Airgas Price Match - Post Your Receipts

As promised, even if late.

North Central 1.20

So I was told today that my price will be going up and this would be the last time at 1.20. When I asked how much, all he would say is he's "still arguing with the big boss about it, but everyone else pays 2.60". If anyone else has receipts, please post them, even if they aren't the lowest. The more ammunition, the better. I guess I'll start working on negotiating with a couple other places too.

You're in the same reason as me, right? I have like 4 $1.3 invoices now that I'll scan if you'd like.

I'll keep that in mind, Chance, but I don't think that's necessary. I was thinking more along the lines of different facilities. The guy I deal with most of the time up here is actually pretty decent. I might have to have a sit down with his boss though. It really depends on how much they are going to raise it. If they raise it .10 a liter or something, I'm not going to get too excited. I'll argue a little, but that's what I expected in the first place. If they come back with "what everyone else pays" as he quoted his boss, at 2.60, or some other outrageous number, I just want to have enough paperwork with me to be able to show him he's out of line.

I do have other options, so if they really don't want to play ball I can go elsewhere. Toll is about 2 blocks from work, and quoted me 1.80 on the phone. Pretty small place though, so I'm not sure if they'll go lower, but I'll look into it next week. I see Praxair trucks around now and then, but I don't know where they're located. I'll have to check into that too. The Airgas fill plant 10 minutes from me, where I go now, is the biggest place I know of, and seemed like the most likely to deal.

As a side note, he mentioned to me today that a bunch of red flags went up after I was there last week picking up 70 liters. Questions were raised about what I was doing with all this LN2, even though I've explained it every time I've gone there. Apparently it can be used to manufacture meth (I did not know this), and there was some concern about that. We pulled up a couple of OC videos, showed him some of my frosty pics on my phone, and he thought that was pretty cool. He said he'd spread the word around.

Manufacturer meth? WTF? He's been watching too much breaking bad.

I could post up a $1 ltr receipt if it helps at all.

I was asked if I was making bombs or anything like that, the last time I bought. It was a little awkward conversation. Perhaps it is because of the recent bombing.

hokiealumnus said:

Manufacturer meth? WTF? He's been watching too much breaking bad.

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There may be some truth to that. I was rather amused, to be honest. As if I'd set up an account using my driver's license and use a check card to purchase anything for illegal activities to begin with. I may not be the brightest guy, but really?

xsuperbgx said:

I could post up a $1 ltr receipt if it helps at all.

I was asked if I was making bombs or anything like that, the last time I bought. It was a little awkward conversation. Perhaps it is because of the recent bombing.

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That would be great, super, if you can. Don't know if it will help, but it couldn't hurt.

I don't mind the questions. In this day and age, unfortunately, I'd rather they asked than not. Spent a good 20 minutes with a guy from the TSA last month at the airport explaining and demonstrating my e-cig (not your average blue). Nobody had ever seen one like it. He walked around and showed it to everyone on duty so they'd know next time.

hokiealumnus said:

Manufacturer meth? WTF? He's been watching too much breaking bad.

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lol.. I'd be worried if he was an exterminator!

how many litres are you buying at a time, The quantity you purchase tends to greatly effect pricing for ln2.

If i fill 30L only it tends to cost me 3$ a litre here. If i let them know in advance and I purchase 160L at once i pay like 90c a litre.

I try to keep my dewar cold to since that way if your filling its not a warm fill, so theres not much boil off when they go to fill due to pulling down dewar temps.

TsunamiJuan said:

how many litres are you buying at a time, The quantity you purchase tends to greatly effect pricing for ln2.

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Yeah, I had that discussion with them the first time I went. They tried to talk me into renting a 300l or something silly like that. If I had a place to put it, that might be worthwhile, but I don't.This was my 4th trip in 3 weeks. 35L the first time, 70L the next two, and 35L today, as I had to cut my session short on Sunday, and still had about 20L left in one of my 35L dewars. I don't expect to keep up that pace....getting a little smarter about it and becoming more efficient. I'm guessing though, that I'll settle somewhere around 140L a month depending on hardware and time.

TsunamiJuan said:

I try to keep my dewar cold to since that way if your filling its not a warm fill, so theres not much boil off when they go to fill due to pulling down dewar temps.

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Good point, and something I noticed. 1 of my dewars was warm last week, and it made a difference for sure.

Just a quick update. I called Airgas to see what they were going to charge me for 70L today. They said "we'll talk about it when you get here". I went to Toll instead since it was on the way, they agreed to match the 1.20/L Airgas was giving me (had a receipt in my backpack) without blinking an eye. Very friendly folks, and they even loaded the dewars for me instead of just leaving them on the dock. What a difference.

Thanks for the update. I think the moral of the story is to avoid Airgas whenever possible.

Awesome thread and thanks Hokie for linking it. Any chance we can get some current receipts posted so I have some fresh ammo for when I go in?

Heh, I'd love to but I haven't gotten LN2 probably since very near that last invoice. My dewar is stored in our crawlspace for now.

Too bad them darn things are so heavy or we could have a loaner Dewer as well.

Local place agreed to do price matching so here's another request for some more recent receipts!

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? ;P

Just got my first batch of ln2...woohooo!!! Will hopefully get a slightly better rate once they get to know me. Here's the receipt.

Update: Have had 5 or 6 refills now and building a decent relationship with the owner and dock guy. Ever since that first fill at $1/L, they've been charging me $20 cash for all other fills (whether the dewar's had anywhere from 0 to about 10L in it). Think a lot of others get the same kind of deals so, I reckon, get the best deal you can on that first fill, be a nice, chatty person and take it from there.

funsoul said:

Update: Have had 5 or 6 refills now and building a decent relationship with the owner and dock guy. Ever since that first fill at $1/L, they've been charging me $20 cash for all other fills (whether the dewar's had anywhere from 0 to about 10L in it). Think a lot of others get the same kind of deals so, I reckon, get the best deal you can on that first fill, be a nice, chatty person and take it from there.

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Nice!