ASPEN fuel why so expensive

[Old Mill Tree Care]

I was also told that in holland and Scandinavia its illegal to use 2 stroke in lawn mowers, chainsaws etc.

Alkylate fuels only.

[GardenKit]

it is just too expensive for dealers to stock and have sitting on their shelves for years.

 

Sorry Andy, just can't agree with this statement.

 

I am only a small dealer, working from a 1500 sq ft unit in a small devon village. There are only 2 staff, thats me and my wife.

 

We took on Aspen last Sept and have so far shifted 18 pallets, thats around a 1000 cans. There is not a great margin in it, but even a small margin on 1000 cans is worth having.

There is nothing special about us, if we can shift it anyone can.

 

So it does sell, and there is a demand for it.

 

We only get raised eyebrows about the price from the first time users. They all then see beyond the price and come back time and time again for more.

[GardenKit]

So how much is it??

It currently has an RRP of £17.95 inc vat for 5l of 4t, and £18.15 for 2t.

[Dan Earp]

Thanks. Im interested and have a dealer an hour 15 away. Im starting my company in 18 months and gathering costs ect so i can save and not be shocked with prices or fall flat on ma face. Since the bank wants a 50/50 on a business loan lmao

[Buzzsurgeon]

£16 for 5L in my local husky dealer

[JimM]

I love using the stuff, especially when doing a lot of crosscutting when the exhaust is forever in your face for some time.

 

BUT! I cant be spending £18 on 5 litres, and at the moment I can't store a 200 litre tin of it to bring the cost down to still over £3 per litre.

 

I wonder when they last did some market research to find a price/litre sweet spot that would significantly raise its take-up by a large number of arborists here in the UK? Or a trial pricing period to see if we go for it in numbers that can justify a reduction.

 

Bring the price down to around £2 - £2.50 a litre and I would be using it every day.

[teepeeat]

Petrol - no packaging, bulk transport, established garages, economies of scale

Aspen - packaging, no bulk transport as biggest individual packaging is 210ltr drums, limited quantities.

Not qualified to talk about production costs/liter, but believe it is a bit more than petrol (ignoring economies of scale)

[GardenKit]

Petrol - no packaging, bulk transport, established garages, economies of scale

Aspen - packaging, no bulk transport as biggest individual packaging is 210ltr drums, limited quantities.

Not qualified to talk about production costs/liter, but believe it is a bit more than petrol (ignoring economies of scale)

I think you have got it spot on.

The production process is more expensive than petrol, and on a much smaller scale.

Its then packaged in a stout can, the cans are sleeved, palletised, containerised and shipped to the UK, to be transported from the docks to Anglo in Dorset. The containers are then broken down to be transported from Anglo to the dealer in 54 can pallets.

The dealer stores it then sells it.

 

Its not difficult to see why it costs what it does, even if the base cost of the liquid were reduced, the other costs could not be.

 

So unless you guys get behind it and significantly increase UK volume I doubt you will see a reduction in price. ( unless the government can be persuaded to reduce the fuel tax, they are being lobied)

[Dan Earp]

With all that transportation are they running off aspen aswell lol

[Dan Earp]

So to the lads that use this what % do u charge the client for using it?

Thanks