A need to improve propane delivery efficiencies

David Lowe, vice president of sales at Pro Image Communications, says his company is discovering through multiple studies around the country that propane retailers are filling customer tanks at between 38 percent and 44 percent full.

“It was staggering,” says Lowe, a former propane retailer. “I thought it would be 30 to 35 percent.”

Lowe says retailers have plenty of room to improve delivery efficiencies. He also says retailers are often overly concerned about price.

“Marketers are hung up on price,” he says. “They will do anything to save a quarter of a cent on transportation. They spend a disproportionate amount of time on the buy as opposed to the retail side. Do what you can on the wholesale side and control the retail side.”

Lowe suggests that retailers raise their prices as needed to cover wholesale costs and maintain their margins.

“They spend so much energy and resources on the wholesale side of which they have virtually no control, and you can do something with the retail side. To me that makes a lot more sense and you can buy less fuel,” he says. “They’re delivering too much fuel because they’re making too many deliveries.”