ok.
Quality, a softwood pellet, wont likely be available as new stock, or in much quantity this year. One of the larger manufacturers bought them in, in an attempt to bolster their supplies, for the winter of '06. Wasnt a great winter, they didnt sell well. I dont think the manufacturer found it profitable to ship it out, and pay warehousing costs on it. The product seems to burn fine, I burned it all winter. This product is bagged out west and shipped via railcar out here. Because of this, I find that there is an unacceptable amount of wear and breakage in these units, not to mention they are shipped at 70 bags/skid (2800 lbs). When we sell them, if we find a broken bag, we end up giving the customer a new bag, and so that comes off our bottom line. The margin is quite low on these, so the breakage/spoilage can easily make them a money-losing proposition. Im told that of the Quality that still exists locally, its all old stock....most likely produced in the summer/fall of '06.
The New England Canadians, also softwoods, seem to be a good pellet. They burn well, we dont get complaints about them. A correction though for Zeta.....PelletSales.com does no wrapping at all, they are a broker. Those pellets are wrapped quite well, but they are wrapped by New England Pellet, in Palmer. Seen it done, and am pretty familiar with the site and their procedures. Zeta is correct that most pellets may be left outside as well, as long as the spot is off the ground and covered. I dont think Id rip into a skid and leave it unwrapped though...just inviting problems then.
The Wood Pellet Company pellets also seem to be pretty good, they are a hardwood premium pellet. Their skids are absolutely awful tho (bad condition of the actual skid), and as a dealer, they dont endear themselves to me by sending them in a box trailer...its a real problem when you dont have a loading dock trying to get a 10,000 lb forklift inside.
The Wood Pellet Co sells to retailers a little different than most. On one day a year, they take orders, via fax. On this one day, they virtually sell ALL of their stock, so, if you arent early in faxing you are out of luck. You likely wont see many Wood Pellet Co pellets around till September at the earliest. These are the infamous nucular pellets, by the way.
Once again, us hard-headed New Englanders resist en masse burning softwood pellets. We grow up being taught that the only thing you burn is oak and maple, and the pine is good for nothing but brush fires and landfills. Many people are quite insistant that softwood pellets arent very good, then you look at a lab analysis, try to show there are just as much, and often MORE, btu's/lb than hardwoods. Hey, we dont argue with them, we sell them what they want.
About 1/2 of our customers haul their own, and half have us deliver them. We are trying truckload deliveries this year (basically a truckload of pellets delivered to one spot, where the customer disseminates it from there, to friends, relatives), Ill let you know how it goes. Only have sold two truckloads this way so far. The thing that kills us is mileage. Transportation isnt cheap, neither is the truck, forklift, and personnel who deliver it. Still working the kinks out on this one. Also working on tractor-trailer loads- problem with this is the customer need a forklift to unload...bit of a problem there for most folks.
If you dont know how the pellets are going to burn in your particular unit, Craig's advice above is quite good.....try a few bags before you commit to tonnage. What are you going to do if that cheapo Standard pellet wont burn and youve got 4 tons sitting in your garage? Some pellet units burn a wider variety than others, with the bottom-feed units generally being less picky than the top-fed units.