On September 24, Tom Swan of Black Swan Fireside Hearth & Home in Connecticut received a form letter addressed to “Dear New England Wood Pellet Retailer” that said, “We regret to inform you that we will not be able to fulfill your Q4 2014 request (15 truckloads).”

It was from “The Sales Team.”

Nice and personal, eh? Sort of like the ISIS executioner protecting his identity by wearing a black mask. Apparently no one at NEWP wanted their name attached to a letter that was going to do great damage to many retailers, as well as to great numbers of their customers who rely on them for fuel for the winter.

Nor does anyone at NEWP want to talk about the company’s reprehensible actions. Hearth & Home placed a number of calls to NEWP and were told that only the boss – president and CEO Mark Wilson – could discuss why the letter was sent and orders cancelled. Trouble is, Wilson won’t take calls. For all we know, he’s hiding out somewhere, most likely some place warm.

Tons of wood pellets marked for sale in front of Home Depot in Rutland, Vermont on November 3.

Swan did send a letter to Rocco Bouse at NEWP that began, “After a sleepless night … I am struggling to understand how NEWP could have pushed so hard for 4th Quarter orders, then turned around just a couple of weeks later and cancelled all of them … This is similar to what happened with NEWP last season.”

Swan, who does feel a great responsibility to his customers, then spent $60,000 buying a tractor/trailer to haul pellets from other mills. Both Energex America and Hamer Pellet Fuel stepped up to help.

NEWP had cited “significantly stronger sales during the summer months” as the cause of “dramatically lower inventories.” However, the truth – as we understand it – emerged on November 3 in an article in the Rutland Herald entitled “Availability of wood pellets at issue.”

LaValley Building Supply, a 10-store chain with stores in both Vermont and New Hampshire, received that same letter from NEWP; the company has been a customer of NEWP for the past 10 or 12 years, and NEWP is – was? – its only supplier of pellets.

In a letter apologizing to its customers, LaValley said, “We had 90 truckloads of New England Wood Pellets on order for the 4th Quarter and have been told that we would not be getting any of them as their entire production has been sold to Home Depot, Lowe’s and Tractor Supply.”

Larry Huot, president of LaValley Building Supply, speculated that NEWP’s decision could lead to higher prices of pellets at those stores, which is not in the best interests of the community. He also dismissed the company’s reasons for its actions. Huot said that “when supplies are tight the normal course of action is to ration the commodity.”

The Next Level

Over the past 34 years or so, we’ve all watched the attempts of many European companies to conquer the North American market. Most exhibit but a shallow knowledge of what is required to successfully market a product in the U.S. or Canada. Their attempt to transplant European experiences into western soil just doesn’t work.

Now comes Stûv, a Belgian company with a different approach; it’s in the process of creating a network of distributors throughout North America; however, it already has approximately 50 dealers thanks to a trailblazing Canadian couple, based in Montreal, that has been importing Stûv products for seven years. They also have set up offices, a showroom and a warehouse in Montreal, and thus a strong foundation for growth. Now it’s time to take it to the next level (See The Second Step).

Happy Holidays from everyone at Village West Publishing!