Mol Products vs. Other "Like" Products

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT DURING BUDGET PREPARATION AND PRODUCT COST COMPARISON!

Everyone is busy this time of year with budgeting for the upcoming season. If you are anything like me, it’s like robbing from Peter to pay Paul in order to get the same results, or better, on your course.

I’ve been talking to a lot of superintendents lately and the main concern seems to be “Where can I cut costs and still achieve good results”. Everyone seems to be comparing the cost of various products that they use by what the going rate is per gallon, by the bag, by the ton, etc. Then it dawned on me a few years ago that instead of comparing just the prices of the products I, first of all, needed to find out how much coverage I would get out of each container and how much it would cost me for that coverage.

This is very important if you are going to compare apples to apples and oranges to oranges, so to speak. Let me give you an example.

Product A
Cost per gallon: $15.00
Usage Rate: 12oz./1,000 sq. ft. or
528oz [4.125 gallons] per acre
Cost per Acre ……..$61.98


Product B
Cost per gallon: $35.00
Usage Rate: 3oz./1,000 sq. ft. or
1 gallon per acre
Cost per Acre ……..$35.00


At first glance it seems as though the product at $15.00 per gallon is the best buy. But after DOING THE MATH, it actually ends up to be twice as expensive as Product B for the same coverage - a great marketing technique used by many retailers.

Basically, the end result is what is important, regardless of the cost. If you get a really good deal on something that doesn’t do what it says it will do on the bottle then you have a bunch of nothing and you still have to spend more to get results. When buying products that basically do the same thing and give the same results, DO THE MATH. Figure out how much it costs per acre and then compare the pricing. Then, by all means, buy the product that is least expensive that gives the same results as it’s alternate.

REMEMBER: Always ask your salesperson what an application costs per acre. If he/she can’t tell you, then do the math yourself. Then compare the pricing of the various products. I think that you will be amazed at a few of the products that you “think” you are getting a deal on, but actually cost you more in the end.


You can also calculate your course savings by using MOL Products and eliminating one aerification using this worksheet: One Aerification/Lost Revenue vs. I-MOL Worksheet. Gary further explains this and provides actual sample results on the BUDGETING page.

COST COMPARISON