When Do You Purchase Your Coal for the Year??

I bought 24 ton in spring of 11 for $260/ton including delivery, took 6 weeks to take delivery. The same supplier I bought from then is now priced at $295 ton + delivery. You should add an option(s) for those of us that keep multi year supplies on hand, that would be pretty interesting to see.

For me it's when I get the darn money! I just took a trip to Jeddo and picked up 5.5 tons. Hope to do it earlier next year, although it is beautiful this time of year.

[quote="plumber"]For me it's when I get the darn money! I to struggle with the money, but each year I am able to get the cash together sooner and sooner, I guess they call that planning Just don't tell my bride I am learning how to plan. I have 6000lbs in the coal barn and another 2500 lbs I let a coworker take on credt. I still could not help myself and purchased another 7200 lbs for myself and another 2400lbs in case the guy at work wanted more. I am trying to increase my volume with the guys I split the TL load with. People often ask me "Doesn't it go bad ?"
I tell them it has been in the ground a few million years so a couple of more probably won't spoil it. I have a barn full of Dinosaurs or young diamonds

We bought 15 ton last October @ $200.00 per ton. That should get us through 5 years.

I have 12 skids of coal available (5 in my basement, 5 stacked outside, 2 still @ my dealer) for consumption. My goal is to always have a 4-5 year supply of coal on hand, and with what I have it should last that long at the rate I consume it. I place my order for my coal for the coming winter in April of the year (and pay for it up front) and then move it from my dealer to my house a couple skids at a time. This year I paid $360/2400# skid by purchasing in April. For being located in Michigan and far from NEPA, I think that's a pretty good price. But just like any other commodity that is bulky and used in quantity (say wood for example), if you heat with coal IMHO you should have THIS winter's coal on hand early on (spring or early summer) and be looking to buy NEXT year's coal as soon as the heating season is coming to an end.

DennisH, I agree with you $360.00 per skid 2400# is a very good price living in Michigan. I live in NEPA and have been paying $360 per skid for the last 3 years. I don't know how people that live further away from where the coal is mined can pay the same amount and in some cases less than someone who lives within 100 miles from where it is produced. This was one of the main reasons I built a coal bin and get bulk delivered it's alot cheaper. Maybe the dealers selling bagged coal in my area will lower their prices if enough people start buying in bulk.