ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Winter has arrived earlier than in recent years, and is already making its presence known. Plow truck companies are preparing for a longer season of cold, icy roads by stocking up on rock salt.
“Right now, there should be just over 400 tons in there. And I have another 100 scheduled for this week,” Tony Zucco, vice president of snow operations at Thomas Landscaping & Design, said.
What You Need To Know
- American Rock Salt is the largest operating mine in the country, located in Mount Morris
- It reported a supply shortage in February and credited longer stretches of cold weather for the higher demand
- Some plow truck companies started stocking up on rock salt as early as July to avoid another round of shortages
Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, his crews are covering multiple communities on the East Side of Monroe County. Zucco’s hoping to keep his rock salt supply at full capacity all season long.
“We were buying salt in August,” he admitted. “With what we ran into last year, we wanted to be as prepared as possible going into the winter season.”
Rock salt supply shortages took over the state by February of this year. Many New Yorkers had nowhere else to go.
“We sourced other places, you know, to the best of our ability, made as many phone calls as we could, and even had phone calls in Canada,” Zucco said.
American Rock Salt is the largest operating mine in the country and located in Mount Morris. Earlier this year, the mine released a statement: “For further context, in 2024 American Rock Salt shipped 1.8 million tons of salt for the entirety of the winter season; this winter through January 2025 alone we have already shipped over 2.1 million tons of salt.
“This historic demand is due to the long stretch of cold weather events impacting the region, where the constantly low temperatures require salting roads for even very small snowfall events.
“Keeping my fingers crossed it doesn’t happen again. Salt is a very important commodity in our region,” Zucco explained. “[It] gives you traction on the road. When you are getting snow, as we experienced even Sunday night, when we were getting those bursts of snow, even if you can’t keep up with that plowing, at least if you put salt on it gives you traction. It makes it easier to drive.”
In a statement shared with Spectrum News 1 on Tuesday, American Rock Salt said, “As communities across the Northeast prepare for the challenges of winter, American Rock Salt is reinforcing its commitment to keeping roads safe and communities connected. Road safety is our highest priority, and our dedicated miners, who live and work in the very communities we serve, are working tirelessly to ensure a consistent supply of high-quality, American-mined salt.”
However, the mine has declined further requests for comment.
Nine days into December, Zucco says his most recent salt delivery was on Saturday. He says demand must already be so high, that crews need to fulfill orders on the weekends. However, he has not been notified of any potential shortages so far this season. He says all orders are delivered within 24-48 hours.
“That’s the most important part, you want to be safe,” he explained. “I try to stress to everybody, just be safe out there. Slow down a little bit. Let the plow drivers, supply truck drivers, do what they do. It’s not a race, and just be careful.”
