Run a Rural Ice Delivery Service

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

Before too long, you might want to invest in an ice crusher, too. We purchased our first model for $150 (you can pay up to $400 or more today) from a fellow who'd worked in our town's former icehouse. It was adequate for a while, but later—when clients began calling for larger quantities—we bought a bigger machine. Our present contrivance is a plate-steel, electric-motor-driven affair with heavy metal teeth set in a revolving drum. It'll munch 50 pounds of ice in about 30 seconds and hasn't needed a single repair in ten years of hard use. The device stands on steel legs bolted to a platform made of 1/2" exterior-grade plywood (again, it's been drilled to permit drainage) . . . which, in turn, is nailed to large railroad ties to help keep the assembly stable.

We quickly discovered that most people prefer to buy small quantities of crushed ice already bagged—rather than bring and fill their own containers—so we sent away to our local equipment company for some paper ice pouches in 10- and 25-pound sizes. However, although we did use these packets for a number of years, they tended to freeze together, and eventually—for lack of a better alternative—we switched to plastic sacks . . . which are slightly more expensive, but less troublesome.

In the beginning, Dad and I simply used an old food freezer to store our packaged ice, but—again, as business got better—we eventually purchased a bag vendor: one of the large cooled bins often seen in front of convenience stores. Thanks to our increased storage capacity, we can do almost all our crushing and bagging in the evening when the air is cooler and our surroundings are less hectic.

I want to stress once more that such items as crushers and bag freezers are not at all necessary for starting an ice service . . . they're improvements that can be added later. Indeed, because it is possible to begin your business without the extras, you can take your time shopping around for good used equipment and probably save a lot of money as a result.

HAULING AND HANDLING ICE

Anyone who's starting on a bootstrap will probably want to know how to turn a pickup into an ice truck. Well, the conversion is easy: Just lay plywood in the bed to prevent ice from freezing into the grooves . . . and you're ready to load.

The chunks should be placed in the truck on their long, narrow edges and braced in on the sides with large wooden blocks (put wedges at the ends, too, if the load doesn't butt firmly up against the tailgate). This procedure prevents any ice from sliding and cracking other cakes, and also keeps the cargo—and the truck itself—more stable and easier to control.

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print