# Salt By the pound



## readysnowplow (Jun 3, 2009)

Hey, anybody know of a reasonable price to charge per pound of salt? I usually charge somewhere around .30 to .40/pound but I haven't checked in awhile. I always like to bounce it off the experts from now and again just to make sure I'm not lowballing (would definitely hate that label). what do you think?


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## SnowPro11 (Nov 27, 2011)

readysnowplow;1402758 said:


> Hey, anybody know of a reasonable price to charge per pound of salt? I usually charge somewhere around .30 to .40/pound but I haven't checked in awhile. I always like to bounce it off the experts from now and again just to make sure I'm not lowballing (would definitely hate that label). what do you think?


I do a lot of my bagged material by the pound. That seems to be a fair price but we do get a little more here in my market but we also do not have the annual snow totals you do. People really freak out when they hear snow is coming in so our accounts don't mind paying more for the peace of mind of knowing they will be open and able to operate.

Based on the numbers you listed above on average you are getting $700 per ton. That is 2 or 3 times more than most guys around and especially on here.

Do you charge a truck/spreader fee on top of the material?


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## cretebaby (Aug 23, 2008)

SnowPro11;1404298 said:


> Based on the numbers you listed above on average you are getting $700 per ton. That is 2 or 3 times more than most guys around and especially on here.


Doesn't everyone get $800 a ton?


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## peterng (Apr 13, 2006)

sodium chloride I charge 0.20/lb. That gets me around $20 per bag for a 88 lb bag and I pay 8.99+tax. It's 10/bag I get but I can spend a lot of time going around picking up and dropping off. I am in the process of arranging pallet delivery which will cut down on material handling costs making things more economical for my clients.

$.3/lb for sand and $.65/lb for magnesium chloride.

thats a material cost & handling fee. I get paid by the hour for application. 

That covers my daily site check visits if anything needs to be done. If all is good I log it as a site visit and no charge.
Pete


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## HitchC&L (Mar 6, 2008)

peterng;1404473 said:


> sodium chloride I charge 0.20/lb. That gets me around $20 per bag for a 88 lb bag and I pay 8.99+tax. It's 10/bag I get but I can spend a lot of time going around picking up and dropping off. I am in the process of arranging pallet delivery which will cut down on material handling costs making things more economical for my clients.
> 
> $.3/lb for sand and $.65/lb for magnesium chloride.
> 
> ...


For sand do you mean .3 or .03? What is your hourly application rate?


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## peterng (Apr 13, 2006)

I meant $0.30/lb sand I have had no chance to get bulk, life a little busy in the summer. its $5/bag for sand, I want another $10/bag for whatever I pick up wether its 5 or 25.

It's all through a meyer hotshot push spreader. I put down 1800lbs of sand in Dec. 36 hrs total billable, 21 of which were handwork, 8 of which were applying traction control products in total. I put down 2800lbs of sodium and 580 lbs of magnesium chloride.

I do a lot on the parking lots with the push spreader as I figured it was worth it for me to lay down up to 5 bags of sodium (1/4 acre) before the client was paying less for my sub to do it. I don't get to learn when the sub does it, it is more liability when the sub does it as I am not on site observing. Plus a lot of it is the everyday visit checking on refreeze and dealing with it until things are all dried up. The 24hr drive thru I can deal with cheaper with my push spreader then calling in the sub. 

So I know its small time but its well done and I am getting paid to take in lots of data.
Thanks,
Pete


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## Philbilly2 (Aug 25, 2007)

peterng;1405201 said:


> I do a lot on the parking lots with the push spreader


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## SnowPro11 (Nov 27, 2011)

cretebaby;1404308 said:


> Doesn't everyone get $800 a ton?


Everyone could get $800 per ton but then we wouldn't have places like this to complain about low ballers. 
Everyone blames low balling on the "nationals" but they only do that becuase of the people who are willing to do it for next to nothing. If owners would step up and charge more we wouldn't have that to complain about.


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## alsam116 (Jan 10, 2009)

snow pro where are you in KY??


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## SnowPro11 (Nov 27, 2011)

alsam116;1408942 said:


> snow pro where are you in KY??


I am in Louisville.


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## maelawncare (Mar 4, 2004)

Im charging $.50 per lb. I do still have a few that are getting billed at $.40 though. Salting can be a bit ch and it wastes away your truck faster than anything. Gotta make the money to buy a new one after its rusted out.


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## DeSnowman (Jan 13, 2012)

Hello, I am new to the profession and am interested if anyone knows where to get Bulk bagged salt in or around Delaware. Looking for about Four or five tons to start with. Any help would be appreciated. 

Thanks


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## Flawless440 (Dec 6, 2010)

.20-.30 per pound bulk salt, i try to bid all mine at a one time drop price, flat fee. Make more money, but if they want a per pound price that's it. Price here for bulk $70-$100 per ton..


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## SnowGuy73 (Apr 7, 2003)

Flawless440;1416046 said:


> .20-.30 per pound bulk salt, i try to bid all mine at a one time drop price, flat fee. Make more money, but if they want a per pound price that's it. Price here for bulk $70-$100 per ton..


Same here, I like the flat fee but we do get a per pound request once in awhile.


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## REAPER (Nov 23, 2004)

Most everyone I know around here charges per app and not by the pound. For one how do you know how much you are dropping? Most that charge by the pound tend to over charge. 

Then there is the customers that will say, "lets half the amount you use", thinking they will save money. 
Since you may drop more or less depending on the event I would think a basic flat fee would be best for all.


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## SnowPro11 (Nov 27, 2011)

REAPER;1424447 said:


> Most everyone I know around here charges per app and not by the pound. For one how do you know how much you are dropping? Most that charge by the pound tend to over charge.
> 
> Then there is the customers that will say, "lets half the amount you use", thinking they will save money.
> Since you may drop more or less depending on the event I would think a basic flat fee would be best for all.


It is fairly easy to know how much you are using. If someone is using a tailgate spreader they load 300-600lbs at a time and can look to see about how much they used. Plus, if they are measuring the area to be treated they can know what it will take. 
Someone charging by the pound does not mean they are "over charging". You could say the people that charge a flat rate or per ton are cheating the customer by either under applying what they are billing for or for the per ton person they may have a cheap per ton rate but bill 4 tons when it only takes 2. I see this happen all the time and I LOVE selling against that mentality.
It is our job as snow and ice management professionals to educate the customer why less is not better. It is going to take so much per acre/lane mile to get the results they want. Otherwise, they are increasing the risk of slip and fall accidents. If a customer is going to say "lets use half" I don't think it will matter what type of charge you are using. That is just someone to cheap to care or they have not been well enough educated by the contractor to know the difference. 
Your last comment really makes the least amount of sense to me. Why not just charge them for what is used each time you are there and then you are being compensated for what you use regardless? There are many times I may bill some for 600lbs for a first trip and then only 300lbs on a follow up trip. I could just bill them at 450lbs per visit but if they have a slip and fall the attorney is going to ask how much was used. If you do not know, guess or just say well I bill them the same amount each time it will open you up from a legal standpoint. 
I'm not saying your way is wrong but to say people billing per pound bill too much I would disagree. I think there are more people over billing the amount used with a flat rate or per ton billing than per pound. Plus billing per pound will be more accurate in case of a lawsuit down the road.


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## readysnowplow (Jun 3, 2009)

I normally just take the total sq footage of the location and divide it by the amount of square footage a bag covers (approx 1000) then multiply that by a 50/pound bag and then multiply my amount I charge per pound. This way they get exactly what they pay for on paper. Usually gives me a nice profit and covers me if I want to go heavy.


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