Mistakes When Comparing Elevator Bids
Two cash bids are comparable only after you match the futures month, the discounts, and the delivery window.
A higher number on a sign feels like the better sale. It often is not. Two elevators can post cash bids that are not the same product: different delivery windows, different discount tables, different hours when they will actually take the truck. Comparing the headlines and hauling to the winner is how a loud bid becomes a smaller check. The pieces inside a bid are laid out at https://goodsandgrain.trade/how-elevators-build-a-cash-bid.
Different months pretending to be one price
One house may be bidding off a nearby futures month and the other off a deferred month. The cash numbers can sit a few cents apart while describing different time. Ask each buyer which futures month and which delivery window the bid assumes. If you cannot write those two facts beside each number, you are not comparing bids. You are comparing slogans.
A spot bid for grain dumped today and a bid for January delivery are alternate plans, not rivals for the same truck this afternoon.
Discount tables that rewrite the headline
The posted bid usually assumes a moisture, a test weight, and a damage level. Your last sample may miss one of those. A house with a milder moisture table can pay more on a wet load even when its headline is lower. Shrink and drying charges are the mechanism, described at https://goodsandgrain.trade/grain-moisture-shrink-explained. Call both houses with your moisture in hand and ask for the net, not the board.
Foreign material and damage belong in the same call. A buyer who is strict on one factor and loose on another is not better in the abstract. They are better for the grain you actually have.
Hours, lines, and the bid you cannot collect
A strong bid with a four-hour line, or with receiving closed by the time you arrive, is not today's price. Harvest pace is often set at the scale, as noted at https://goodsandgrain.trade/harvest-scale-bottlenecks. Add the wait, the extra miles, and the chance you will be turned away for a factor you did not ask about. Then look at the nearer bid again.
Also ask how long the quote is firm. A bid that dies at noon is not a bid you can use for a truck that loads at two.
Fees that never made the sign
Some houses charge a dump fee, a drying minimum, or an outlet fee that sits outside the per-bushel bid. Others fold handling into basis. Neither approach is shady by itself. Comparing them requires the fee to be visible. Ask what is deducted after the gross bid. A price quoted per bushel against a price quoted per metric ton is a unit error waiting to flatter the wrong buyer. Convert before you rank them.
If one bid is for a contracted future delivery and the other is a spot dump, say so on the page. Mixing a forward contract with a spot bid is how people think they compared elevators when they compared products.
One sheet, three lines, then drive
For each buyer write the futures month, the net after your discounts, and the window when they will receive you. Circle the net you can actually collect today if you need the money or the bin space today. Circle a different net if you are choosing a later contract on purpose. The mistake is circling the largest raw number and calling the thinking done.
Bids change. This habit does not pick a house for you. It stops a sign from picking one by accident.
Frequently asked questions
Is the highest posted bid the one I should take?
Only after discounts, units, and receiving hours are in the comparison. The headline is the start of the arithmetic.
Why would a lower board price net more?
A gentler discount on the factor your grain actually fails can outweigh a louder headline built for drier, cleaner grain.
Should I count the drive?
Yes. Miles, wait time, and the risk of being turned away are part of the net you take home.