Bulk soda ash discontinued?

[redfishbluefish]

It might just be more fluffy, right? Not more hydrated? Unless the required mass increases, it might just have a lower bulk density.

Right you are! More fluffy....LOL.....that must be one of those sophisticated highfalutin chemistry words.

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

Also, Ryan already said that the larger buckets weren't economical for them after shipping, taxes, etc. So what kind of business sells bulk for no gain or a loss? Not one that stays in business very long. I'd rather them discontinue those and stay around rather than go out of business because you want 5 lb buckets.

You're the only one that implied that BRS should lose money on the 5 gallon buckets. The people who loved the 5 gallon buckets stated in their posts that they're willing to pay more. If the 5 gallon buckets are not economical, why not raise the price on them? If nobody buys them and the market won't support the new price, then cancel them.

This is what bothers me most about this product line change. None of what Bulk Reef Supply has said about their new additive line appears to jive with reality or common sense. Bulk Reef Supply claims that the newer product line features ultra-pure pharmaceutical grade components. However, they already claimed that their old additives were "pharmaceutical grade" and were much purer than the competitors' products. So why the increase in quality? If the "inferior" products from their competitors were likely good enough and the old additives were already much better than that... why make them even better still?

If you need to charge more money for old product lines or change your existing product line simply to stay competitive, I have no problems with that. If you want to change your product line and charge more money just because, I may not agree with that, but I can at the least understand and accept that. I can even understand a new pharma line and charging more because the old supplier went out of business, and this is just the way the new product line has to be sold. This price increase was none of those things. This product line change was ostensibly in the name of quality, when I (and many others) believe the old BRS stuff was already more pure than necessary. It feels dishonest to introduce the new pharma line all in the name of purity when BRS sold the old stuff as being the gold-standard of purity in the aquarium hobby in the first place.

I know we're beating a dead horse here, but posts like yours suggest that people have a fundamental misunderstanding of the opposition to this change. I know that things get more expensive and businesses have to charge more money. I wouldn't have cared if there was a 10% - 20% increase in price over the old product line. I also don't ever expect a business to operate at a loss. What I take exception to is the 50% to 100% price increase all in the name of unnecessary purity, especially when the old stuff was marketed as basically the purest you could possibly get.

 

[Greenstreet.1]

You're the only one that implied that BRS should lose money on the 5 gallon buckets. The people who loved the 5 gallon buckets stated in their posts that they're willing to pay more. If the 5 gallon buckets are not economical, why not raise the price on them? If nobody buys them and the market won't support the new price, then cancel them.

This is what bothers me most about this product line change. None of what Bulk Reef Supply has said about their new additive line appears to jive with reality or common sense. Bulk Reef Supply claims that the newer product line features ultra-pure pharmaceutical grade components. However, they already claimed that their old additives were "pharmaceutical grade" and were much purer than the competitors' products. So why the increase in quality? If the "inferior" products from their competitors were likely good enough and the old additives were already much better than that... why make them even better still?

If you need to charge more money for old product lines or change your existing product line simply to stay competitive, I have no problems with that. If you want to change your product line and charge more money just because, I may not agree with that, but I can at the least understand and accept that. I can even understand a new pharma line and charging more because the old supplier went out of business, and this is just the way the new product line has to be sold. This price increase was none of those things. This product line change was ostensibly in the name of quality, when I (and many others) believe the old BRS stuff was already more pure than necessary. It feels dishonest to introduce the new pharma line all in the name of purity when BRS sold the old stuff as being the gold-standard of purity in the aquarium hobby in the first place.

I know we're beating a dead horse here, but posts like yours suggest that people have a fundamental misunderstanding of the opposition to this change. I know that things get more expensive and businesses have to charge more money. I wouldn't have cared if there was a 10% - 20% increase in price over the old product line. I also don't ever expect a business to operate at a loss. What I take exception to is the 50% to 100% price increase all in the name of unnecessary purity, especially when the old stuff was marketed as basically the purest you could possibly get.

You are so on point that it’s not funny.
Well said Brother well said [emoji1477][emoji1477][emoji1477]

 

[mckinney0171]

You're the only one that implied that BRS should lose money on the 5 gallon buckets. The people who loved the 5 gallon buckets stated in their posts that they're willing to pay more. If the 5 gallon buckets are not economical, why not raise the price on them? If nobody buys them and the market won't support the new price, then cancel them.

This is what bothers me most about this product line change. None of what Bulk Reef Supply has said about their new additive line appears to jive with reality or common sense. Bulk Reef Supply claims that the newer product line features ultra-pure pharmaceutical grade components. However, they already claimed that their old additives were "pharmaceutical grade" and were much purer than the competitors' products. So why the increase in quality? If the "inferior" products from their competitors were likely good enough and the old additives were already much better than that... why make them even better still?

If you need to charge more money for old product lines or change your existing product line simply to stay competitive, I have no problems with that. If you want to change your product line and charge more money just because, I may not agree with that, but I can at the least understand and accept that. I can even understand a new pharma line and charging more because the old supplier went out of business, and this is just the way the new product line has to be sold. This price increase was none of those things. This product line change was ostensibly in the name of quality, when I (and many others) believe the old BRS stuff was already more pure than necessary. It feels dishonest to introduce the new pharma line all in the name of purity when BRS sold the old stuff as being the gold-standard of purity in the aquarium hobby in the first place.

I know we're beating a dead horse here, but posts like yours suggest that people have a fundamental misunderstanding of the opposition to this change. I know that things get more expensive and businesses have to charge more money. I wouldn't have cared if there was a 10% - 20% increase in price over the old product line. I also don't ever expect a business to operate at a loss. What I take exception to is the 50% to 100% price increase all in the name of unnecessary purity, especially when the old stuff was marketed as basically the purest you could possibly get.

Word

 

[Potatohead]

I disagree, just because people have small tanks doesn't mean they aren't reefing. And most people are happy reefing with small tanks. I don't know BRS, but I imagine the 'bulk' of their customers don't have overly large tanks. Sure some people bought large packages to minimize how often they had to order, but that doesn't meant that everyone buying the 5 lb buckets had 'large tanks'. But just because you wouldn't want a small tank doesn't mean BRS should only worry about large tank setups.

Most people with large setups are running calcium reactors anyway unless they like mixing solutions up once a week.

 

[Potatohead]

There's an easy solution to all this - Go buy it somewhere else. These are not special BRS mystery products like Triton or Red Sea or Aquaforest, these are base chemicals. If you don't want or care about the highest purity or the packaging there are other places to get them for less.

This hobby is such a huge money suck I can't fathom being bothered by something so incremental, but whatever floats your boat I guess.

 

[mckinney0171]

There's an easy solution to all this - Go buy it somewhere else. These are not special BRS mystery products like Triton or Red Sea or Aquaforest, these are base chemicals. If you don't want or care about the highest purity or the packaging there are other places to get them for less.

This hobby is such a huge money suck I can't fathom being bothered by something so incremental, but whatever floats your boat I guess.

It doesn't need to be a money suck if you buy your chemicals in bulk and don't need to worry about buying them again until many months later. That's why people are annoyed I think. Personally I have enough of the old style chemical at home that I haven't had to buy any of the new. But, I can see how it will be bothersome when I do. People like to support BRS because they have been such a good company to work with for such a long time. I get that. I feel the same way. No one wants to have to buy bulk reef supply from someone that isn't bulk reef supply.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Right you are! More fluffy....LOL.....that must be one of those sophisticated highfalutin chemistry words.

Definitely[emoji23]

This was already an issue once when a BRS competitor was using “less material” and was trying to say it was because there’s was more pure, which didn’t make sense. It took me a while to figure out they were measuring the solids by volume to compare potency. That just didn’t occur to me for a substantial period. [emoji23]

 

[themcfreak]

You're the only one that implied that BRS should lose money on the 5 gallon buckets. The people who loved the 5 gallon buckets stated in their posts that they're willing to pay more. If the 5 gallon buckets are not economical, why not raise the price on them? If nobody buys them and the market won't support the new price, then cancel them.

This is what bothers me most about this product line change. None of what Bulk Reef Supply has said about their new additive line appears to jive with reality or common sense. Bulk Reef Supply claims that the newer product line features ultra-pure pharmaceutical grade components. However, they already claimed that their old additives were "pharmaceutical grade" and were much purer than the competitors' products. So why the increase in quality? If the "inferior" products from their competitors were likely good enough and the old additives were already much better than that... why make them even better still?

If you need to charge more money for old product lines or change your existing product line simply to stay competitive, I have no problems with that. If you want to change your product line and charge more money just because, I may not agree with that, but I can at the least understand and accept that. I can even understand a new pharma line and charging more because the old supplier went out of business, and this is just the way the new product line has to be sold. This price increase was none of those things. This product line change was ostensibly in the name of quality, when I (and many others) believe the old BRS stuff was already more pure than necessary. It feels dishonest to introduce the new pharma line all in the name of purity when BRS sold the old stuff as being the gold-standard of purity in the aquarium hobby in the first place.

I know we're beating a dead horse here, but posts like yours suggest that people have a fundamental misunderstanding of the opposition to this change. I know that things get more expensive and businesses have to charge more money. I wouldn't have cared if there was a 10% - 20% increase in price over the old product line. I also don't ever expect a business to operate at a loss. What I take exception to is the 50% to 100% price increase all in the name of unnecessary purity, especially when the old stuff was marketed as basically the purest you could possibly get.

Forgive me, but it seems like so many people here are angry at BRS for 2 reasons. Making a product "better" even if the old product wasn't bad. And raising the price on the new product. So forgive me if my implication that BRS sell 5 gallon buckets at a loss comes from people already being upset at a price increase. I have no doubt there are some people out there that would continue buying the new product in 5 gallon buckets, even with a price increase. But since most people that are posting in this thread say that they didn't need a new product with higher prices, I assumed that would apply to 5 gallon bucket pricing too (if it existed). I don't have a 'fundamental misunderstanding' of what is going on here.

You guys act like you all know the details of the pricing. I don't know them either. But Ryan says that they have been eating price increases for some time. How do you know that the price increase wouldn't have raised the old product 50%-100%? Or that it would have raised 49%-99%, and so they decided to go with something a little more pure, for 1% more? (and side note, there still seems to be a little debate, particularly regarding 'fluffy', that indicates we don't know how much prices actually raised by, since the amount we use changed also? I'm not a mathematician, but people seem to be debating that also).

Point is: we absolutely don't know how much the old stuff was costing BRS. We don't know how much the new stuff is costing BRS. We don't know if purer is better (although we tend to think so, overall, when it comes to most products). That doesn't mean we NEED purer, but that is still being debated. I do apologize for implying that this thread indicated that BRS should continue selling 5 gallon buckets at a loss. That wasn't my intention. My intention is to say that we just don't know the facts on what led to their decisions. I feel Randy has made a valiant attempt to come here and make some explanations, and what he is saying is good enough for me. I doubt we would see McDonalds come and say these kind of things if they made their beef "purer" and charged more for it. A few of you seem to know more than I do about how much pricing would have increased on the old product, and that it would have been less than pricing on the new product, but nothing BRS has said makes me think we know anything about that.

 

[Potatohead]

People like to support BRS because they have been such a good company to work with for such a long time. I get that. I feel the same way. No one wants to have to buy bulk reef supply from someone that isn't bulk reef supply.

Then support the company by paying a few more bucks and stop whining about it...? (Not directed specifically at you)

 

[Mirkus]

Then support the company by paying a few more bucks and stop whining about it...? (Not directed specifically at you)

I wish I could.... unfortunately, there is no bucket to buy.

 

[TaylorPilot]

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/5-gallons-bulk-pharma-soda-ash-bulk-reef-supply.html

Says it is a new item, and says pharma grade. Is this the old stuff, or did they decide to make 5 gallon buckets of the new stuff after all?

 

[dimo]

Looks like they bringing the 5 gallon bucket sizes back.

 

[Greenstreet.1]

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/5-gallons-bulk-pharma-soda-ash-bulk-reef-supply.html

Says it is a new item, and says pharma grade. Is this the old stuff, or did they decide to make 5 gallon buckets of the new stuff after all?

It’s the old label but mixing is the same as the new label.

 

[TaylorPilot]

Yea, I think they just put that stock photo up of the old product as a place holder because they got so much feed back from this thread and wanted to get it up on the website. It takes a minute to get new labels made, printed, and stock photos taken. I don't have any relationship with BRS, but I bet they were listening, and are trying to make as many customers happy as they can, while still adhering to their mission statement. Take it from someone who is just starting to dabble in video editing. It takes several people and allot of resources to turn out the amount of content they do. All for free! No one else in the industry is coming even close.

 

[Greenstreet.1]

Well thanks to Randy I don’t have to worry about BRS ALK anymore.

 

[dede]

I wonder how much of the new product would sell if the old product were still available. I do not buy into the whole purity, our DNA, nicer packaging stuff. Rather I think they found a comparable product or slightly better product with higher profits.

As far as not offering the old product they probably have some contract with the new company not to do so, or somehow they are invested too much in the new product, or maybe the old product raised their prices too much. Otherwise they would offer both. Who knows, bottom line is it is a business and they need to turn a profit and you can not fault them for that.

Products come and go but they are still the same BRS we have come to expect and appreciate. They are still the top dog for online supplies and equipment and the first place I go when researching a product.

 

[Tautog]

I disagree, just because people have small tanks doesn't mean they aren't reefing. And most people are happy reefing with small tanks. I don't know BRS, but I imagine the 'bulk' of their customers don't have overly large tanks. Sure some people bought large packages to minimize how often they had to order, but that doesn't meant that everyone buying the 5 lb buckets had 'large tanks'. But just because you wouldn't want a small tank doesn't mean BRS should only worry about large tank setups.

Sorry, but where did I offend reefers with small tanks?
And just because Ryan says? Please explain why 40 lbs of product costs more to ship in a box when the product is in a pail?
Further more, their company name suggests “ bulk supply “ and when you go to Costco, and buy in bulk, do you shop there for savings in bulk or because your lazy and don’t shop often? Either way, most companies should want higher sales, and nobody cares why the consumer wants it, only that the sale was made. Oh, and big deal, I spend $85.00 for a 5 gallon pail, and save a whole $15.00. WOW

 

[themcfreak]

Sorry, but where did I offend reefers with small tanks?
And just because Ryan says? Please explain why 40 lbs of product costs more to ship in a box when the product is in a pail?
Further more, their company name suggests “ bulk supply “ and when you go to Costco, and buy in bulk, do you shop there for savings in bulk or because your lazy and don’t shop often? Either way, most companies should want higher sales, and nobody cares why the consumer wants it, only that the sale was made. Oh, and big deal, I spend $85.00 for a 5 gallon pail, and save a whole $15.00. WOW

Your words were: "if I had to keep a small tank only, I wouldn’t be reefing!!!" Seems to me like you think it isn't worth reefing if you don't have a large tank.

And 40 lbs doesn't cost more in a pail vs 40 lbs in a box. But it does cost them more when they are offering free shipping. Simple math says they make less money on that. Nobody said it had anything to do with box/pail.

Finally, yes. they are "bulkreefsupply". They sell a lot of stuff in bulk. Doesn't mean everything has to be in bulk. Costco sells milk by the gallon still. Are you mad they don't sell 5 gallon buckets of milk and orange juice? They also sell a large 'bulk' of variety, so the name doesn't have to mean just bulk of every product.

 

[Greenstreet.1]

All this back and fourth and i still have not seen anyone show the difference between the old pharmaceutical grade and the new pharmaceutical grade. This is the reason why most are upset about the change I bet if brs had just raised the price and did not say this is better than that we would not be going through this.