This is a
little story of a little entity getting by.
The governor of our state does not believe in little entities. He believes in mergers, consolidations,
bigger is better. He used to work on
Wall Street, Lehman Brothers, to be exact. He has nothing to do with this story, but may
he be a one term governor, and not because of bankruptcy.
Little
entities do understand how big jobs are done. We cooperate with the entities
around us. We lend and borrow equipment and expertise. Our shops keep equipment
in top notch repair.
My fax
machine hummed this summer with schematics for the hydraulics of the back
hoe. The road super showed me one part
that cost $495. He was incensed. I pointed it probably was tempered metal and
had four beautiful welds. I believe the
whole job came in at under a thousand in parts, and our old back hoe is back in
business. A new back hoe? A hundred grand, or more. We’re still saving up for it.
Bringing us
right up to the current topic. Road
salt. How do we get the same price as the great big cities around us? We belong
to their consortium. How do we meet the minimum? By buying the salt for the
village, which has no salt storage facility.
It is extremely convenient for them, as our salt barn is smack in the
middle of their village.
Road salt
remains as contentious a product as in Roman times. There are only two suppliers
in Ohio, Morton and Cargill. They both
mine under Lake Erie, Morton from the Michigan side and Cargill from the Ohio
side, out in eastern Lake County. The
roads are crunchy white out there year round, from the salt trucks coming out
of the mine.
Do they collude? Of course. Do they get in trouble? Once in a while. In the meantime, taxpayers
pay for the salt on their roads, and dearly.
The price has more than doubled in my ten years of paying for it. The consortium's supplier has always been Cargill, but
with only two players in the game, and roads needing cleared and salted in
winter, it just seems obvious that the suppliers, are
maximizing profits. Their job, I
suppose.
Several
years ago fuel surcharges were added. The price of fuel fell, the
consortium complained, the charges dropped.
The last two winters have been mild. The township has not purchased the
amount of salt we committed to. No one has. Cargill whipped out a storage charge of three
dollars a ton. That set the township
back almost a thousand dollars.
The township
nearly met the commitment last year, plus several hundred tons arrears from the
previous contract, but fell one hundred twenty tons short. The road super and I looked at each other and
shrugged. Surely they wouldn’t nick us too badly for that. We also conspired a bit on our own. The mine is always there, full of salt. We would only commit to the minimum tonnage
this year, 620 tons, down from our usual 690.
Well, not
exactly, but it’s closed.
Last week
Cargill called. Order that hundred and
twenty tons now or we would receive an invoice for storage. Five dollars a ton now.
We have
never bought salt the first week of September! But six hundred dollars goes a
long way in the township.
The salt barn two short weeks ago,
when I also discovered pumpkins in the back fill dump.
Salt trucks are a'coming;
keep that loader moving.
Hari Om
ReplyDeleteCrikey. All as I can say is I hope there is a winter worth the having to use up the stock and make it worth the paying for... but that's not a kind thought at all really. Tsk.
YAM &*{
You're looking at about two hundred tons. It takes close to seven to get through a winter here.
DeleteI wish you could help me with my budget!
ReplyDeleteI am surrounded by a salty ocean, but have no need for salt on my road. Thank goodness.
ReplyDeleteHaven't we already had this story/these pictures, Joanne? (I should talk).
ReplyDeleteI'd think you would be more interested in the perfidy of monopolists than seeing a picture again.
DeleteHave I mentioned the governor too often?
You may have done, but my memory's playing tricks on me.
DeleteIt's the perfidy of young women that plays on my mind more than monogamists.
Sharp practice....and no sense of any responsibility towards communities.
ReplyDeleteYou're not the only ones thrown under Cargill's wheels. They pretty much do what they want. Glad you had a place to stash that salt so you could at least avoid the extra charge.
ReplyDeleteThe highway department uses cinders from the volcanic geology around here to help with ice on the road. It doesn't rot cars underneath like salt but it sandblasts the exterior and chips the windows. If there were only a way to get the snow not to fall on the roads.
When salt has run low the road guys supplement with "grits." I've never inquired into the nature of grits, but it leads to the chip and nick complaints you cite.
DeleteThinking about road salt already.....sigh.
ReplyDeleteRoad salt is a completely alien concept to me - but the greed of single suppliers? Sadly all too familiar.
ReplyDeleteSydney built a desalination plant a few years back, we were in drought but then we had floods so as far as I know we have never used it but we will be in drought again so we should use it. Does sea salt work we should have plenty in the future.
ReplyDeleteMerle.........
Sea salt is an expensive road salt option for the interior of the country. A bad winter several years ago and the salt producers ran out. Some municipalities trucked in sea salt. The township used grits.
DeleteNorth of the border salt also comes from near Lake Erie. I read that you started salt mines on your side of the lake and we figured out there must also be some on our side, they dug test wells and Bingo.
ReplyDeleteMaybe your winter will be a mild one? Hope?
ReplyDeleteRoad salt and the storage for it aren't something we need to think about down here. We rarely get ice on our roads, maybe an occasional icy spot on frosty nights is all.
ReplyDeleteI hope your winter is mild enough that you don't need to use all that salt and have enough for next year too.
There was always a worry in Chicago about having enough salt for the season. We usually had such cold and snowy winters. I'm hoping your salt holds out.
ReplyDeleteI've never thought about where the salt came from and the need to store it...very interesting! Hope you have a mild winter.
ReplyDeleteI never knew they mined salt under the lake. Learn something new every day!
ReplyDeleteYou load sixteen tons, what do you get
ReplyDeleteAnother day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store
I don't know what you get with 120 tons. A broken front loader?
I'm terrible. I feel about salt on my streets the same way that I feel about my car. I just want it to work. I don't want to know that specifics....
ReplyDeleteI often see salt stores here, they are cone shaped and weird. I have never wondered where the salt comes from or who pays for it. The Highways Agency, I guess. ?? I think you organise it completely differently in the US.
ReplyDeleteVery, VERY familiar with salt here in Maritime Canada!
ReplyDelete