Finally, Snow, But It’s
Late for Some Businesses

By Sandy Cooch

It was balmy until mid-January. Then it turned bone-crack cold, but snow was still scarce, except in the higher elevations.

Finally, yesterday, a good old snow storm barreled into Vermont, with forecasts of up to 36 inches of snow and winds gusts of up to 35 miles per hour, before it was all over today, Thursday.

It hasn’t been much of a winter thus far, but as Randolph’s Fay Sherman pointed out Tuesday, "We may make up for it between now and March."

If the snow does keep falling, snowmobilers, skiers, and other winter sports enthusiasts may still salvage a season. However, the mild winters of the past few years are creating economic challenges for those whose livelihoods depend on cold and snow.

Those feeling a pinch include loggers, snow plowers, fuel oil firms, and a host of businesses and local clubs linked to the snowmobile industry and other winter sports.

A Good Deal on a Sled

"It is amazing the amount of people calling in the last 24 hours because of the fact that we’re getting a snow storm, said Butch Greenwood of L.W. Greenwood & Sons in East Randolph, the area’s Polaris snowmobile dealer.

"But, as far as being able to bail us out—it’s not going to happen. This is actually our third bad winter," he said.

This winter might end up resembling that of three years ago, when the only snow that came, came late, he said.

Over the past three years, according to Greenwood, snowmobile sales have dropped by 60-70%. As a result, Greenwood’s has three years of models on hand, and riders who do come shopping are looking for "the good deal" on discounted older models.

Although accessory sales and service work are also down, Greenwood’s has not had to lay off any employees, so far, he said.

"It’s been a little tough, but we’ve got good help and we want to keep the guys we have," he said.

Greenwood pointed out that "the best riding," historically, has always been "from now until spring," when the worst of the cold is past, days are longer, and the snow—hopefully—is deep.

"I have hope and I anticipate next year things will start to turn around a little," he added.

Self-described optimist Ken Smith, manager of Lucky’s Motor Sports in Royalton, the other major snowmachine dealer in the area, noted that January brought impressive sales, compared to a sluggish pace in November and December, when the weather was eerily warm.

Slow sled sales in late 2006, however, were "almost offset" by higher than usual sales of all-terrain vehicles and dirt bikes, he said.

Smith noted that most of the brisk sled sales last month came from "educated" consumers who "know now is the best time ever to buy, new or used, because you’re never going to buy one for less than now."

VAST and the Clubs

"It’s had a large negative effect," is Larry Trottier’s assessment of the impact of recent wimpy winters on the snowmobiling. Trottier has been watching the problem as the Orange County director for VAST, the Vermont Association of Snow Travelers and a member of a local club, the Tri-Town Trail Travelers.

As recently as last week, only around 7000 snowmobilers had joined VAST, compared to 22,000 memberships last year, statewide, and 30,000 the year before that, Trottier noted.

Those membership fees are the only revenue source for VAST, and are, in turn, an important funding source for local clubs, since local club and VAST memberships are sold as a package.

Like many clubs, the Tri-Town Trail Travelers has purchased a trail groomer to maintain the club’s portion of the statewide trail network. The clubs, Trottier noted, depend on payments from VAST to make their payments on groomers, which can cost up to $160,000 new. With memberships down, many clubs will be struggling to meet their financial commitments, he predicted.

And until this week, there has been too little snow to effectively groom.

"You’re just smoothing out the leaves," Trottier said.

Trottier’s Dairy Hill Road farm and garden business, L.F. Trottier and Son in Royalton, doesn’t sell snowmobiles, but he does purvey snowblowers—and that’s been a tough market lately, too, Trottier noted.

In a good year, Trottier would sell 50 walk-behind snowblowers and another 30 of the three-point hitch models. Up until this week’s storm, at least, he had sold only eight or so blowers, and repairs and parts sales have been down, too, he noted.

Diversification Helps

Those with diversified businesses have found that recent milder winters can bring benefits, as well as problems.

Tim Aldrighetti, owner of Locust Creek Outfitters in Bethel, wasn’t servicing too many snowmachines in November and December, "but I worked on more motorcycles than I ever had this winter." People were riding their bikes into early January, he noted.

Sales in snowmobile gear, parts, and trailers were also down, Aldrighetti said. The demand for ice-fishing supplies didn’t pick up until early February, when the ice on area lakes got thick enough.

However, Locust Creek Outfitters carries a varied stock, and while folks were buying less by way of winter-sport supplies, they spent more on hunting supplies. Gun sales especially were up, said Aldrighetti, who theorized that people used the money they didn’t spend to get a sled on the trails to "get that new muzzleloader I want."

"It’s not a lot of upside," Aldrighetti noted, but he’s grateful for it, since he knows others, such as snowmobile dealers who are experiencing "no upside at all."

A number of area restaurants and general stores, located near I-89 exits and VAST trails, rely on snowmobilers and traveling skiers and snowboarders for their winter trade.

Eaton’s Sugar House in Royalton is close to both a VAST trail and Exit 3, and owner Connie Poulin said last week that she is "definitely feeling the pinch."

"Even though we’re not in the heart of ski country, we get a lot of travelers, and we’re not getting that," she said last week.

Poulin said the reduction in business, both this winter and last, has been substantial, and she has had to cut back on staffing more than she usually would in winter.

"Let it snow," she added.

Logs and Oil

Logging got off to a slow start this winter with wet and warm weather that kept loggers out of the woods until December or January, according to Ralph Ward of Ward Brothers and Sons Excavating and Logging in Barnard. Then, when it got colder, loggers could work, but log prices dropped by one-fifth as more wood hit the market.

There was an up side for the Wards: The lack of frost in the ground meant that the family business was doing excavating up until Dec. 22, Ward said.

Logger Bill Gates of Bethel noted that last year was also a problem, as it took until February for the ground to freeze up. This year, once it did get cold, work conditions were good, he added, because there wasn’t much to have to push away from trees.

A warm spell that ran November through mid-January reduced the demand for heating oil, and sent down oil prices on the open market. However, the low prices were of no help to fuel oil deliverers and their customers who had earlier contracted for a season’s worth of oil, at what turned out to he higher than the "off the rack" prices, noted Barbara Townsend of Ferriter Oil Company of Randolph. She and her husband Jim own and operate the business.

Because of a new state law that required companies to secure their contracts before the heating season started, Ferriter’s and other local suppliers were forced to buy when the price was high, she said.

Local dealers must honor these 42,000-gallon contracts, or pay a high penalty fee to the oil companies. The early season warmth meant smaller deliveries, and so Ferriter’s and others dealers have had to use this higher-priced oil even for non-contract customers.

The early-buy option usually works out to the customers’ benefit, but "people are getting burned big-time this year," Townsend said.

The big oil companies are making record profits, but it’s been tough to be a small guy, the past few years.

"We are cutting our margin to the bone," Townsend said. "Last year and the year before, we had to take money out of our personal finances to cover our taxes for the year."

Get out the Plows

This week, at last, there is snow, and at least the folks who do plowing, snowblowing and shoveling have a chance to make a little money.

Guy Waldo of Randolph, who does snowblowing, used to go out for 10 to 12 storms a year. Up until this week’s storm, he’s had a only few "partial" storms, and last winter was slow, too.

And the wet weather earlier in 2006 affected another part-time employment for Waldo—garden rototilling. He usually does 40-45 gardens; last year he did 17.

"It gets to be an impact," Waldo said.

Dean Salls of Braintree, who has 40 plowing customers, was gearing up for a big day of work, when The Herald contacted him Tuesday afternoon.

He noted that he doesn’t depend on plowing for income, because "that’s just dumb to do."

Snow, for Salls, is "white gold," that puts some extra money in the family coffers when it does fall.

He is just as happy if it doesn’t.

"I don’t like snow anyway," Salls commented. "I’d go to Florida, but I don’t like snakes and spiders."

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