Over this past weekend, I stopped at the place I used to buy Pellets. They were offering Fireside Ultras at $7.10 per bag. 12 miles away at Home Depot, I found Fireside Ultras for $5.49 per bag. Can you say jacking up the price?
Somebody is making some good money on pellets
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davevassar said:
Which HD location? I've seen them (Auburn) for $6/bag. In Bellingham they have Pennington's and Premium Blazer (stored outside of course) for $6 as well.
yeah, I think some smaller stove shops are buying them just to have them ion hand so they don't look like idiots ...
At $7.10 a bag they should come with a free jar of vaseline. The same pellets my neighbour paid $200.00 a ton for I paid $260.00 a month later and they are now available for $340.00, this ceases to be supply/ demand with increases like this overa 3 month period.
yeah, I understand that saving $ is one of the reasons we burn pellets, and that they will sell for whatever the market will bear, but it has gotten out of hand this year. demand was up and supply is spotty for sure. let's just hope that the production stabilizes enough so we can get some healthy competition to yield low prices...
At this point, any reseller here in New England can buy any grade/brand of pellets and charge $300/ton. Quality doesn't matter. Also, no need to be competitive (price-wise) since the market will bear that price.
I paid $230.00 a ton/ 5 ton..I use kerosene..it is still at $320.00 per gallon...Pellets no brainer here....err..I guess I'd better go dump a bag...
Catfishjack said:
Yup kerosene @ $320.00 per gallon makes pellets look really cheap @ $230.00 a ton. What's the octane level on that kerosene?
Catfishjack said:
Yeah, my comments/observations are based solely upon the price of purchased pellets now, here in southern New England. Since I bought my stove in June (November install) I could not pre-buy in the spring.
A place I'll never shop at on the Berlin Turnpike in Connecticut that can kiss my @ss was selling a ton for 349.00 a month ago, now advertising for 329.00. Not much of a drop, but at least falling in the right direction. This place also sells all that wooden gym stuff and lawn furniture. I know some people will still go there for that stuff, but I hope that the pellet burners send a message and stay away. Or at least maybe stop by and tease them with a sale, and then say, "Oh yeah, you are one of those wood pellet price gougers who tried to rake us over the coals during the cold winter months. Keep your rotten lousy furniture, see ya later!"itworks said:
bungalobob said:
The Pumpkin Seed in Bellingham, MA, is selling pellets for $375/ton and they've had plenty of pellets all season. A lumber place in Woonsocket is charging $367/ton. Ouch....
READ MY LIPS. No such thing as gouging! If you didn't buy any and choose to buy elsewhere then why are your panties all waded up in a bunch about what they are charging. Smile and walk away.
davevassar said:
Your right. And I think its hard to compare per bag retail price to burning fuel oil delivered. Buying 10 bags at 6$ a bag you have to add the $10 in gasoline to get it
We paid $260 a ton back in late june for NEWP and picked them up ourselves in July. The ppg of hho at that time was over $3.50. It would be so difficult, if not impossible, to run a cost analysis today, given todays ppg and lack of data on anticipated pellet consumption; this is our first year heating w/ pellets. We locked in at $3.64 for fuel oil, a decision upon which we will get burned. However, we now have delivery on demand vs automatic, and have paid cash (market price on the date of delivery) for one delivery since we locked in. (The oil company didn't like it, but they need to tighten up their contract language; to burn or get burned?)
The data is all over the place, since we're flying by the seat of our pants this winter. Next winter we'll have more solid figures to work with.
If we were looking at paying $3.00 a gallon for heating oil vs paying over $6.00 per bag for pellets, we'd be burning oil, I think. We're burning 2 bags per 24 hrs @ 35 degrees outside temp (avg) over 3 wks. Historically, we burn between 2.5 - 3 gals of oil per day during heating season. $9.00 a day vs. projected $12.00 OR $3.64 (our lock-in price for oil) @ 2.5 per day= $.10 per day/ $4.33X = $8.66. We're looking at pennies for savings so far. The tank we're burning right now was something like $2.65 per gallon, so we're not realizing any savings other than we're much warmer (more comfortable) and we're not using ANY oil other than hot water, which is virtually next to nothing.
Comfort is worth the trade off for spending a few pennies more per day. We used to freeze our buns off, maintaining a temp of 68 degrees in the house heating w/ oil. I guess I'll take it.
The data is all over the place, since we're flying by the seat of our pants this winter. Next winter we'll have more solid figures to work with.
If we were looking at paying $3.00 a gallon for heating oil vs paying over $6.00 per bag for pellets, we'd be burning oil, I think. We're burning 2 bags per 24 hrs @ 35 degrees outside temp (avg) over 3 wks. Historically, we burn between 2.5 - 3 gals of oil per day during heating season. $9.00 a day vs. projected $12.00 OR $3.64 (our lock-in price for oil) @ 2.5 per day= $.10 per day/ $4.33X = $8.66. We're looking at pennies for savings so far. The tank we're burning right now was something like $2.65 per gallon, so we're not realizing any savings other than we're much warmer (more comfortable) and we're not using ANY oil other than hot water, which is virtually next to nothing.
Comfort is worth the trade off for spending a few pennies more per day. We used to freeze our buns off, maintaining a temp of 68 degrees in the house heating w/ oil. I guess I'll take it.
LEES WOOD-CO said:
I think we share many of the same (or at least similar) views, Lee - I don't like to buy coffee in the grocery store for anything more than 2.50/can ... so the only time I buy is when it's on sale, but I need to buy about 10 cans and haul and store and tie up my grocery money.... Is the grocery store gouging if you need to buy coffee when it's not on sale? And, if I get caught w/o coffee, I'll switch to a cheaper brand, cut back on my consumption, or change to tea. No problem, right?
As oil prices continue to drop, so will pellets. With Home Heating Oil in the $2-$2.50 range, next years pellets should be far cheaper.
Sawduster said:
Why? I understand that higher fuel costs translates into higher production and transportation costs, but there's really NO direct linkage between pellets and HHO. Think about how many times members of this forum have posted that they'll burn pellets (for their personal reasons) even if it's more expensive than HHO. Pellet manufactures and dealers are business people too. They belong to this site, they read what we say, and will price their commodity to return the highest possible profit margin. It appears to me that some pellet burners have a romance with their stoves, and want to see them burning all the time. Personally, sorry to repeat myself again, I'll burn the cheaper of HHO, or pellets to keep my family comfortable.
I love having this choice.
lt has little to do with production and transportation costs. Cheap HHO means there will be far fewer people burning pellets. Less demand for pellets will bring down the cost significantly. If oil stays where it is now, there will probably be a glut of pellets next summer.
WHooo Hooo
I hope your prediction holds true, but I guess you missed my point. It seems once a pellet stove is purchased and installed, it's used even if the costs are higher than burning HHO. Additionally, pellet manufacturers will adjust their output to meet higher or lower demand to achieve maximum profitability. If HHO stays at these levels, I will predict that the sales of new stoves will plummet, some companies will go out of business, ala Harman & Vermont Castings, and the industry in general will be more streamlined until the next surge in oil prices.Sawduster said:
LEES WOOD-CO said:
Definition of price gouging: Pricing above the market price when no alternative retailer is available
This is exactly what was happening. A bunch of retailers, some, fly by niter's, saw an opportunity to stick it to the customer. The retailers are in business to make money, which is understood, and justified. But they saw the window of opportunity open to a windfall of cash when the demand for pellet stoves outpaced supply, and the speculators caused the astronomical rise in oil prices. So they jumped in to see what they could milk from us poor souls who are just trying to find a least expensive way to heat our homes. How else to you explain the jumps on tons of pellets on the lots going from $250.00 a ton to $350.00 a ton over a few week period and its the same pallets of pellets sitting in the same places on these lots? While in some places, only a state or two away, they were only charging $190.00 to $220.00 a ton. And don't say it cost that much to ship because of the gas prices. It does not cost an extra $100.00 a ton to ship a few hundred miles more, especially when they are shipped by the truckload, or rail-car load. Eventually this will all settle out and most supplies will come from big dealers with good reputations to keep, and no longer the fly by night thieving scum with the 'Tickle me Elmo' ideas of turning a five-fold profit on a product that is in demand.
And yes, I will smile at these loser merchants as I spend my cash somewhere else with hopefully someone who respects and earns my trust. These businesses will not survive if taking advantage of their customers.
I just paid $5.18 per bag at our home depot in northern lower mich. My buddy that owns a fireplace shop, has to buy them from home depot, and he keeps just a few bags at his store and has to sell them for 7.50 just to cover his gas, its about 30 miles one way to get the pellets. He apologizes and tells customers where he got them from, most are willing to buy a few bags to hold them over until their big orders arrive.
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