With snow that wouldn’t stop and ice melt supplies that shrank faster than the ice, it may be a relief that you survived. But as you look out upon your lush green grass and sun dried sidewalks, I hate to say you better be planning now for next winter, and the first thing you need to do is throw out your book on how you used to do things.

What you need to realize today, is that as hard as it may have been to get the product you needed to fight last winter, it could be harder this winter and it hasn’t even started snowing yet.

After coming off of two years of very mild winters nationwide, ice melter stock supplies had shrunk considerably with less being purchased by end-users and distributors.

Then in many parts of the country it started snowing, and didn’t want to stop. The aftermath is that more than likely your supply is depleted, as is your distributor’s and the manufacturer is scrambling (if they’re smart) to refill their exhausted supply.

The distribution pipeline is empty and the demand is high. No one wants to get caught out in the cold again.

With the potential for another shortage in ice melter supply, and no idea what the next winter will bring, now is the opportune time to reassess your de-icing strategy. The days of throwing salt at it and if it doesn’t melt, throw more salt at it, are dwindling.

Labor cost, product cost and environmental pressures have all been pushing for a new way of doing things. The good news is there are new tools available for your winter toolkit and they’re easy and save you money.

If our goal is to prevent ice from forming, incorporating liquid de-icers into your winter toolkit is the fastest way of achieving this. Applying liquid de-icers on your sidewalks and parking lots ahead of a storm increases your ability to fight the formation of ice before it starts. The more ice you can prevent, the less chance you have for a slip and fall, the less ice melter is required after the storm to cleanup, and less labor is required to maintain your facility.