Ice melting supplies drying up

As snow keeps falling, salt and snow-melting mixtures are harder to come by in New England.

Owners of hardware stores say the demand for ice-melting products stretches well beyond the area, the state or even the Northeast, which has made finding the stuff difficult.

Rocky's Ace Hardware in Northborough has just managed to keep ahead of the demand. Thursday they ran out briefly, said manager Ron Faneuff, but they received a 20-ton shipment later in the day which he hoped would last until the next shipment on Monday.

The trick, Faneuff said, is to constantly search for more supply and make sure it is on its way, but the demand is high around the nation.

"According to what I understand, there is an ice melt shortage around the country because there has been so much snow," Faneuff said.

At White True Value Hardware in Framingham the store ran out and hopes to get more next week, said owner Marge White.

"We got one pallet this week and that was gone in one day," White said. "Everyone's up a creek this year with the storms moving across the country."

Other areas of the country have received shipments, according to Chris Mooney, a salesman at Ashland Lumber Co., making it tougher for folks in New England.

"We still have a dozen or so boxes left. We have gone through a ton of it this year," Mooney said. "A bunch of it got shipped out to the Midwest because of the ice storms they've had."

The store had a shipment Wednesday but by Thursday, Mooney said, half of it was gone.

Charlie Breitrose can be reached at 508-490-7461 or cbreitro@cnc.com.

MetroWest Daily News