RogueRose
International Hazard
Posts: 1594
Registered: 16-6-2014
Member Is Offline
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Prices of Chemical products (paint related, cleaning, pool chems, automobile related)
I was looking through some of the chemicals at a local thrift shop and they had some really good deals on partially used containers of chems like
paint thinner, paint stripper, concrete cleaner, etc. One of them was acetic acid 60% (rest water), gallon jug for $1. not bad deal.
I started looking at various products they had and found them listed on Amazon, Lowed, Sherwin Williams, Home Depot, etc. Some of these products are
selling for $45 per gallon, for 30% acetic acid paint stripper, or $49.99 for a gallon for an acetone/methanol/isopropanol/toluene mix (MSDS tells
exact percentages of mix as well).
I've looked over a lot of other chemicals and even the places that sell at reasonable prices for 5 gallons of a single product (like acetone, toluene,
methanol), the prices are still close to $15-20 per gallon!
I've done some checking at chemical supply houses for pallets of 4 55gal drums and the pricing is often about $3-4 per gallon at that amount before
shipping and from a US distributor. I've found that they are even less priced from China where they usually price per ton (about 340 gallons) which
came to $2.06 per gallon ($700 per ton) with one ton minimum and that included shipping to any US port.
So when I see acetone sold for $19-25 per gallon, $9 per quart, at the stores or the equivalent of about $120 per gallon as nail polish remover (in
100ml bottles) or as a specialty blend (40% acetone in the $50 gallon paint product), I see an average of about 1000% profit for it.
I'm trying to figure out how these chemical companies don't have crazy high net revenue & profits. There are other chemicals that are priced even
more outrageously where I figured average profit was 3000%.
I've tried to factor in bottling labor and material and shipping, but that still doesn’t' account for eating up anywhere near the profit that should
be made. They still sell gallon jugs of bleach made of nice thick HDPE containers for $1.50 on sale, or 2/3 liter soda bottles for $.69 for store
brand on sale - so bottling can't be costing more than the product in wholesale amounts.
Does anyone work in the chemical industry and know about their real profit margins?
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Melgar
Anti-Spam Agent
Posts: 2004
Registered: 23-2-2010
Location: Connecticut
Member Is Offline
Mood: Estrified
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Hazmat fees for shipping are a large part of it. They have to take extra precautions, and those cost money. Also, the stores can only make money as
fast as people buy their stuff, and a lot of that stuff will sit on the shelf for a long time before it sells. Flammable chemicals with a quick
turnover, like gasoline, sell for a lot less for that exact reason.
The first step in the process of learning something is admitting that you don't know it already.
I'm givin' the spam shields max power at full warp, but they just dinna have the power! We're gonna have to evacuate to new forum software!
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