Another chlorine plant fire and service update from Dragoo Services
As you know, last year I sent a notification to all of my clients about the Biolab Lake Charles chlorine facility in Louisiana that erupted into flames after Hurricane Laura hit.
This caused chlorine prices to triple. My cost for a 50 pound bucket of chlorine has gone from $69.00 to $255.00.
To put that in perspective. If I buy every client one bucket of chlorine today, what use to cost $3450.00 now cost $12,750.00
Most of you bought chlorine on your own to make it through the shortage last summer and somehow we managed to keep the pools healthy, which is great.
Now that we are in the winter months and summer will return seemingly quicker than we are prepared for, I have tried to come up with the fairest way to deal with the obvious increase in cost as I provide free chemicals in the all inclusive service.
One of my pool clients sent me an email informing me of a 11-alarm fire last Friday night at a chlorine manufacturing plant in New Jersey. He wrote "Did you see another chlorine plant in New Jersey burnt down last night ~ it just keeps on getting better".
I have checked with pool supply companies that provide all of us cleaners with chemicals to see how everyone is dealing with this. I was informed that many of the pool services have already increased their prices for all included services to $300.00 and even $350.00 per month.
The fairest plan that I have come up with for all of us is instead of raising my prices across the board. I will leave the price the same as it is now, however, chlorine will no longer be included.
I believe this is the fairest solution as every pool has a different demand for chlorine.
All other chemicals will still be free in my service although due to the Covid shipping crises even those are sometimes not as available as they used to be.It's been a crazy year for all of us.
What I suggest is that you buy a bucket of chlorine and leave it by your pumps or tell me where it is stored and when that bucket is empty I will remind you with a notice below the picture of your pool in my weekly service email when it is time to replace it.
I have found that Sam's Club was the cheapest chlorine I could find at $209 for a 40 pound bucket. Cheaper than my supply company but that was last summer and I have not seen chlorine available on their website for many months now. Also when a pallet did arrive at the store it would sell out in one day. Leslie's pool supply is currently $254.99 for a 50 pound bucket. Home Depot has 35 pound buckets for $199
For those of you with a salt pool, this will not affect you.
Sorry about the increased cost. I have always tried to absorb much of the cost of goods when suppliers raised prices but now it is no longer possible for me to absorb it all.
Thank you all for being great clients over the last decade. I look forward to continued service to all of you for many more.
Thank you all and have a wonderful day.
