FAQ

Our hours for loading dumptrucks in the gravel pit are Monday through Friday 7 am - 4:00 pm and Saturday 7 am - 4:00 pm.  We load pickup and trailers in our retail yard Monday through Friday 7 am - 5:00 pm and Saturday 7 am - 4:00 pm.  Our office hours are Monday through Friday 7 am - 5:30 pm and Saturday 7 am - 4:00 pm.

We are located in Black Diamond.  Our address is 31407 SR 169 (aka 3^rd Avenue), Black Diamond, WA 98010.  Look for a big, yellow steam shovel marking our driveway.  Our mailing address is P.O. Box 10, Black Diamond, WA  98010-0010.

We’re open Saturday from 7 am to 4 pm, but closed every Sunday.  We’re also closed major holidays: New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas Eve and Christmas day.

Our listed prices are for cash and check only   We do take credit / debit cards for a small service fee.  

Yes, in fact we’ve been open to the public since 1933. 

After you weigh in, we have a small loader which will load as much or as little as you need, paying only for what you get.  If you want, you can also shovel product into the trunk of your car or the back of a pickup with a canopy. 

For products sold by the ton, you can purchase any amount you want, paying only for what you get.  We weigh your vehicle in; you get loaded; we weigh your vehicle out; and you pay only for how much you have.  For products sold by the cubic yard (CY), we have a 1/2 yard minimum.

Sure, depending on the product a 5-gallon buck costs just $1 or $2.

A ton is 2,000 pounds (i.e. lbs).  A full size pickup can usually carry a little over a ton of material, while a smaller pickup can typically handle half to three-quarters of a ton (i.e. 1,000 to 1,500 lbs).

A cubic yard is 3’ x 3’ x 3’ which equals 27 cubic feet or one yard.  Cubic yard is abbreviated CY.  A full size pickup can usually carry 1 to 1.5 CY of material, while a smaller pickup can typically handle one CY.

Every product has different densities which make some products weigh much more per cubic yard than others.  For example, a cubic yard of beauty bark is much lighter than a cubic yard of crushed gravel.  Most sands and gravels weigh 1.2 to 1.5 tons per cubic yard.  For instance, one cubic yard of crushed gravel will weigh about 2,900 lbs or 1.45 tons.  Click here for a link to approximate conversion tables for most of our products. Calculating your product needs

Sand, gravel, rock and topsoil are typically sold by the ton.

Beauty bark, play chips, bark nuggets, Nutra-Mulch, compost, and Moo-Doo are sold by the CY.

Follow the link to our page which will help you understand how to calculate quantities  Calculating your product needs

Absolutely, call and we’ll quote you delivered prices.

That depends upon where you’re located and the amount of product you want.  Many deliveries become more economical about 3 CY or more.  Smaller quantities are typically cheaper buying in a pickup or trailer at our retail sales yard.  However, we will deliver any quantity you need.

We often tell customers it costs just as much to deliver a teaspoon full as it does to deliver 12 CY.  That’s because the cost of delivery doesn’t change, but the more product we put on the dumptruck, the cheaper it costs for each cubic yard.

There is no such thing as “free delivery.”  While some companies offer “free” delivery it isn’t really free.  The cost of operating dumptrucks, scheduling, paying employees, and many other expenses are simply hidden in the price.  We tell you what the delivery costs because we value your business whether you pick up the material yourself or have us deliver.  For ease of quoting prices, we offer standard pricing for 10 CY, 12 CY, and 15 CY loads.

We’re so confident of our pricing we’ll give the names and phone numbers of our competitors so you call them to make sure that Palmer’s prices are the best around. 

We have screened gravel, washed gravel, crushed gravel, and decorative gravel.  Each different type of gravel is best suited for different applications.  There are lots of sizes and shapes.  Check out the product photos for short descriptions of all our products. 

We sell screened sand, washed sand, granolithic sand, arena sand, and golf course sand.  Check out the product photos for short descriptions of all our products.  

.

We sell 3-way, 4-way, 50-50, Golf Course Mix and other blends for specific purposes.  Check out the product photos for short descriptions of all our products. 

We sell beauty bark, play chips, bark nuggets, Nutra-Mulch, compost, Moo-Doo, quarry rock, quarry spalls, river rock, red cinders, red cinder chips, lava rock, Safeco Warning Track mix, and boulders.  Check out the product photos for short descriptions of all our products. 

We offer contractor pricing in two ways.  When you purchase more than 3.5 tons or 3 CY in one load, you get what we call dumptruck pricing as opposed to pickup prices.  If you plan to be a regular customer, we offer credit accounts with even better prices and more convenience.  If you have a Washington state Resale tax registration, please provide us with a copy and we won’t charge sales tax. 

Palmer comes from the generally forgotten town of Palmer-Kanaskat (near Durham), located in east King County.  Coking refers to a type of coal which could be partially “cooked” to extract impurities.  Coal was the mineral we mined during the Great Depression, with thirty or more companies competing for market share in a declining industry.  By selling good quality products, Palmer Coking Coal found favor with consumers and businesses in supplying Washington’s fuel needs.  We now sell different products but our motto remains the same: “Good products – Good prices – Good service.”

Yes, check it out at Palmer Coking Coal Company.

Palmer Coking Coal Company operates Shangri-La on the Green.  It is a privately owned park located on the banks of the Green River near Black Diamond which can be rented for weddings, family campouts, company picnics, reunions, retreats and other celebration.  Follow this link to our website:  ShangriLaOnTheGreen.com