No more Rock Salt?????????????

[Clarence Martin]

WHAT!!!!! are these stores THINKING!!!!!???????!!!!

I go to the store to restock on a couple of bags of Rock Salt and find they are out of stock. I ask the manager when they are getting more in. It is FEBRUARY, AFTER ALL !!!! Manager says " The COMPANY will NOT ship any more to the store. IT IS OUT OF SEASON !!!! .


REALLY???? It is FEBRUARY in WESTERN NEW YORK !!!

[Sam Murdoch]

I think the read between the lines is that they are ALL OUT. As you know the last few weeks have been brutal snow and ice wise. Cities are likely spending lots of money on sand and salt and leaves nothing left for the little guys. I'm guessing.

[Jerome Stanek]

I just bought some water softener salt for that

[Bill Huber]

Well I guess he is kind of right, we just don't make that much ice cream in the winter.

[Val Kosmider]

Understand your frustration; have been there. BUT, the salt they sold this 'winter' was probably ordered last summer, and shipped in September/October. Sort of like trying to buy a winter coat in February.....if any are left, they prolly are not in your size or color. Oddly, you buy winter gear in late summer, and spring/summer gear in late winter. Sort of like when the Christmas trees go up in BORGS during September.

All quite easy.....albeit confusing.

[Brian Elfert]

These days most seasonal items are ordered well in advance of the season and the stuff is already mostly produced and warehoused by the time the season starts. The manufacturers will have moved onto the next season before they know if the items sell through or not. Warehouse space can be expensive so they don't want to hold onto extras for a year until the next season in most cases. Interestingly enough, I believe it is Toro that is now producing snow blowers year round. They can ship extra if need be. A lot of snow blowers from the upper Midwest went to the East Coast as we have had only 1/3 the normal snow.

A few years back the zipper on my fall coat failed late in the fall. I needed a new Fall coat as too early for a winter coat. I had to drive to a dozen different stores to finally find a fall coat on a clearance rack. The stores had already switched fully over to winter stuff.

[Kevin Nathanson]

Ask them what people are supposed to use in their water softeners; I'm pretty sure people use water all year round.

K

[ken masoumi]

I just bought some water softener salt for that

Ask them what people are supposed to use in their water softeners; I'm pretty sure people use water all year round.

K

I always have a couple of bags of these water softener salt in the house,when I run out of road salt,I use water softener salt instead,it's just a bit more expensive but when you need it who cares ,it does the job just as well.

[Curt Harms]

We've used urea instead of salt for years. It's not corrosive and it makes the grass grow REALLY well in the spring.

[Jim Matthews]

The three seasons of Cattaragus County; Winter, Mud, Roadwork.

[Joe Tilson]

You guys could move down to sunny South Carolina. We hardly ever need the salt, except to kill out stumps, etc. I'm even trying to get it out of my diet.

[Phil Thien]

I just visited my hardware store yesterday morning and bought road salt. I was happy to see they had a variety of ice melt products still left, but the stock did seem to be dwindling. I bought 50# of salt ($7) and I hope it is enough to last me the rest of the year, as I don't know if they will have more.

If I hadn't been able to get this bag I'd certainly have to get WS salt, as my walk keeps icing over.

What is extremely frustrating is, I had received a letter from the village saying my sidewalk wasn't draining properly, and they'd need to remove grass between the sidewalk and street to give the water a place to go. I told them a better solution would be to replace three sidewalk tiles and pitch them properly so water could drain. They were surprised I'd be willing to foot the bill.

So they sent their contractor out, who pullled and replaced the three tiles, and pitched them incorrectly. Ugh.

This summer I'm getting a mud-jacker to fix it for me.

That is another thing: The village won't use mud-jacking. They insist the plugs pop out, and ladies in heels face tripping hazards. I explained that the jacking outfits they've used were the lowest bidders and staffed by college kids that don't blow-out the bottom of the hole properly, so the patch/plug is able to pop-out. I told them to use a better outfit.

I pointed out the patches on my property. All perfect, some hard to find.

It was all falling on deaf ears.

[Clarence Martin]

I just visited my hardware store yesterday morning and bought road salt. I was happy to see they had a variety of ice melt products still left, but the stock did seem to be dwindling. I bought 50# of salt ($7) and I hope it is enough to last me the rest of the year, as I don't know if they will have more.

If I hadn't been able to get this bag I'd certainly have to get WS salt, as my walk keeps icing over.

What is extremely frustrating is, I had received a letter from the village saying my sidewalk wasn't draining properly, and they'd need to remove grass between the sidewalk and street to give the water a place to go. I told them a better solution would be to replace three sidewalk tiles and pitch them properly so water could drain. They were surprised I'd be willing to foot the bill.

So they sent their contractor out, who pullled and replaced the three tiles, and pitched them incorrectly. Ugh.

This summer I'm getting a mud-jacker to fix it for me.

That is another thing: The village won't use mud-jacking. They insist the plugs pop out, and ladies in heels face tripping hazards. I explained that the jacking outfits they've used were the lowest bidders and staffed by college kids that don't blow-out the bottom of the hole properly, so the patch/plug is able to pop-out. I told them to use a better outfit.

I pointed out the patches on my property. All perfect, some hard to find.

It was all falling on deaf ears.

That is because the Municipalities are required to use the lowest bidder. Doesn't matter if for example, a tractor with a higher horsepower rating would get the job done faster and save time and money, it's whatever the specifications on the bid contract say.

[Butch Spears]

To the OP, If you live in an area that you know you will need salt. Why do you not stock up on several Bags? You are criticizing the store for not having extra. Just saying !

[Phil Thien]

That is because the Municipalities are required to use the lowest bidder. Doesn't matter if for example, a tractor with a higher horsepower rating would get the job done faster and save time and money, it's whatever the specifications on the bid contract say.

You're right, but they should spec the job properly when writing the bid requests. And if they have a problem with a job, they should learn from it and move forward, rather than abandoning a method used extensively (and successfully) in villages surrounding us.