Every winter storm, Home Depot and Lowe's sell out of ice melt within hours. Restocking takes 2–4 weeks. In January 2026, Morton told Massachusetts contractors "there is no more salt." The retail supply chain can't surge — but consumer demand does, with 3–5x spikes during storm events. Meanwhile, 25,000–30,000 propane exchange locations across the snow belt face significantly reduced demand from October to April — underutilized winter capacity.

Phase 1 (Winter 2026–27): All three tiers as prefilled buckets in lockers at 5–10 Blue Rhino grocery & convenience store locations in Greater Boston. We target locations where ice melt ISN'T a core category — grocery stores carry 2–5 SKUs; gas stations carry zero. Zero channel conflict, pure incremental revenue. Zero capital cost to Blue Rhino. Proves demand and collects price elasticity data across all tiers.

Phase 2: Patented SaltTap dispensing machines — single hopper of commodity rock salt + liquid CaCl₂ injection creates the Pro tier on-demand. Locker array for Pet buckets. One service truck handles everything: dumps rock salt, tops off chemical drums, restocks lockers.

Concept render — self-service dispensing station in retail parking lot

• 2,600 trucks and 5,000+ seasonal workers idle 6 months/year — SaltTap gives them winter routes at near-zero incremental cost
• 25,000–30,000 snow belt locations — 50–65% are grocery, convenience & gas stations where ice melt isn't sold inside (zero channel conflict)
• CEO mandate for weather-agnostic diversification — SaltTap is counter-seasonal revenue from existing assets
• Reliability moat: We buy wholesale by the truckload, pre-stage before winter. When HD/Lowe's shelves are empty, our locations are full.