Hi all,
I have been ringing around the oil companies today trying to find out about minimum orders, discounts to be expected on orders, etc.
Doing a percentage discount based on size of order (my preferred method of discount) doesn’t seem to be an option so far – although I’m still ringing around. It would seem one is always going to have to ring around on the day before delivery to find out the price.
It seems to me that to obtain the biggest discount possible, we need to match like with like on the oil tank front. We probably need two co-ops rather than one.
People with tanks that are 6 wheel tank accessible and need to buy at least 500 litres minimum would be a good match on one co-op front.
People who have tanks with restricted access (ie are accessible only by a 4 wheel rather than 6 wheel vehicle) and/or need order less than 500 litres of oil would be a good match for another co-op.
The reason for this is the discount is based on delivering the most fuel in as few stops or ‘drops’ as possible. The cost to the oil company is not simply bringing the oil from the depot to the village, but every single stop takes time and therefore adds to the cost. So even if you have an accessible tank, if you only need 300 or 400 litres of fuel, you are adding a drop. If we get a co-op order of 10,000 or 15,000 litres, but there are 17 drops, we are not going to get any discount at all!
Another problem that has arisen in the past is that people say they need 500 litres, but don’t really – they perhaps need only 300 litres. So then the tanker has to go back to the depot with fuel still on board, and if that tanker needs to fill up with diesel for truckers or something, the whole thing needs to be emptied. That is why it is better for the smaller orders to all go together, rather than tacked on to the bigger orders.
The biggest discount is going to go deliveries of 10,000+ litres in 10 or less drops. You’ll probably save roughly 2p per litre, maybe a bit more or a bit less, depending on how far we can wear them down!
People who have 500 or less litres of oil delivered pay significantly more for their oil. The price for having 500 litres from Halso was £41.90 per litre vs £39.90 for 1,000 litres. This is before any discount.
So you can see why people with larger tanks going together, and people with smaller tanks going together makes bargaining with the oil companies easier, because you are comparing like with like.
I’m still getting information together, but thought it was worth updating everyone on what I had learnt so far.
I do need to order oil, and I would be interested to hear from people who do not have restricted access and need at least 500 litres of oil.
I may be giving out information that people already know – so sorry about that if I’m preaching to the converted – it was all new to me. Also, if you know anyone who is interested in the co-op but not online, please pass the message on to them.
– Debbie W.
LATEST UPDATE: For comparative prices, useful phone numbers and an offer to start an ordering group for anyone ordering 900+ litres at a time (with no access issues), please see these further comments from Debbie.
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I have the memory stick that contains the names of interested parties taken by Karen at the meeting last week, unfortunately I am having problems with the password so will not be able to open it until Karen is back from leave next week.
However if people that were not at the meeting want to also register interest in an oil co-op please email us at parwich@hotmail.co.uk and we will add you name to the file when we can open it. Let us know also the size of your tank, your phone number and whether you are oil or LPG.
Obviously if you need oil now contact Debbie, who will be doing an order in the next day or so (we will forward emails sent to parwich@hotmail.co.uk ).
Debbie – thanks for this. We’re still interested in ordering and I have sent you an email.
Here is the latest…
Finished ringing around and it was all very interesting price wise. Some companies, such as Stoddards, do different prices depending on the amount you are having, starting at 500 litres going up to 1500. They will do a price for a group delivery as well, providing there are no tanker/access issues.
Halso aren’t particularly interested in co-ops or negotiating, but I did find their prices keen (although not the best today). 4 Fuels were not interested in talking to me either, although their price wasn’t the highest by any means, she couldn’t deliver for a week anyways.
Very helpful were Dove Fuels, who also had the best price – we ordered 3,600 litres of fuel over 4 drops for 38.95 per litre. A small savings for me and my big tank (1p per litre), but a huge savings for the two odering less than 1000 (5p per litre).
Peak Oil made lots of noise about being interested in our co-op, but at the end of the day didn’t really want to negotiate prices. They also had the highest prices overall, particularly for those ordering 500 litres or less – at 46.99! (Although I believe they are the closest, so go figure.)
Tried to ring all the companies on the parwich.org list, althouth EMO and CPL never answered their phone, and AID, although very, very nice are out of our area.
The main players are:
Peak Oil 01246 450242
Halso 345440
4Fuels 01538 266272
Stoddards 08005 426455
AID
oops – connection broke! Not AID but
Dove 01543 670677
Hope this helps.
I think where I’m at is if anyone who wants to order 900+ litres plus at a time (and who does not have access issues) wants to contact me at DebbieWebster@btinternet.com I’ll make a list and start an ordering group.
Cheers
Debs
Great work, Debbie – thanks very much for your efforts!
I suspect we will need to order more than 900l in a couple of weeks. We’re down to “3”. No access issues here.
the number for EMO is the local rep’s nr: 07766 504368, but they were 46.22 this morning (1st March 2010)
Hi,
I think you are being given the run around. The idea that the number of local drops is significant to their costs is hard to believe. I don’t know your local geography but round here a driver normally make 15-20 drops per day. That’s from 24-32 minutes in an 8 hour day. When they do three homes in my street in a syndicate run the tanker is in and gone in 25 minutes. There are some places in the vaillage where they can make two or three deliveries without moving the tanker.
I publish ALL the savings data for the syndicates I run. As an overall working average we get between 3 and 9p/litre off the AVERAGE of the local suppliers.
On my web site I run a forum for syndicate managers to discuss this kind of stuff. Join up! No cost, no risk, LOADS of experience to tap. We have syndicate managers with groups from 30 to 600+ members on there, and 1 to 10 years experience in this stuff.