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Getting What you Pay for

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Price vs Value

One of the most tried and true statements ever made is, you get what you paid for. In my past job in the tire industry this was always true for 90k mile tires vs 40k mile tires for high the price. The same can be applied to your fuel provider. 

 Their are two types of oil providers that you can find out in the market, cash on delivery or COD and full service. COD companies take payment at the time of delivery of your oil and for the most part do not provide credit or payment terms. COD companies traditionally do not have a service department. So in the event that your heating system breaks down in the middle of the winter or your pipes freeze it may be difficult to find a company that will come out in the middle of the night.  COD companies, because they have less staff and therefore less overhead have much lower prices for oil deliveries.

 Now a full service company, is a company that offers payment/credit terms, 24 emergency service, automatic deliveries, and usually equipment installation at the very least. While most full service companies do accept will call or customers that call when they need oil, they traditionally don't accept payment at time of the delivery.  Full service companies set up their customers with payment terms, allowing the customer to order and receive oil while having to pay for the fuel within 30 days.  Full service companies also provide service to their customer base, where COD companies usually only provide oil delivery. Employing a full service staff that can repair a wide range of heating equipment for various fuel types and Air Conditioning can be a very expensive venture.  This leads many full service companies to charge a premium for their Oil delivery. This allows them to staff a group of hopefully licensed technicians that are available 24/7. This isn't usually something that comes in handy during the summer months, however it is very helpful in the dead of winter.  

 Imagine the worse case scenario, it's 10 degrees at night with a wind chill of 20 degrees and you wake up because you're all of sudden freezing. The heat has stopped working, if you're are with a full service company you can just call them up and a technician should be out in a reasonable amount of time to fix your heating system.  If you're with a COD company you may be out of luck until the morning because they don't provide service and all the other companies in the area have to provide service to their customers first. 

 For some the price of Oil is all that matters when it comes to picking a fuel provider, for others it's the value that comes from a full service company that will be there 24/7.  For others value becomes important when an issue arises.

 ckSmithSuperior Santoro Oil
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