Where has all the Calor Gas gone?

If you want to create a supply and demand problem. You hold back your Product wait until there’s demand and inflate the price. Sorry but I think we are going to see a lot of this. Companies capitalising on what’s happening to recover there loses due to the lockdowns.I’ve found my materials creeping up every week especially timber and plastic goods Probably 30% since January. Somebody’s getting rich !
 
Our trip down to Derbyshire first week in August... friend we saw, son had been in middle of doing up a house a couple months before, needed plaster.
None to be had anywhere nearby, shelves bare at every DIY and builder's merchants.

Nearest to be had was a builders merchants down in Somerset.
Told him they had 300 bags in stock.

He drove down the next morning - yes, Derbyshire to Somerset for plaster! - and got what he needed to finish his job - lucky, because by the time he got there they only had 30 bags left.

Also the price. Through the roof. At beginning of lockdown the paster bags were around £7 a pop I heard? They were up to £40 as soon as there was a shortage.

The pullout catalogue jobbies selling big toe mufflers, plastic gizmos etc. for folks to clutter the house with?
Well I flicked through a plant catalogue from the weekend and the prices are eyewatering! Fair made me bum squeak... :oops:o_O

I just don't believe the hike in prices for certain things is justified, imho.

You're right, @Wully. I know times are tough, but sometimes this appears to be out-and-out profiteering and proper big time.
 
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mariesnowgoose said:
Our trip down to Derbyshire first week in August... friend we saw, son had been in middle of doing up a house a couple months before, needed plaster.
None to be had anywhere nearby, shelves bare at every DIY and builder's merchants.

Nearest to be had was a builders merchants down on Somerset.
Told him they had 300 bags in stock.

He drove down the next morning - yes, Derbyshire to Somerset for plaster! - and got what he needed to finish his job - lucky, because by the time he got there they only had 30 bags left.

Also the price. Through the roof. At beginning of lockdown the paster bags were around £7 a pop I heard? They were up to £40 as soon as there was a shortage.

The pullout catalogue jobbies selling big toe mufflers, plastic gizmos etc. for folks to clutter the house with?
Well I flicked through a plant catalogue from the weekend and the prices are eyewatering! Fair made me bum squeak... :oops:o_O

I just don't believe the hike in prices for certain things is justified, imho.

You're right, @Wully. I know times are tough, but sometimes this appears to be out-and-out profiteering and proper big time.
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I have noticed it with supermarket shopping the cheaper items have disappeared.

The same thing with supermarket online shopping, look at the website you can find the things, go to order the items and only the more expensive versions are available. :unsure:
 
harrow said:
I have noticed it with supermarket shopping the cheaper items have disappeared.

The same thing with supermarket online shopping, look at the website you can find the things, go to order the items and only the more expensive versions are available. :unsure:
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Ian, I have a feeling that started happening early on, not too long after full lockdown?

I noticed it while I was having regular and repeated attempts to register every week on the various big supermarket sites for home delivery over a 3 month period as a 'specially vulnerable' category customer - but I mustn't go there! Never did manage to get picked up by their so-called 'systems' ... :confused::mad:🤬

Think I said right at the beginning when full lockdown came in, I'd be happy to get through the pandemic alive and in one piece with enough food to eat and the roof over our heads.

There's plenty more that won't be so lucky, unfortunately 😕
 
I'd have thought they'd be operating again by now or is the wait time enormous?
 
Markd said:
I'd have thought they'd be operating again by now or is the wait time enormous?
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I'm having to wait weeks for a handbrake cable to be shortened by 20cm, so my guess is the current wait/lead time for lots of these jobs is big.

Our local garage can hardly move they currently have so much demand for vehicle maintenance.
Owner says he's never known anything like it in all the years it's been going, and that's just a run-of-the-mill garage, not motorhome specialists!
 
I wonder whether this is something to do with the reduction in demand for other petroleum fuels. Until recently, the roads carried very little traffic other than delivery vehicles and the demand for petrol, diesel, etc. plummeted. I suspect that propane and butane are almost by-products of crude oil cracking and reduced production of road fuels means reduced production of those gasses -- the majority of which is probably required for industry and home heating, leaving little for refilling cylinders. This is a bit like the reduced production of beer meaning less yeast from which to make Marmite (which I haven't been able to buy for months!)
 
GeoffL said:
I wonder whether this is something to do with the reduction in demand for other petroleum fuels. Until recently, the roads carried very little traffic other than delivery vehicles and the demand for petrol, diesel, etc. plummeted. I suspect that propane and butane are almost by-products of crude oil cracking and reduced production of road fuels means reduced production of those gasses -- the majority of which is probably required for industry and home heating, leaving little for refilling cylinders. This is a bit like the reduced production of beer meaning less yeast from which to make Marmite (which I haven't been able to buy for months!)
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That sounds like a very plausible explanation (y)
 
I agree that there probably was a build up of repair work during lockdown as businesses furloughed staff now they are reaping the benefits - hopefully they will be able to carry on now they've worked out social distancing.
 
I was very brave this morning and went shopping in TWO supermarkets because the range of products seem to have gone down. Where as I could normally find everything in Lidl's I had to go to Morrisons to buy the wife's Marigolds and my pies. I had to go myself because something bit her on the nose yesterday and she won't be seen out with a large, red, throbbing hooter.🤐
 
antiquesam said:
I was very brave this morning and went shopping in TWO supermarkets because the range of products seem to have gone down. Where as I could normally find everything in Lidl's I had to go to Morrisons to buy the wife's Marigolds and my pies. I had to go myself because something bit her on the nose yesterday and she won't be seen out with a large, red, throbbing hooter.🤐
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You need to get steaks that aren't so tough. Did you manage to retrieve your false teeth? :)
 
Ref Calor Gas ... if you want to swap empty for full, does it usually have to be like-for-like? or can they be different sizes?
I have a 13Kg empty bottle but I would like a 6kg (7.5kg?) bottle in its place.
 
wildebus said:
Ref Calor Gas ... if you want to swap empty for full, does it usually have to be like-for-like? or can they be different sizes?
I have a 13Kg empty bottle but I would like a 6kg (7.5kg?) bottle in its place.
Click to expand...

Never had a problem doing that....
They can be sniffy IF you wanted one of the lite bottles as I think they are in short supply generally.
 
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