Matanuska Valley coal supplier

Here are some prices,

"The mod 254/ 1800sq ft sells for $2200.00 The 354/2500sq ft sells for $ 2450.00 . Thanks Rick Dilley"

Did not quote me on any of the Romax stoves I asked about.

mthornsley wrote:It was nice meeting you too. I'll just go ahead and give you the number to contact yourself. This guys name is Jeff, he is out of Bethel, his number is 907-543-2379 and his fax is 907-543-3209. Just tell him that you are interested in a stove and we referred you to him. You will find that it is cheaper buying it from him, and having it shipped back to Anchorage than it is buying it from anywhere else. Pretty crazy huh?

SCCS

Thanks, I"ll give him a call some time this week.

murphyslaw wrote:Did not quote me on any of the Romax stoves I asked about.

My Romax ran me about 1800 bucks i think

valley trash wrote:

murphyslaw wrote:Did not quote me on any of the Romax stoves I asked about.

My Romax ran me about 1800 bucks i think

Ouch!

-10 out and an all too sweaty 82 deg in. The ole' Romax takes care of me if i load her right.

Anyone have any ideas on advertising? Or maybe a store who would let us put some bags or some superbags at their store? We are trying to get the word out there, and market through some of our local vendors. If anyone has any ideas, please feel free to reply or hit me up IM. Thanks

For sure Spenard Builders Supply there in Palmer or see if Lowes and or Home Depot would feature some of your stuff there. A good idea would be to set up a coal and coal burning exhibit during the state fair. Most folks really dont believe in coal or just dismiss it as something used long ago, so it would be good to show everyone who goes to the fair how it is extremely applicable and cost effective. Im not sure how quick those spots at the fairgrounds go but my guess is that you should reserve a spot now. Also if you want to advertise by means of those magnetic logos you see on vehicles, id be glad to sport one for a modest discount.

I would think a feed store would be a good place to put your bagged product.

valley trash wrote:For sure Spenard Builders Supply there in Palmer or see if Lowes and or Home Depot would feature some of your stuff there. Also if you want to advertise by means of those magnetic logos you see on vehicles, id be glad to sport one for a modest discount.

; We have been in contact with Lowes and Home Depot, evidently they think they need to carry coal stoves to sell coal. Though we haven't called SBS, not sure why since one is located close to us.
;I have thought about getting magnetic stickers for our business to put on our trucks, but I haven't really thought about having other people do it. Not a bad idea.
@shortbus Yes it would be a good idea, since they already have the forklifts, and are used to handling superbags, but unfortunately they don't want to venture into the realm of coal sales. Not sure if its an insurance thing, or they just don't want to.

The thing of it is, we can't even get stove stores who carry coal stoves to sell our coal. Everyone wants to make bunches and bunches of money. One place that used to sell our bags wants us to sell it to them to where they can sell it for the same price as us, but still being able to make a bunch of money off it. We can't do that, we have our prices set to where we are only really making the trucking costs off it. We were in contact with a stove store in Anch, they called and said they wanted 20, 25lb bags. So we figured, cool, we'll get this started and we can have a distributer in Anch. Well, I drive all the way into town, and when I get there, a kid (early 20's) comes out, and says "Oh, I'm the one who called you, they're for me, and I only want 4, do you take credit card?" Man, I was so upset. He just conned me into driving to Anch to bring him 4 25lb bags, and doesn't even have the money for it. So, its a learning curve.

I was thinking about taking a stack of flyers and putting them on the piles of bundles of wood outside fredmeyers, and gas stations. LoL. I don't think that would go over to well though. We were at the store a couple nights ago, and as we were walking out, a women had a shopping cart and she was loading it full of those bundles of wood. Thats a tough way to heat, those are like $6-7 bucks, for what, 15lbs of wood? It's the simplicity of it, just being able to go to the grocery store and buy it. Anyone have an exact to how much wood is in one of those bundles? 1/40th of a cord? It would be interesting to know.

Short Bus wrote:I would think a feed store would be a good place to put your bagged product.

That's probably a better idea than big homedepot/lowes type stores. Some of these stores do sell coal in the Eastern US but I don't think it's common anywhere else.
There's a family owned feed/farm/ranch (anything you would need at the farm) store about a mile from me that sells bulk and bagged coal. They actually drive their own truck to the mines to get the coal. They screen coal to make stoker coal and also bag coal in 70# bags there at the store too. They have sold coal for so many years that they don't even need to advertise and they're constantly running out.

Retailers need mark up, they don't do it for thier health.
Landscape supply places that have hang on the truck forklift, might be able to deliver pallets.
Stove retailers, might be convinced to recomend your service, stock your brosures? They should realize they need low cost coal on the market. Every coal stove that sells is going to need coal.
If I was organized I would order a dump truck load delivered to Cantwell, not organized yet, you could PM me a price on delivery, I can wait till you are in the area getting coal, but I don't have storage for a whole load, whole load is only way to go.
Maybe you can buy cheaper unscreened coal in Healy and work with a topsoil screener to sort it for you, hard to get rid of the fines.
In the past Usibelli loaded unscreened coal from that hopper over the scale that the current coal screener uses to weigh your truck, I doubt they want to load just one dump truck ocasionaly, that was put in I think to load doubles to go to university of Fairbanks when the railroad figured they had no competition.
All these options leave very little for your pocket, sorry to paint such a grim picture.

It will all be okay. With the price of fuel going up, people will start to realize whats up. It just takes time.

@rockwood where are you located?
@shortbus how far are you from the mine?

I think Rockwood is in Utah.
I'm in Cantwell forty miles from Healy, I get my coal 2.5 tons per trip F-250.

Hey, just so you guys know, we now have a line on Hitzer stoves. We are not carrying an inventory, but we are going to be putting in an order sometime in the near future and we can get them to you guys at a pretty decent price. So if you are thinking about putting in a coal stove, give us a call and see what we can do for you. 907-745-5170/907-715-7790

Hey guys, just thought I would give an update since it will be getting cold soon. We are currently stocked with lump coal, @ $150 a ton, dump truck quantities @$135 a ton, and we have 50lb bags @$10bucks a bag. Also we have access to Hitzer stoves at a decent price that can usually be either in Anchorage or Palmer within a few days. Just a heads up, there is another company supplying coal here in the Valley and rumor has it that it contains an unusual amount of rocks. Evidently its not the occasional 2-3" rocks that you might find, they are all sizes and have been plugging peoples grates and making people stop burning to clean out their stove. Give us a call if you need any more information, 907-745-5170 or 907-715-7790. Thanks.