BJ's SKUs

That's not a misspelling for "BJ's SUCKs". The wholesale club is actually a pretty nice store for certain things. But a recent change in their business practice has left me out in the cold - literally.

For several years now, since I replaced my antiquated oil furnace with a new dual-fuel heat pump in 2001, I've been taking two 100 lb propane tanks to the BJ's at Briar Creek shopping center for fill up. (Why I'm using 100 lb tanks, rather than having it delivered to a fixed tank, is another topic. Basically, with the heat pump, we just don't use enough propane.) Today, knowing that the tanks were nearly empty, to prepare for the cold weather I took them to a new BJ's on Capital Boulevard (Rt 1 in North Raleigh at Old Wake Forest Rd). "Sorry," I was told, "we can't fill up those tanks because we don't have an SKU for them." I started to argue, telling the worker that I had gotten propane from BJ's before, but he couldn't seem to give any better explanation other than "the computer won't print a receipt."

I decided to take it to the store that has always provided me with service, at Briar Creek. However, I got a similar story there. The clerk, however, was a bit clearer on why: the store manager observed the employee filling up 100 lb tanks, and had specifically instructed him not to fill up any more. The reason given was that no SKU had been assigned to that service. This BJ's has been filling up my 100 lb tanks for years. Based on the similar language between the stores, it is evident that BJ's management made a decision to stop selling propane to customers with big tanks. One might conjecture that it has something to do with the recent spate of "propane shortage" news stories.

In any case, BJ's refusal to provide service leaves me searching for a source of propane.