This past 6 weeks and the last 30 days have been the coldest winter ever in the northern end of Willamette Valley. All of our customers used more propane than ever before. Our drivers attempted to stay on top of their routes but access to customer’s driveways were too unsafe for a 30,000lb truck. Driveways had 6” up to 1’ of snow and then it turned to ice and made it impossible to fill your tanks. Hill roads on Chehalem Mountain and Bald Peak Mountain such as Mountain Top Road, Bell Road, Laurelwood Rd and Mountain Home Road were impassible for a propane delivery truck – some accounts we had to hand deliver by pickup 25 gallon tanks of propane and dump into their tanks. Driveways were not plowed and were too steep from the main road to the tank location. Most customers were very understanding on what my drivers were going through in keeping on top of their routes. Every driver was working 10 to 12 hours daily and came in Saturday and Sunday to run routes. Any customer with a difficult entrance or exit of their driveway should plan ahead for bad weather storms. This summer you should plan on hiring an excavator and open up your driveway and add a good base of rock so when the weather is increment the road will handle a 32,000lb delivery truck. Have an extra bottle of propane available to hook up to your line systems in case your tank runs out of gas. This way you will be able to cook, have hot water, or some form of heat in case a severe winter occurs which we just experienced!!
There were also roads in the Dallas area that were impassible. We would attempt to drive on the road but would pull back because of the snow pack and the danger involved. My service crews were working double time in keeping heating equipment in greenhouses and homes operational. Nurseryman have millions of dollars in stock in their greenhouses and cannot freeze in extremely cold weather. My service technicians did an exceptional job of taking care of each customer request. Our inside office girls were overwhelmed with phone calls with customers reporting the status of propane in their tanks. They did a fantastic job of identifying who the customer was and giving as good an answer to when a delivery would be make. As customers were calling in we found that several had removed or added appliances which determines our deliveries. So, that we can update our records please call our office to be sure to update your appliances, phone number and email.
As a company, we are going to review what happen and how we can improve our service. Any questions or suggestions about this past winter service please call John or Ryan Buller. Thank you for understanding this month of January 2017..
Cordially,
John Buller and Sons
