Jan 16th 2022

Another chlorine plant fire and service update from Dragoo Services

As you know, last year I sent a notification to all of my clients about the Biolab Lake Charles chlorine facility in Louisiana that erupted into flames after Hurricane Laura hit.

This caused chlorine prices to triple. My cost for a 50 pound bucket of chlorine has gone from $69.00 to $255.00.

To put that in perspective. If I buy every client one bucket of chlorine today, what use to cost $3450.00 now cost $12,750.00

Most of you bought chlorine on your own to make it through the shortage last summer and somehow we managed to keep the pools healthy, which is great.

Now that we are in the winter months and summer will return seemingly quicker than we are prepared for, I have tried to come up with the fairest way to deal with the obvious increase in cost as I provide free chemicals in the all inclusive service.

One of my pool clients sent me an email informing me of a 11-alarm fire last Friday night at a chlorine manufacturing plant in New Jersey. He wrote "Did you see another chlorine plant in New Jersey burnt down last night ~ it just keeps on getting better".

I have checked with pool supply companies that provide all of us cleaners with chemicals to see how everyone is dealing with this. I was informed that many of the pool services have already increased their prices for all included services to $300.00 and even $350.00 per month.

The fairest plan that I have come up with for all of us is instead of raising my prices across the board. I will leave the price the same as it is now, however, chlorine will no longer be included.

I believe this is the fairest solution as every pool has a different demand for chlorine.

All other chemicals will still be free in my service although due to the Covid shipping crises even those are sometimes not as available as they used to be.It's been a crazy year for all of us.

What I suggest is that you buy a bucket of chlorine and leave it by your pumps or tell me where it is stored and when that bucket is empty I will remind you with a notice below the picture of your pool in my weekly service email when it is time to replace it.

I have found that Sam's Club was the cheapest chlorine I could find at $209 for a 40 pound bucket. Cheaper than my supply company but that was last summer and I have not seen chlorine available on their website for many months now. Also when a pallet did arrive at the store it would sell out in one day. Leslie's pool supply is currently $254.99 for a 50 pound bucket. Home Depot has 35 pound buckets for $199

For those of you with a salt pool, this will not affect you.

Sorry about the increased cost. I have always tried to absorb much of the cost of goods when suppliers raised prices but now it is no longer possible for me to absorb it all.

Thank you all for being great clients over the last decade. I look forward to continued service to all of you for many more.

Thank you all and have a wonderful day.

Aug 2nd 2021

A few changes at Dragoo Sevices

As most of you know I have been building my business over the last 12 years

and many of you have been with me through the years.

During that time period I never took a vacation and I never took holidays off.

Now that all of my routes have reached capacity I want to inform you of a few changes.

For most of you my service is basically a flat rate of $200 per month for weekly service with chemicals included.

That breaks down to $50 per visit but since five months out of the year have an extra week

in them I give you that cleaning for free in exchange for me now taking major holidays off.

If a major holiday falls on your service day and you are having a party just let me know and

I will make arrangements to take care of you, otherwise I will be taking the day off to enjoy the holiday myself.

Also after 12 years with no vacations, I will now take one week off twice per year to enjoy some much needed time off

For you this just means I will miss two visits per year for each client.

I will inform you all with an email in advance so you know what week I will be on vacation.

Thank you all for staying with me through the years and helping me reach the maximum amount of pools I can provide service for each month on my own.

I sincerely appreciate the fact that most of my clients have been acquired on the recommendation of the clients that I already service.

That means a great deal to me.

I hope to continue servicing all of you for many years.

Darrell Dragoo

May 3rd 2021

Info for clients on chlorine shortage

As I may have told some of you already last August the Biolab Lake Charles facility in Louisiana erupted into flames after Hurricane Laura hit.

This led to the shutdown of one of the major chlorine suppliers until the spring 2022,leaving only two current manufacturers of chlorine tablets in the U.S.: Occidental Petroleum and Clearon Corporation.

Retail prices could skyrocket this summer. My dealer cost on chlorine has doubled, affecting my business as chemical costs are included with my service.

Here is a link that CNN story that was posted yesterday

https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/01/economy/chlorine-shortage-swimming-pools/index.html

I will continue to add chlorine as long as it is available but if the supply line runs dry I will not be able to keep out the algae that will come with the summer heat.

I can use up to 10 tabs a pool per week during the summer months.

I am sending this info to you so you are aware of this now.

If you want to be sure your pool makes it through the summer I suggest buying at least 100 pounds of 3 inch chlorine tabs to keep on site.