By Joe Dowd | September 26, 2014

5 Minutes vs 2 hours – Is saving a few dollars worth ruining your weekend?
Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you realize that you’re low on wood pellets and don’t have enough to heat your home for another week? It’s okay, we’ve all been there.  You decide since it’s the weekend, you can spare a half hour to run to the local box store and grab a ton of pellets to replenish your fuel supply and make it back in time for the Eagles game or more importantly your son/daughter’s soccer/baseball/basketball/football game. So you hop into your SUV, minivan or car and head out. Since there’s little traffic, you make it to the box store in record time.

You glance at the clock.
10 minutes

This trip is going to be shorter than you thought.
As you pull into the parking lot it dawns on you that every home owner in your county is at the store picking up a doohickey or thingambob to complete that home improvement project that they’ve been putting off since last summer.
No worries though, you know what you’re looking for. You’ll run over to the garden center grab your pellets and be on your way.
So you make your way to the area in the garden center where the wood pellets were kept the last time you were here. But to your surprise you don’t see the familiar stacks of pellet bags that you’re used to. Maybe they moved them to a different isle. You methodically work your way up and down the 3 or 4 isles in the outside area using your Where’s Waldo vision searching each shelf from floor to ceiling. Nothing.  You give in and decide to ask one of the handful of employees that you just passed a minute ago.  As if on queue, they’ve all suddenly disappeared.

You glance at your watch.
 20 minutes

So now you pick up your pace a bit and briskly cruise by the ends of each isle hoping to catch a glimpse of someone in a store uniform.  Finally you see an employee at the other end of the isle.  You make your way towards them and when you’re a mere 3 or 4 steps away, another customer comes out of nowhere and asks them their advice on which thingambob is best for fixing this or that.  But before your frustration gets the best of you, luck comes your way as another employee walks over and asks’ “is there something that I can help you find?”.  You ask if they have any wood pellets in stock.  They explain that they’re not quite sure what wood pellets are as they stop another employee walking by and hand the question off to them.  This employee is definitely familiar with wood pellets.  He tells you that they do indeed sell wood pellets, but he’s not sure if they have any in stock.  He asks you to wait here while he goes and checks…………….

…….Nearly 5 minutes later he returns and says that they just ran out.  But their store in East Jabip has 5 tons still in stock.  You take a very long deep patient breath… and say thanks for checking.

You glance at your watch.
 30 minutes

As you walk out to your car you have a decision to make.  You ask yourself, “Can I make it to the other store and still get back home in time?”.  Being optimistic, you’re sure that you can still make it.  So you hop back into your car and punch East Jabip into your GPS.   You notice that traffic isn’t as light as it was earlier.  25 minutes later, you pull into the East Jabip parking lot.  You know you’re short on time so you double time it into the store.

You glance at your watch.
1 hour

Yikes!!  So you go through the same routine as before, except this time you’re moving with a purpose making your way to the garden center.  Just like the previous store, you find yourself wandering up and down the isles trying to find the wood pellets.  But you’re not a rookie anymore.  You track down the first employee that you see.  “Where do you keep your wood pellets?” you ask.  The employee politely has you follow them over to the last row and points up to the top shelf.  You say thank you and ask him to take down one ton to load into your vehicle.  He tells you that he’ll have to find the forklift operator.  He then moseys off to find someone to run the forklift………..

………….What seems like 10 minutes later, because it is 10 minutes later, you hear the forklift beeping as it moves down the isle.  The other employee then spends 5 minutes expanding the safety gates to block off the area where the forklift is to be operated.  Once the gate is up, he instructs you to go ahead and pay for your wood pellets at the check out and pull your truck up to the side gate.  You inform him that you’re driving your SUV/Minivan.  He tells you that you can’t haul a ton of wood pellets in your vehicle.  “Well, how much can I haul in my vehicle”?  The answer of 20 to 25 bags is disappointing.  You know that’s only half of what you set out to buy.  Thoroughly frustrated and worn out, you say, “Fine.  I’ll take 25 bags.” as you head towards to cashier.

You glance at your watch.
1 hour 30 minutes

You pay for your pellets (noting that their price went up considerably this year), hustle out to your car and pull it around to the side gate.  As you pop your tailgate, the fence slides open and the forklift is moving towards your vehicle with a skid of wood pellets.  You’re almost there!  As they reach the gate, he stops to remove the shrink wrap.  That’s when you notice that they’re not the same pellets that they normally carry.  As you mumble to yourself that it would be nice if they offered a choice of brands, you accept what they have and proceed to have them load the back of your SUV/Minivan.  With a quick thank you to the employees, you’re on you’re way.

You glance at your clock.
2 hours

During your 30 minute ride home with an uncomfortable amount of weight in the back of your car, you wonder if owning a pellet stove is really worth this hassle.

2 hours and 30 minutes later after leaving your home this morning, you back into your driveway knowing that you still have to remove 1,ooo lbs of pellets from your car.  The good news is that you didn’t miss the entire game, although the first half is almost over.  The bad news is that you have to relive this ordeal 5 to 7 more times over the next few months.

If you’ve experienced this or something similar, please feel free to share your story with us.  Many pellet stove owners aren’t aware that most of us have been through this at one time or another.  But eventually we found a better way.

My wife and I started this business to relieve pellet stove owners of the frustration that you read about up above.  Is owning a pellet stove really worth that hassle?  Probably not.  But if you remove that hassle, does heating your home with a wood pellet stove make a lot of sense?  Absolutely.

We’ve made the process so easy that you don’t even have to leave your home to place your order.  To be honest, you don’t even have to get out of bed to place your order right on your smart phone.

You glance at your watch.
2 minutes

Then you receive an email confirming your pellet fuel home delivery order.

You glance at your watch.
2 more minutes

Less than 5 minutes after you noticed that you were running low on pellet fuel, your order is confirmed.  You easily make it to your child’s game.  You even have time for that much deserved nap that you promised yourself last year.

So I ask again, is saving a few dollars worth ruining your weekend?

And isn’t it nice to have a variety of wood pellet brands to choose from?

When you’ve had enough of that routine up above, give us a call and we’ll be happy to speak with you.

(267)999-9135