Very Cheap Pool Chemicals?

[mercurial]

Although I would always love to learn about places that sell chemicals for cheaper, this question is more in regard to why pool chemicals are so expensive in the first place.

When you look at the basic chemicals that control a pool's pH and sanitize it, they are incredibly basic compounds; muriatic acid, calcium/sodium hypochlorite, cyanuric acid, etc. The former two chemicals are in widespread industrial use, and should be incredibly cheap to purchase.

So why are calcium hypochlorite buckets so commonly sold for $100+? Equally shocking is the fact that internet "discount" pool supplies places seem to have only marginally lower prices, if at all, to brick and mortar retail establishments.

In a similar vein of thought, why do companies like polaris get away with charging $40 for a leaf bag that cost 10 cents to make? In the short time I have been a pool owner, I have been repeatedly shocked at the apparent lack of competition and the exorbitant prices leveraged by various merchants for pool related goods. I see no reason why this industry is not ripe for a well funded company to come in and start producing discounted, aftermarket parts for all major equipment, or distribute foreign-sourced, discount labelled calcium hypochlorite (buffered or otherwise) for 50% of vendors currently charge. Competition is broken in this industry, which seems like a pretty big business opportunity if you ask me.

[jkusmier]

Although I would always love to learn about places that sell chemicals for cheaper, this question is more in regard to why pool chemicals are so expensive in the first place.

When you look at the basic chemicals that control a pool's pH and sanitize it, they are incredibly basic compounds; muriatic acid, calcium/sodium hypochlorite, cyanuric acid, etc. The former two chemicals are in widespread industrial use, and should be incredibly cheap to purchase.

So why are calcium hypochlorite buckets so commonly sold for $100+? Equally shocking is the fact that internet "discount" pool supplies places seem to have only marginally lower prices, if at all, to brick and mortar retail establishments.

In a similar vein of thought, why do companies like polaris get away with charging $40 for a leaf bag that cost 10 cents to make? In the short time I have been a pool owner, I have been repeatedly shocked at the apparent lack of competition and the exorbitant prices leveraged by various merchants for pool related goods. I see no reason why this industry is not ripe for a well funded company to come in and start producing discounted, aftermarket parts for all major equipment, or distribute foreign-sourced, discount labelled calcium hypochlorite (buffered or otherwise) for 50% of vendors currently charge. Competition is broken in this industry, which seems like a pretty big business opportunity if you ask me.

Best answer I can summon - the pool chem industry is driven largely by people who either don't know any better or simply don't care. I presume it's primarily the former, but visit your local pool store on a hot summer weekend (e.g. the Fourth of July, but I think Memorial Day Weekend is actually better) and observe the customers walking out w/ arms full of buckets and bags full of stuff they don't really need. Bottom line, be thankful you're not one of them!!!

[noseplug]

As a skier and a bicyclist, I have always resented how the "lifestyle" industry will bend two pieces of pipe worth $10, call it a ski rack or a bike rack and charge $250 for it. Now that I have a pool, I see the same thing. Everything is outrageously priced. I think the marketing idea is that if people have money for a pool, they have money to burn.

When I first started my business, I noticed this too. Mom and pop office supply stores would charge a fortune for a file cabinet. This was pre-internet, pre-Staples. I would love to see a national discount chain emerge that handles summer sports/winter sports and just adjusts the floor space according to the season, with huge "end of season" blowouts twice a year as they adjust the floor space.

[AFiremanFirst]

I agree, and understand...

As a technician that deals with 3 local "wholesalers" in DFW TX, I mention that because we have an enormous airport, the answer I consistently recieve is Hazardous Material transportation cost. And I can get on board. For instance. I buy a 100lb bucket of cal hypo for $130.00 a bargain you say! Well okay fine. With a tax ID and homemade business card, you probably can too! MA is $10.00 for 4 gallons. I could go on and on. So trying to make a buck... I looked into opening a pool chemical supply company. The problem becomes that shipping haz-mat materials is outrageous. The scope of my business, if I built one, would be the distance I was willing to drive to deliver my products. And as americans, we like instant gratification regardless of cost, especially pool owners, myself included. So you don't buy 100lbs at a time... why not!!! you'll need it all eventually! Instead you opt for the 25lb bucket at half the cost of 100lb. Oh yeah, because you only need 10lbs this weekend and 10lbs is 1/2 as much as 25lbs and you can justify needing another 10 lbs later this year, and now you've got 5 lbs for free. My point being... I can't run a chemical delivery route and make money, because you won't buy the chemicals you need in advance!!!

So the answer to your question is us. We are, you are, pool owners are the reason the cost is so high, because they can charge what you will pay, and you pay it! Wanna boycott Leslie's, it will only cost us more when they reopen their doors and we are back to fix our pools that turned green during the boycott!

The polaris bag... Yeah that upsets me too!!! My wholesale is about 23% off retail, when everything else is about 45%. It's called a monopoly. Sure there's pentair, but most of their parts are hijacked from polaris, so they buy their bearings, up charge them and then sell them to you! to us!

I have found a solution however!!! I run 15 full service pools a week. not many but enough on top of being a 24 on 48 off firefighter. I have incorporated a chemical only service for the guy that doesn't have time to go to leslies and have his chemicals tested, then pay their prices and treat his pool. I instead charge $40.00 a month, then they pay wholesale prices for chemicals on top of that, and in the end they typically save a ton of money. Plus I get their filter services, and repairs!!! I compete with the only guy using liquid chlorine, but he's typically high and has poor customer service skills!

Consider it a model for you, get a tax id, a business card, a letter head, and help your neighbors out!

[chem geek]

What you describe makes a lot of sense for why some products are more expensive in absolute terms (such as Cal-Hypo), but the reason why some pool store products are more expensive then the EXACT SAME CHEMICALS found in the grocery or big-box store is simply MARGINS. The profit margin for the product is higher from the manufacturer packaging identical chemicals for the pool/spa market because they figure that pool homeowners will pay more than someone buying from the grocery store. They also figure that a spa owner will pay even more since their quantities are generally lower so spa products that are identical to pool products usually cost more. Pool stores also do not have the volume of a large grocery store so have to have a higher profit margin to support the lower $ per square foot in revenue and, most especially, the higher cost of a person at the counter over a much lower volume of revenue per employee.

Ironically, if the advice from pool stores were more consistently accurate, then one could justify some of the premium pricing with the good advice that is received. Sadly, this does not happen in many pool stores (some are, of course, great).

However, when it comes to transport and other regulatory costs, those apply equally to all store types for the same products. I wrote this post regarding the purity of grocery/hardware store products that are equivalent to those sold in pool stores because some pool stores claim that the pool products are special or different and that the grocery/hardware products are impure or have things in them that are bad for the pool (lies, lies, and more lies -- though one does need to be careful to get unscented non-specialty bleach).

[Maurice808]

I have always thought the premium charged by the local pool store has been quite worth it. They don't have the volume to be able to remain in business by not having higher prices. If I knew what I was doing, I wouldn't need their expert advice or products. I compare it to a brick and mortar store vs buying online. If you go to a brick and mortar store to view the different models in person, try it on, get a feel for it, then buy online to save $2, you are hurting yourself in the long run as the brick and mortar store will not be in business for long. I will gladly pay a few extra $$$ to have someone who knows what they are doing help me out. Next time you are at the grocery store, ask the clerk how much bleach you need to add to your 20K gallon pool to get rid of algae. To me, I like the expertise and there is value in the higher prices.

[waterbear]

If I knew what I was doing, I wouldn't need their expert advice or products.

And you are making the very wrong assumption that the people at the pool store do. Sadly, this is more too often not the case.

For example, how about a pool store telling you that their total alkalinity increaser is NOT sodium bicarbonate (ordinary baking soda, which is what total alkalinity increaser is!) but is sodium hydrogen carbonate, which is why it is more expensive. You wouldn't believe how many people buy into this bit of fraud from high end Bioguard dealers (Bioguard sells sodium hydrogen carbonate as a total alkalinity increaser.)

Now do a bit of research (if you don't already have a chemistry background) and you find out that common baking soda had a few different chemical names. They are EXACTLY the same. Is this the expertise you are referring to?

In defense of the dealers, they are just parroting back the information that is given to them by the manufacturers (who in the case of total Alkalinity increaser, are most likely buying it from Church and Dwight. You probably know this company by their most famous brand, Arm and Hammer.)

[icreatepools4u]

I agree... Whether you are looking for swimming pool clarifiers or swimming pool liner cleaners, you will find all the pool cleaning chemicals you need at very high price.