17-02-2025
Southern Tier consumers face rock salt shortage
SOUTHERN TIER, N.Y. (WETM) — If you haven't already stocked up on rock salt for this winter, you might be out of luck.
Big box stores like Walmart, Tractor Supply, Sam's Club, Home Depot, Valu Home Centers, and Lowes were out of rock salt and other ice melt products at their locations across the Southern Tier on Feb. 17. A small business in Southport did, however, still have bags of salt for sale on Monday afternoon.
Kara Cundy, the business account manager for Chemung Soft Water, told an 18 News reporter who visited the store that Presidents Day was busier than a typical Monday due to a lot of customers visiting and calling looking for rock salt after the weekend's winter weather.
Are the Twin Tiers dealing with a rock salt shortage?
'We apparently have a rock salt shortage, and we are dangerously low on our inventory,' said Cundy.
Customers reportedly told Chemung Soft Water's staff that there's nothing to melt the ice anywhere, and Cundy said the store can't get any more rock salt from its supplier.
Chemung Soft Water typically sells rock salt by the pallet, but it stopped selling it in bulk to try to help as many customers as possible. At about 1:30 p.m., the store limited each customer to two 50-pound bags or four 25-pound bags. Shortly before 4 p.m., the store only had about 90 25-pound bags left.
Cundy said if the store runs out of rock salt, it can sell people solar salt instead. These crystals, which are used to soften hard water, will work slower than rock salt, but they will still melt ice. If you do opt for a rock salt alternative, make sure you don't put it in a spreader machine and instead spread it by hand.
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