Central Maine Coop

I thought this was a great idea, and apparently others did too last year. I'm finding this forum to be a bit difficult, as it's not separated by location. Can we please revive this topic?

In Skowhegan, might be able to talk the guy across the street who has a forklift and space for a truck into unloading a load for a Saturday pickup. How does one put something like this together? What would happen if someone backs out?

I'd be interested in bagged pea or nut, by the way.

the post is difficult to comprehend for the newbies

do a pre pay before so if theres a no show without contact then the portion thats not picked up gets equally split ???

jimcooncat wrote: I'm finding this forum to be a bit difficult, as it's not separated by location. Can we please revive this topic?.

This particular forum is specifically for getting together a co-op so you posted it in the right place. I could create thousands of forums drilling down to towns if I wanted but the demand is not there. If I had numerous requests each day I might consider expanding it into states or regions but until then you can post them here.

Poconoeagle wrote:the post is difficult to comprehend for the newbies ...

Should I explain what a coop is? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooperative
I think how it would is that a bunch of buyers pool money together to get a semi load delivered to a central location, then everyone brings their pickups and trailers and get their full pallets. 22 tons is the max load?

Some things I think we'd need: An escrow agent to hold the cash? A waiver everyone signs that we won't get sued if your trailer axle breaks (I have to sign one at a place I pick up wood pellets). A loading dock, heavy-duty forklift, and operator. Hamburgers. What else?

I expect lots of people would have to make two trips to the central point to pick up enough coal for the winter. That might make for a long day for the forklift operator. Any other things to consider?

the dash between the o's would have been a "easier-to-understand" title as opposed to another ole maine chicken coop....... or even , the less than lazy complete word cooporation....

might be tricky to accurately divide it out onto trailers or into pick-ups with out a scale ???

You can't do it as business legally but i don't see why you couldn't do it as private citizens. If you were getting bulk which is going to be considerably cheaper you can measure it by volume somewhat accurately if everyone filled their truck/trailer by the bucket full. That's a lot of work especially if you have a machine sitting there. It's going to be more than 50 buckets per ton.

Another way to do it would be by measuring the truck box or trailer to get the volume of it. Add up everyone's take then divide the total cost by the percentage of coal they took.

Some are going to be getting more or less inevitably but if you're saving $500.... a couple hundred pounds one way or the other...

Poconoeagle wrote: ...might be tricky to accurately divide it out onto trailers or into pick-ups with out a scale ???

This wouldn't be a problem with bagged coal. I agree, I wouldn't think bulk would lend itself to this kind of distribution.

Richard S. wrote:You can't do it as business legally but i don't see why you couldn't do it as private citizens. ...

Yes, a cooperative of private citizens is what I'm suggesting, saving money would be the goal here. But why wouldn't doing it as a business be legal? In Maine, fuel isn't taxable (yet), but it's easy enough to get registered for sales tax even if it were. Of course, there's a liability issue, but that doesn't make it illegal. Maybe some restriction on interstate commerce you know of?

Weights and Measures...

I think most of the coal haulers can get 24 tons and still be legal on the axles,if you use a hauler/broker like Doublerun the trucking part is handled by them,nothing for you to worry about,coordinating delivery times to fit your schedule is the only bug. RichB

Well, Dysart's in Hermon (Bangor) is selling Reading coal for $299. They're easy to get to, and get some breakfast while you're there. I'd guess there wouldn't be much savings to a coop as long as this service stays reasonable.

Now if the railroad owners ever caught a clue, they could be doing this in their Waterville yard. What's up with that?

Hey Jimcooncat, I got a tractor trailer load last year and after trucking and $80 bucks for my local lumber co. to deliver to my house, it was $300/ton. That is last year of course. Maybe you can save on trucking and maybe the price is down a bit. But you still have to handle it when it gets here. Of course you have to handle the stuff you get at Dysarts also. Mine was Kimmel's not Reading and the difference is debated hotly in here at times. Look into it before you leap. I am not sure how I will go about it in a couple of years when I need more.

Kevin

Good deal, Freddy! From the county? Someone must have overbought, I'd guess. The Reading coal is inconsistently sized compared to the bags of Kimmels we got from the stove's previous owner. The Harmon Mark II doesn't seem to care, both brands burned great in it.