Are you wondering if it’s better to buy bulk mulch or bag mulch? Bulk mulch is buying mulch wholesale. You usually get a discounted price because you are buying mulch in large quantities. While buying bag mulch is buying mulch by the bag from your local garden center. The price of bag mulch is usually higher than bulk mulch. Use our Mulch cost calculator below to help you determine the price difference between bulk mulch and bag mulch.
Is It Better to Buy Bulk Mulch or Bag Mulch?
In general, it is better to buy bulk mulch because it is cheaper than buying bag mulch. Plus bulk mulch is usually delivered to your home and there are no plastic bag wastes with bulk mulch. Of course, your decision will depend on the actual price of bulk mulch versus the actual price of bag mulch. Sometimes, bag mulch go on sale at the big box garden centers and when that happens it may be cheaper to buy mulch by the bag.
How Much is Bulk Mulch?
Depending on where you live, bulk mulch can cost between $25-$75 per cubic yard. That’s a wide range in price and it’s usually dependent on where you live. You also need to add the cost of delivery to the total cost of bulk mulch.
Reasons to Buy Bulk Mulch
Here are 3 reasons to buy bulk mulch.
1. Mulch will be delivered to Your Home
If you want skip the lugging and transporting of mulch, buy bulk mulch because mulch will be delivered to your home. Do know there is usually a delivery fee for bulk mulch, don’t forget to add that into your calculation.
2. No Plastic Bags
Buying Bulk Mulch is environmentally friendlier. Bulk Mulch are not bagged so there are no plastic bag waste.
3. It’s Cheaper to Buy Bulk Mulch
Buying bulk mulch is usually cheaper than buying mulch by the bag. If that is the case, then you are better off buying bulk mulch. However, pricing will be dependent on actual mulch prices.
Reasons to Buy Bag Mulch
Here are 3 reasons to buy bag mulch.
1. No Delivery Fee
There is no added delivery fee when you buy bag mulch because you are doing the mulch pickup yourself. Delivery fee can be hefty, sometimes as much as the cost of 1 cubic yard or more!
2. Minimum Mulch Requirement Not Met
There is usually a minimum when buying mulch in bulk. If your mulching project is too small, you may not meet the minimum purchase requirement to buy bulk mulch. In that case, you will need to buy mulch by the bag.
3. It’s Cheaper to Buy Bag Mulch
It may be cheaper to buy bag mulch when bag mulch go on sale at the big box retail stores. In the New York area suburbs, sometimes bag mulch go on sale for $2.50 per 2 cu.ft. bag of mulch. When that happens, it can be cheaper to buy mulch by the bag than to buy bulk mulch.
Do You Need Help Calculating How Many Bags of Mulch to Buy? Check out our Mulch Calculator. It will compute how many bags of mulch you need.
Example of When to Buy Bulk Mulch
Let’s say bulk mulch costs $40 per cubic yard and you need to mulch 1000 square feet at 2 inches deep. You will need 6.17 cubic yards of mulch and that is $246.91 and the delivery fee is $50. Your total for bulk mulch including delivery is $299.99.
While a 2 cubic feet bag of mulch costs $3.50 per bag. You will need 84 bags of 2 cubic feet of mulch for 1000 square feet. The total for bag mulch is $294.
The price difference between bulk mulch and bag mulch is only $5.99. Since it’s such a small price difference, I’d pick bulk mulch so I get the mulch delivered and there will be zero plastic bag waste.
Use the Bulk Mulch versus Bag Mulch Cost calculator below to help you compute if buying bulk mulch or buying mulch by the bag is the less expensive option.
Bulk Mulch versus Bag Mulch Calculator
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