Pellets:
NOTE: Currently we are not offering pellets to individuals who did not purchase their stove (insert, furnace, etc) from FlameWorks. See the news page. And Please scroll down to understand why we occasionally have to take this stance.
Q: How much are your pellets?
A: The News Page has our pellet
pricing. This page is updated regularly. The pricing changes throughout the season starting at the beginning of the contract pellet year (usually the end of
April or early May) and peaks in the heart of the winter.
Historically speaking, premium hardwood pellets have started at about $150 per ton in the late spring/early summer and have peaked at about $200 per ton in the middle of the heating season. There have been variables, especially in different markets, but pellet prices have been very consistent since the late 1980's. This year the biggest difference is the cost to dry green/wet dust that is not usually present in most seasons. Dry sawdust is scarce right now.
Q: Why are your pellets prices lower
than other dealers and pellet fuel retailers?
A: The short answer: We sell pellet stoves, and to support the
stoves, pellets.
The extended answer: We have been in the hearth industry for over 20 years and have found if someone does not hold the price of pellets (or any other commodity that has a limited application) down then they will eventually be priced out of reach. Retailers who only (or mostly) sell pellets have no incentive to sell at a competitive price because they only view wood pellets as a profit center and typically only stock fuel from September to December.
Q: Does FlameWorks offer pellet delivery?
A: Yes, we offer local pellet delivery April through August. We
typically deliver pellets within a 30 minute driving radius and can bring
from one to three tons of pellets at a time to most locations.
Pellet delivery can also be scheduled in conjunction with stove
service.
Q: Do you stock wood pellets year-round?
A: Yes. We sell most of our fuel when the mills have the
greatest capacity... summer months, but we keep fuel on hand 365
days per year. There is more detail below, but we do
everything possible to always have fuel available.
Q: I have heard that you
sometimes have
different prices for your customers and the "public", can you tell
me why?
A: This is usually true. We use this mainly so we do not run out of
fuel for people who have bought stoves (inserts, furnaces, etc.)
from us, not as some type of penalty. BUT, even with the
price discrepancy we are usually $20 to $80 dollars less per ton
than the rest of the market. As far as we know FlameWorks wood
pellet prices are the lowest on the east coast. If you find
anywhere that has lower pricing (unless they are on clearance), let
us know where and the brand.
Q: Do you ever run out of pellets?
A: We never have. Our goal is to keep pellets on hand year
round. We only stock a bit in the winter months because most
of our customers purchase their fuel in the summer when the prices
are the lowest.
Q: Do you sell pellets by the bag?
A: Yes. Year round we will sell pellets by the bag and there
is no price penalty. For example: Ton price $175, bag price
$3.50 ($175 divided by $50)
Q: Will you load the pellets or help us
load our fuel?
A: Yes. As time allows, we would be more than happy to help
with fuel loading. Most customers buy the pellets in full
skids and loading is done with a forklift onto a truck or trailer,
but we will be glad to assist with hand loading where required.
There are some times where the line for people getting pellet fuel
literally extends out onto and in the road, in those cases we will
usually load the customers with full skids first because it is
quicker and it helps ease the congestion.
Q: Can you load the pellets onto my
custom catamaran (or other special vehicle) trailer?
A: We do our best to load whatever vehicle or trailer that you have
available, but there have been times where our equipment was not
able to load the skids in the ways that the customer preferred.
Usually in those cases we assist in hand loading.
Q: Can you load the pellets in the rain?
A: Yes. We do not use a standard forklift for several reasons,
but the main reason is we can load the skids in virtually any
weather condition... including snow and usually even ice. Since the skids
(pallets of pellets) are protected from the weather you can come in
bad weather to pick-up the fuel and unload the fuel from your
vehicle when it clears up and is
convenient for you. We do not recommend picking up individual
bags during heavy rain unless you can dry the bags quickly once in
your covered vehicle.
Q: I don't think that it is fair that
you won't sell me pellets at certain times. Are you going to
change this?
A: No. We cannot even imagine facing someone who bought a
stove from us and telling them that not only don't have fuel for
them, but that we sold it to someone else and we could have done
something about it. Over the last several seasons we have only
had to limit sales at select times, usually a few weeks at a time in
the winter. This is typically the time when the chain stores
have lots of fuel, just at a higher price.
Summer 2008 is the first time ever that we have not had enough fuel for everyone in the summer months when historically fuel is priced the lowest and delivery is the most available.
More about our stance on pellet sales when market conditions are tight. Click here.
Q: Why are pellets priced lower in the
summer and higher in the winter?
A: Some people have come to the conclusion that retailers are just
taking advantage of people's need for heat. This is generally
not the case. The pellet mills realized years ago that people
are not likely to buy pellets year round without any incentive and
they adjusted their pricing structure to try to convince people to
buy their fuel when there sawdust supply and manufacturing capacity
is at it's highest. FlameWorks sells most of it's fuel (about
2/3) in the period between Late April and early September.
We feel that most of the fuel we sell in the heating season should be to people buying their first stove. Then the next year they can buy their fuel in the summer and save even more than the first year.
Q: Why do you sometimes have the pellets
out by the road?
A: This is a two-fold answer... and you can help with the second
part.
When the fuel is out "on display" it is a indicator that we have plenty of fuel and it is a good time to stock up. We do not put the fuel on display if we are not selling to the public. We rarely put the fuel on display if the prices are near or at the season highs.
Part of the cost of doing business is advertising and traditional advertising is very expensive. We are able to get the word out to the 3,500+ people who travel Route 641 every day very inexpensively by placing the fuel in a visible area with some pricing. We have found that people are VERY good (Thank YOU!) at letting friends, neighbors and relatives know the availability and pricing and this is a big part of why we are able to sell wood pellet fuel so economically. As an example, a small newspaper advertisement can be several hundred dollars for just a few weeks. To cover that cost our pellet sales could triple but our prices would still have to go up by at least $15 per ton just to break even.
Q: Why do you unload the pellets by
hand when delivering?
A: This question is very similar to the previous question. It
is a cost issue, mostly. Many people have told us about
PelletSales.com and how they are able to unload the fuel in just a
few moments onsite and asked why we can not do the same. There
is a reason why we are well over $50 per ton less expensive than
PelletSales.com and it is primarily our simple, local focus that
gives us lower operating costs. Another benefit is if somehow
moisture got into the skid and affected the pellets we are usually
able to detect it and make adjustments as needed.
If you have any ideas for quicker unloading, we are open to them, but it has to be cost effective. Ideas can be submitted on our contact page. Thanks in advance.
Q: Are all these questions really from
customers?
A: Yes. Most were asked in person and we have worded them in
our own way at a later time, but they all (hard to believe huh?) are
real questions?