The Language of Our Industry

     The throes of a busy season...so much advance planning, anticipation, projecting. And here we are! With that in mind, we thought we would put out some information about our industry - specifically the "language" that pertains to the business we do.

      Let's start with yardage. Materials we sell are measured in "cubic yards" - basically a 3' x 3' x 3' cube. (There is a simple calculator for figuring area measurements into the cubic yards needed to complete your project on the Products page of our website.) When you purchase and pick up materials in our facility here in Auburn, we sell to you by the "yard" (or fraction thereof). We can load you with 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 or full yard quantities, as well as by the "bucket/bag". (We can sell product to fill a 5 gallon bucket you would provide or empty sandbag that we sell by the each.) When we deliver our materials to you, our two smaller trucks deliver by the yard (up to and including three yards in our Dodge 5500 or six yards in our split truck, respectively) - with an additional flat delivery fee determined by geographical distance. When discussing the two larger trucks in our fleet, the conversation shifts to tonnage, or materials sold by the "ton". As a general rule, we multiply the number of cubic yards by 1.3 to establish the amount of tons needed. A "10 wheel" (or dual rear axle dump truck) has a 12.5 ton capacity on average, while a "transfer" (the same truck with a trailer behind) has a 23.5 ton payload capacity. When you purchase products that we deliver by the ton, the delivery fee is included in the per ton price. 

     Our philosophy here at Robinson Sand and Gravel is to service you, our valued customer, with respect and transparency. Respect for the fact that if we don't have you, we don't have a business at all - no paychecks mean no mortgages paid or children fed. With that being said, the cost of running a fleet of delivery trucks (wages, insurance, fuel, maintenance, etc.) as a direct application of the delivery fees that we charge is what we mean by transparency - we respect you enough to be transparent. 

     Thanks for giving us an opportunity to clarify some terminology and in the process, hopefully, earn your business and hard earned money. We promise that we will work hard in return to have an honest relationship.