Winter Supplies Running Low In Prolonged Arctic Blast
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Evey True Value hit the equivalent of the salt Powerball jackpot overnight.
"Last night, they were able to bag a couple thousand bags for us, and my number came up, so I was able to get it last night," said Andy Amrhein, of Evey True Value Hardware.
Darren Englert has been all over looking for salt.
"I've been here, Home Depot, a couple other places, Lowe's," said Englert.
So, when he saw the pallets of salt shining in the Evey parking lot, this was a must stop.
"We've sold about 10 pallets this morning, and I've got four pallets with me here now - that's going to one of our commercial accounts," said Brandon Koenig, of Evey True Value. "We're selling quite a bit of it."
A spot check of some of the home improvement stores found salt spotty to non-existent. The demand may be good for the cash register, but comes up short on keeping customers satisfied.
"Everybody all through the country are looking for product; it's not just Pittsburgh," said Amrhein.
There's also a reason you can't find calcium chloride right now, which works better in these temperatures.
"We have 300 train cars from Dow Chemical, which is frozen in two-feet of ice and the trains haven't moved in over a week, and they can't tell us when the trains are going to move," Koenig said.
But for today, Amrhein is keeping the customers satisfied who have been coming in for days with a common chorus.
"I'll take whatever you have," he said. "I don't care what it is; I'll take whatever you have."
Meanwhile, in Beaver County, it's not supposed to be so quiet around Justin and Paige Hoover's home in Aliquippa.
Austin, 9, Taylor, 7, and Jaydon, 3, aren't staying with their parents right now; instead, they are living where there is heat.
Paige says it's just not right.
"Having the kids stay somewhere else, and he works at night, and I don't know how to rig up the gas tank, so I'm waking up freezing, and you know, it's not a fun time," said Paige.
Justin has been rigging up small propane tanks to get some gas into their home's heater.
"Twenty dollars a day and it's been running out every night in the middle of the night, so it's freezing here in the morning," said Justin.
The Hoovers don't understand why the folks at Ferrellgas have not arrived with their delivery.
"We have seen on the news that there is a shortage, but they already guaranteed our product by Friday and they took our money a week before that," said Justin.
"It's not like it was cheap. We paid $550 for it and they can't give us an explanation why they can't supply it," added Paige.
Ferrellgas has already sent confirmation that the Hoovers paid the money on Jan. 17. Delivery guaranteed on Jan. 24, last Friday.
Justin has spent a lifetime since then on the phone.
"Sometimes, you wait on hold for 20 minutes, and then they don't help you anyway," he said.
While Ferrellgas has not officially responded to KDKA's calls, John Shumway is told the local distribution center actually ran out of propane last Tuesday for a couple days. The supply is now back up to normal levels, but they are still trying to catch up on deliveries.
"We paid for it; we gave them plenty of time, it's been over two weeks," said Paige. "It's getting old."
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