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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