So How Do You Get Your Coal to Your House?

I was looking at some local prices online and I saw an advertisement for loose rice coal around $225 per ton picked up. I was wondering how everyone gets their coal delivered? I have a Dodge Ram 1500 with a cap on it. I've never picked up coal before (always got bags). I'm wondering if I should try a variation of filling half the coal in the back of the truck, then towing a trailer with the other half? Has anyone had experience with this? When I look at trailers (like renting them from U-Haul) their open trailers are only rated to carry like 1000 pounds. Or would I be better off just getting a couple tons delivered (less hassle)? Do you know how most places load your trailers... skid loader, back hoe, etc.?

its different with everyone, first off I would recommend filling out the rest of your profile info, because for all we know you could be in PA or Maine, hauling coal can be dangerous too if you are overloading the vehicle that you have, I will be getting my coal delivered this year bulk from a guy in my area, it will be dumped right into my bin, last year I drove over to vermont and purchased it bagged by the 2400 lb pallet, and hauled it on the car trailer, they loaded it with a fork lift. Some people get tractor trailer loads, some people pick it up 100 lbs at a time, it all depends on what is easiest for you and how much work you feel like doing, and how much you feel like spending.

I live 6-8 miles from all the local breakers. Glen Burn loads it with a skid loader, however if you go to Blaschak they load the truck right out of the breaker. Direnzo also loads out of the breaker. Not sure what Reading does.

A man with a big truck & a conveyor

I have a Ram 1500 also. I hauled 3 or 4 tons bulk for myself last year, 1 ton at a time just over 19 miles one way. I also had 3 tons delivered.

I have 5 tons of bulk bit coal being delivered tomorrow and dumped in my driveway.

I pick up bulk at the mine about 50 miles from my house. About 2 tons at a time. Lehigh loads it with a bobcat. STCP loads from the breaker.
My truck is an F350 long bed. The truck handles the weight no problem but if I get pulled over I will be overweight due to my registration saying I can only haul a ton.
Around me dump trailers are available for rent for $60 a day. They are rated for 3 tons. You may need an electric brake controller for the trailer though.
Oh and don't forget the joy of shoveling 2 tons!!
It's still better than splitting wood.

Saving the cost of delivery is always conditional on whether you could make more money working at your regular work for the time and expense involved. That assumes of course that your regular work can provide that extra money.

I had 6 ton delivered & conveyed into a gravity wagon. I pull it over to the back cellar door. When I need coal, I fill 5 gallon pails from the gravity wagon.

We had Jono Hardware deliver 4 tons of Reading rice with their hi-lift truck & chute it into our boiler's bin,we haul 1 ton picked up at there site when we need coal & do not have the money for multiple tons or when we want nut for our house stove,we haul ourselves & shovel it into buckets .When we pick up coal at there site ,they load the truck with a skid loader. They charge $220/ton picked up,$220/ton delivered if 4 tons or more,under 4 tons is $235/ton for 2-3 tons.

windyhill4.2 wrote:We had Jono Hardware deliver 4 tons of Reading rice with their hi-lift truck & chute it into our boiler's bin,we haul 1 ton picked up at there site when we need coal & do not have the money for multiple tons or when we want nut for our house stove,we haul ourselves & shovel it into buckets .When we pick up coal at there site ,they load the truck with a skid loader. They charge $220/ton picked up,$220/ton delivered if 4 tons or more,under 4 tons is $235/ton for 2-3 tons.

Getting away from the shop once in awhile is good but the shop work pays a lot more than the $15 per ton you save and probably easier too. In the slack season is a different story.

I just call my buddy Scott and he, like Carmac the magician, appears with a 3 ton load.

I have used a trailer to pick up a ton at a time. When I was using buckets to get it in the house I would put a tarp on the trailer and then set about 25 buckets on that. The guy I picked up my coal from would use a front end loader and dump into the loader filling most of the buckets. That gave me a lot less shoveling to do when I got home.

This year I'm hiring a buddy that has an excavating business to use his dump truck to get 8 ton brought here.

franco b wrote:

windyhill4.2 wrote:We had Jono Hardware deliver 4 tons of Reading rice with their hi-lift truck & chute it into our boiler's bin,we haul 1 ton picked up at there site when we need coal & do not have the money for multiple tons or when we want nut for our house stove,we haul ourselves & shovel it into buckets .When we pick up coal at there site ,they load the truck with a skid loader. They charge $220/ton picked up,$220/ton delivered if 4 tons or more,under 4 tons is $235/ton for 2-3 tons.

Getting away from the shop once in awhile is good but the shop work pays a lot more than the $15 per ton you save and probably easier too. In the slack season is a different story.

With 5 miles round trip,not much time is spent picking up a ton. We are using buckets as our storage for the nut coal,they likely would not like to unload from the trucks coal chute into buckets & their 1 ton price is $235/ton + $35 for delivery. We do not have enough buckets yet for 2 ton,nor did we have the $$ needed for 2 ton. We are planning to lite the stove tomorrow,so we needed to get coal now,not in another month.

My first year burning coal I used 55 gallon steel barrels and used my work Truck that had a lift on it. Worked good but moving around the 450 pound barrels was challenging once I got them on the ground. Once we had a coating of snow I would slip a saucer sled underneath them to get them closer to my coal chute door.

Lightning wrote:My first year burning coal I used 55 gallon steel barrels and used my work Truck that had a lift on it. Worked good but moving around the 450 pound barrels was challenging once I got them on the ground. Once we had a coating of snow I would slip a saucer sled underneath them to get them closer to my coal chute door.

Years ago when coal and coal trucks were common I was surprised to see many times that a wooden barrel was filled, tipped to one side and rolled to a coal chute leading to the cellar coal bin. The trucks all had a unique wheelbarrow with pipe handles, but the barrel was often preferred.