You’ve weathered the storms, literally, across Washington DC, Baltimore, Virginia, or even Southern Pennsylvania. The snow removal business has been good, and your clients have been pleasantly satisfied with your work and choice of ice melt supplier for the winter season. Now what?
The snow removal season is done and gone until next year, and the Snow & Ice management has been exceptional. So, is it time to pack in all that rock salt, road salt, and associated snow removal tools for the next season then? Almost.
Warning: Weather is unpredictable
We certainly don’t need to tell you this, but it brings up our first point: Weather is strange, as it can be both predictable and chaotic at the same time. We assume that there is no longer any need for contacting a road salt or bulk salt supplier in the mid-Atlantic region come springtime.
Yet there are always a few instances of snowstorms and ice that could accumulate randomly even for just a few days. Hanging in there and maintaining your state of readiness to respond quickly is critical, especially since many people will not be prepared anymore this season. Drivers will have already switched out their winter tires out, meaning they’ll have less traction that is necessary when the roads can end up slippery and partially frozen. Many stores have stopped stocking ice melt.
People will not be expecting to drive or walk in parking lots in a freak end-of-season snowstorm. So be prepared with that last batch of ice melt, liquid brine and deicer solutions just in case there’s the off chance it happens. That’s one of the things that will set your professional snow removal business apart from the “chuck-in-a-truck” guys.
Time to check the data
Another great thing that can be done at the end of each season is to do an inventory check. See how much of that Calcium Chloride was utilized versus Magnesium Chloride or Calcium Magnesium Acetate products.
For every year you start to track that type of data with your snow removal duties, it’s another year of knowing what to expect going forward. Your Ice Melt chemicals supplier will be thrilled when you start to understand what to order when the season comes around. Data points such as this are an essential component for proper and effective snow & ice management companies.
Consistently having to reorder during the season because of the lack of proper inventory planning and reporting each year can be costly and affect the margins as any ice melt supplier during the heavy snow seasons are already busy working with other snow removal businesses.
Also, as a supplier of commercial companies and government facilities, we typically work in bulk salt orders to keep the demand that happens year over year. Therefore, tracking the product needed versus the reordering comes from both sides of the table, from the ice melt supplier to the snow & ice management company.
This helps improve those margins for ice melt chemicals year over year, as ordering in the offseason is now possible, and off-season prices will be much lower than when the season starts.
Bulking out your snow removal supplies in that way will really help with the yearly budgeting and maximize profits through the reduction of those expenses. Your rock salt supplier will also be able to guarantee delivery of the requested products, whether it’s generic road salt or specialized liquid brine, or other deicing solutions.
Transportation will be more manageable as your ice melt chemicals supplier won’t be rushing to cover orders and handling excessive logistics.
How to keep getting paid in the off-season: Dust Control
Keep in mind that there may be less of a need for Calcium Chloride or other deicer solutions, but that doesn’t mean that there’s going to be no need. As a supplier for industrial companies and manufacturing companies, there’s a lot that goes on in those areas or on the job sites.
Those job sites are in dire need of dust control, which can end up being nearly as resource intensive as it is when ice melt chemicals are being utilized for deicing and snow removal. So dust control is a significant need in the mid-Atlantic region, and we know as a supplier for municipalities that it isn’t just for construction sites either.
Many areas still have dirt roads, or the side of the roads are dirt, which can end up pushing out the dirt and becoming dust. That dust itself will lead to significant respiratory issues, while at the same time will also end up causing damage to the cars and other automobiles on those highways.
The dirt and dust can be picked up and get into the car systems, or it can get on the roads themselves and cause additional strain on the vehicle tires, requiring more maintenance and replacement of tires.
Dust control takes upfront and center when the winter season ends, and it’s a great way to finish up the season’s inventory of ice melt, rock salt, and other ice melt chemicals.
There may be a much reduced need for liquid brine or other pre-deicing solutions during this phase, but don’t worry, as they’ll be able to last over to the next season. Make sure to have your bulk salt supplier on speed dial, as you may find yourself working to prevent a lot of dust control throughout the next six to nine months as the weather starts to prepare itself for snow removal.
Secure the best ice melt supplier
Being a supplier for government properties and government facilities, as well as commercial businesses, we help to provide maximum flexibility with our offering and ordering of all of our ice melt chemicals.
Snow & Ice Management and then dust control down the line are things that seem to come to the surface when the snow and dust are already there. With some proper planning in advance and some reporting and tracking of your ice melt chemicals usage, it’ll continue to help the overall industry with how to be able to prepare for the erratic weather patterns and dust issues that we come across in the mid-Atlantic region.
Feel free to reach out to us for your next bulk salt or deicing order, and if you want to know what quantities are needed, we’re there to help provide you with our data and information to help with your decision-making process.