortage their buy by pallet break went to lunch. Right now the best deal there is bag lots of 10 bags and that is $6,29 per bag for Green Supreme.
I went to Home Depot Wareham last night on my way home from work to pickup some pellets. I looked around the store because they change the location a lot. One of the associates asked me what I was looking for. They told me they were out and might not get a shipment in over a week.So I crossed the street and went to TSC and they were the same story. They are shipment within the next 2 weeks. So further down the road I go to Lowe's which was my last resort before I start placing calls to Plymouth and other locations and low and behold they had pellets. Thank God because I was down to my last 2 bags. One of the associates helped me load a 1/2 a pallet into my truck. He told me that the pellets are flying out the door quickly because everyone else is out.They had 3 different brands of pellets Green Supreme,North American and Still River. I've never heard of Still River has anyone tried them and are they any good? I returned today and picked up another 1/2 a pallet. My 10X14 is now a little tight for space with my motorcycle,generator,snowblower,and law mower in there.
Never heard of Still River. You made basically the same route I did but I ended up at Aubuchon instead of Lowes. Since there is an Aubuchon less than half mile from my house I'll just go there till this thing shakes out, if it does..
Jake86
Burning Hunk
My guess is the last few years being mild winters, some pellet retailers had left over pellets and had to discount them in the Spring. Everyone is now talking about a cold winter. Everyone is buying up pellets early. Supply and demand is going to kick in and pellet prices are going to start going up.
We have other options for getting pellets from a couple of places you probably never thought about here in town. We have Highway Block on 6/28 who carries Energex and LG Granules. The other is Progressive Growers on Charlotte Furnace Rd. who sell Agway pellets.The worst part is both places are only open M-F 8-4.
Highway almost always has pellets, I swung in there today but as you mentioned they were closed . I know about them well enough, bought coal from them 30 years ago lol ! It's ok, Highway gets too much generally anyway, though they give a little break by the pallet . Aubuchon will work for now.
Good thing I went back yesterday to Lowe's and picked up more pellets. I just checked Home Depot and Lowe's web sites. Besides TSC Home Depot and Lowe's are both out of stock. Good thing we have a few alternative locations to get stock from.
Later in the week it's supposed to get colder too. Toasty in here today with the stove idling on Green Supremes.My wife is snoozed out next to the stove recovering from knee replacement surgery two weeks ago this past wed. Doing great but needs a lot of sleep right now.
Incidentally, there was a pellet plant fire in Maine and another in Vermont back in the spring of this year. But I don't think that's enough to cause the big box stores to be short, they may not even buy from those facilities and had plenty of supply warning anyway. The one in Maine was in Corinth, not sure what brands they produced. And the other may have been the old Vermont Pellet factory, if so they weren't shipping last year anyway as I recall..
I looked at other Home Depots in Mass. and a lot of them are showing a lot of stock. But I'm not traveling to Brockton to pick them up. Someone earlier mentioned the cause and I think they were correct. Th shortage is caused by stores believing to much in automatic order. The past 3 years have been a mild fall. So they only order enough to carry them till the real winter kicks in. This year was a failure to them because we got whacked with the sudden cold and snow before Thanksgiving.
