One reason I use Aspen

[Mik the Miller]

13 hours ago, GardenKit said:

Almost correct Mik, but the discount I offer for 3 or more cans is 5%, not 3%.  But this only applies up to 54 cans. 

<snip>

Admittedly its still nearly 3 times the price of pump fuel, but its not pump fuel. Aspen should not be compared to pump fuel on price alone, there are many benefits that are difficult to put a price on.

 

Sorry I read that as 3% on 3 cans or more not 5% - my apologies.

Genreally though my point was that it is difficult to qualify (in my opinion/circumstance) paying (almost) three times the price of petrol.

 

In my opinion Alkalyte is overpriced here in the UK, not becasue of the retailers (you in this instance Mr GardenKit) but because the distributors are agreesively marking it up. I do agree that if petrol were sold in 5L cans it would be more than it is, hwever you are forced to buy your Alkalyte in this packaging as there is no alternative and you need a licence to hold more than 10L in plastic cans ...

[peatff]

It ought to be sold like petrol where you can take your can and have it filled. It bugs me that the containers are not recycled in this way. I hate wasting something useful.

[AHPP]

Stihl have changed their five litre MotoMix cans from the clear ones (that are as good as any can you'd buy from a garage if you ran out of fuel) to orange disposable ones like Aspen's always come in. A great shame because they were handy cans. A dealer told me it was so that users could crush them down to get them in bins.

There's a cracking bit in The Book of Eli about wastefulness:

 

Solara: Do you remember what it was like? I mean, in the world before?

Eli: People had more than they needed. We had no idea what was precious, what wasn't. We threw away things people kill each other for now.

[PC Treescapes]

We buy it in the 200litre metal drum and then you don't have a load of plastic bottles to get rid of, just the one off cost of a barrel pump.

[GardenKit]

A few interesting comments in the last few posts.

 

Yes, it would be good to see Aspen in pumps, just as are found in several european countries, but I don't think it will happen in the UK for a good few years. Despite the continual growth in sales over the last few years the overall sales in the UK are still quite low.

We are in the top 10 best selling UK Aspen dealers yet our sales still fall far short of justifying a bulk tank, and, if I am honest, a good 80% of our customers would prefer buying in the 5 litre cans and be dismayed if we only sold by pump. They love the cans for the convenience and cleanliness of buying, transporting and storing the fuel.

 

The 5litre cans do seem a bit wasteful, but they are completely recyclable as they are made from exactly the same plastic as the humble milk bottle which we are more than happy to dispose of in the recycle bin. Nobody seem to be calling for Tesco to have a milk churn from which we can fill our own containers, and also many people prefer to buy expensive water in throw away bottles rather than take it from the bulk supply we all have in our kitchens, so the Aspen can is no more controversial.

Simply remove the lid and the 'wrap' and put you empties in the recycle bin where they will go on to bigger and better things.

 

For those who use higher volumes of Aspen there is always the option, as has been said, of buying in 200 litre steel drums. Several of the pro users we supply have gone over to these.

 

And, in answer to Mik the Miller's statement, I do not agree that Aspen is overpriced. True, it is expensive, but it is after all an expensive product to produce, bottle, and transport to the UK. Then it has to be stored in a bonded warehouse, pallets have to be broken down and repacked for onward distribution to dealers and bulk users. This all costs money and, believe me, nobody in the supply chain is "aggressively marking up", if anything, the margins are a little too low for a sensible business plan.

[AHPP]

2 hours ago, GardenKit said:

Nobody seem to be calling for Tesco to have a milk churn from which we can fill our own containers

I had that written in my post above but took it out to not cloud the issue!

[peatff]

We have our milk delivered in glass bottles and the milkman collects them and leaves us another full one, controversial I know but it's how we like to do things. 

Edited November 16, 2017 by peatff
speelong

[kcstevens]

A few interesting comments in the last few posts.
 
Yes, it would be good to see Aspen in pumps, just as are found in several european countries, but I don't think it will happen in the UK for a good few years. Despite the continual growth in sales over the last few years the overall sales in the UK are still quite low.
We are in the top 10 best selling UK Aspen dealers yet our sales still fall far short of justifying a bulk tank, and, if I am honest, a good 80% of our customers would prefer buying in the 5 litre cans and be dismayed if we only sold by pump. They love the cans for the convenience and cleanliness of buying, transporting and storing the fuel.
 
The 5litre cans do seem a bit wasteful, but they are completely recyclable as they are made from exactly the same plastic as the humble milk bottle which we are more than happy to dispose of in the recycle bin. Nobody seem to be calling for Tesco to have a milk churn from which we can fill our own containers, and also many people prefer to buy expensive water in throw away bottles rather than take it from the bulk supply we all have in our kitchens, so the Aspen can is no more controversial.
Simply remove the lid and the 'wrap' and put you empties in the recycle bin where they will go on to bigger and better things.
 
For those who use higher volumes of Aspen there is always the option, as has been said, of buying in 200 litre steel drums. Several of the pro users we supply have gone over to these.
 
And, in answer to Mik the Miller's statement, I do not agree that Aspen is overpriced. True, it is expensive, but it is after all an expensive product to produce, bottle, and transport to the UK. Then it has to be stored in a bonded warehouse, pallets have to be broken down and repacked for onward distribution to dealers and bulk users. This all costs money and, believe me, nobody in the supply chain is "aggressively marking up", if anything, the margins are a little too low for a sensible business plan.

Is the reason why most people like to buy it in 5l bottles because most people that buy it are none pro. Therefore don't use a lot and like it for the shelf life. My local dealer actually said how it's not worth it on a commercial bases... whoops

[kcstevens]

Also, Is the health benefits all a bit of a fad. Due to the plastic??? Short sighted maybe. Hopefully not

[GardenKit]

2 hours ago, kcstevens said:

 

Is the reason why most people like to buy it in 5l bottles because most people that buy it are none pro. Therefore don't use a lot and like it for the shelf life. My local dealer actually said how it's not worth it on a commercial bases... whoops

 

Yes, to be honest, even though we sell an incredible amount of Aspen I would guess that 80% goes to domestic users and 'one man band' pro users. They love the convenience of the 5 litre cans, and the domestic users far prefer picking up prepacked fuel to trying to fill a can at the pump. Even if we were able to install an aspen pump most buyers would still buy in cans, unless we filled their cans for them which would simply not be cost effective for us.

Your local dealers comments are true up to a point. The profit margin is low compared to most other items we sell. This coupled to the time it takes to explain the benefits to new customers make it almost not worth selling. But once converted, a customer just keeps coming back for more Aspen, which of course gets him in our shop much more often and he seldom leaves without buying something else, or at least having a desire for a shiny new machine. Along with the fact that existing machines start and run so much better on Aspen the customer is now much happier with his kit and our service and so becomes much more loyal than before. Aspen is also a talking point for many customers 'over the fence' and many more word of mouth referrals take place now than in pre Aspen days. 

Even though our profit per can is low, the amount we sell generates just about enough profit to pay the rent on the unit, so we can't grumble. Selling Aspen has totally changed our business fro the better