Cord of Firewood???

[czeigler]

Does anyone else have a problem when selling firewood of the customer saying... "I didn't think a cord was that much wood?" :jawdrop:

Not that it's a bad thing, it's good for return business but my last several customers couldn't believe how much wood was in a cord.

One guy showed up with a 18 foot trailer with 1 foot sides and then had a nice dresser on it as well. He expected to fit his 2 cords on the trailer along with his dresser... needless to say he made a second trip.

I told him when he showed up, I didn't think it would all fit... I have a 6.5'x10' trailer with 2' sides and if i stack it tight and level with my 2ft sides it equalls a little over a cord at 130 cu ft.

Then today another guy came to pick up a cord with a 5x10 trailer with 1 foot sides and decided he is going to have to make a second trip.

I just thought it was interesting that people keep under estimating the size of a cord.

Wondering if anyone else had similar issues!


Be safe!

 

[blackdogon57]

"I didn't think a cord was that much wood?"

Happens often. Thats why I don't allow many customer pick ups in my yard. I will sell 1/4 cord loads to customers that show up with a pick up truck or a trailer that looks like it is built to handle the weight. I have had many people call to order a full cord and tell me they are going to come and get it with a pick up truck. When I tell them they wil be making at least 2-3 trips many tell me I am full of it.

Had a lady show up the other day to buy 1/4 cord that she planned to put in the trunk of her car. She was surprised when I showed her a 1/4 cord stacked on a skid.

 

[Wood Doctor]

I think it all goes back to the confusion between a face cord and a full cord. When people find out how much wood a full cord is, they sometimes go into shock.

One has to wonder how many dealers selling face cords have taken to the cleaners people who don't know any better. Also, dealers who advertise a legitimate cord have lost a lot of business to those who price by the face cord and don't reveal what they are actually delivering at the time the sale is made.

 

[Ohiowoodguy]

It happens to me alot: I show up with a cord, they say "ALL of that wood is for US!?!?"

I think its from all the retarded hillbillies around here selling it by a (illegal) truckload.

I compare it to a gallon of milk: a gallon has 128 ounces, a cord has 128 cubic feet. EVERYONE knows what a gallon looks like 'cause they've seen thousands of them (except our metric friends). Same would be true if everyone had always sold a true cord.

 

[LumberjkChamp]

It happens to me alot: I show up with a cord, they say "ALL of that wood is for US!?!?"

I think its from all the retarded hillbillies around here selling it by a (illegal) truckload.

Same would be true if everyone had always sold a true cord.

I think you pretty much said it all right there. Very well phrased. People have ordered full cords and have just been cheated the whole time. When they get an actual cord they are obviously going to be surprised.

 

[Wood Doctor]

It happens to me alot: I show up with a cord, they say "ALL of that wood is for US!?!?"

I think its from all the retarded hillbillies around here selling it by a (illegal) truckload.

I compare it to a gallon of milk: a gallon has 128 ounces, a cord has 128 cubic feet. EVERYONE knows what a gallon looks like 'cause they've seen thousands of them (except our metric friends). Same would be true if everyone had always sold a true cord.

Selling wood in Ohio is illegal if sold by the truckload?

You can still buy milk by the quart and by the half gallon. What if the truckload price per cubic foot is the same or a little more than the cord price per cubic foot? That would seem fair to me. Milk sold by the half gallon generally costs more ($ per ounce) than milk sold by the gallon.

 

[aandabooks]

I don't know about buying wood and being suprised by how much a cord is. I've never bought wood. But I can tell you that from the burning end, sometimes I will look at the stack and wonder how I went through a whole cord in the time it took to burn it.

 

[Joshlaugh]

I agree about people not knowing how much a cord is and getting fleeced by a few sellers. My neighbor bought "1/2 cord" for a $130(which is expensive to begin with here) and I didn't have the heart to tell him how little he actually got. I just advised him to talk to me first next time.

Also selling wood by pickup truck is legal in my part of Ohio. Pretty common method of selling it.

 

[Moss Man]

We stepped up our operation this year and we aren't getting much feedback. I assume people believe they are getting what I claim to deliver. I have measured and remeasured many times to be sure we are meeting the state guidelines for cord measurements. Maine has us measure in cubic feet.

 

[abohac]

Does anyone else have a problem when selling firewood of the customer saying... "I didn't think a cord was that much wood?" :jawdrop:

Not that it's a bad thing, it's good for return business but my last several customers couldn't believe how much wood was in a cord.

One guy showed up with a 18 foot trailer with 1 foot sides and then had a nice dresser on it as well. He expected to fit his 2 cords on the trailer along with his dresser... needless to say he made a second trip.

I told him when he showed up, I didn't think it would all fit... I have a 6.5'x10' trailer with 2' sides and if i stack it tight and level with my 2ft sides it equalls a little over a cord at 130 cu ft.

Then today another guy came to pick up a cord with a 5x10 trailer with 1 foot sides and decided he is going to have to make a second trip.

I just thought it was interesting that people keep under estimating the size of a cord.

Wondering if anyone else had similar issues!


Be safe!

Nope I don't because we sell by the face cord. However some guy wrote that it is illegal to sell wood that way. However in Michigan that's the way it is (at least in my area). Who the heck wants a full cord of wood? Most of the people I sell to want a face cord for their fireplace.

 

[abohac]

I think it all goes back to the confusion between a face cord and a full cord. When people find out how much wood a full cord is, they sometimes go into shock.

One has to wonder how many dealers selling face cords have taken to the cleaners people who don't know any better. Also, dealers who advertise a legitimate cord have lost a lot of business to those who price by the face cord and don't reveal what they are actually delivering at the time the sale is made.

I haven't taken anyone to the cleaners. I sell wood by the face cord. I tell them exactly how much that is. I have had repeat customers for 20 years. Why would you sell a cord of wood when someone only wants a 1/3 of that?
Why would I want to take someone to the cleaners? I'll sell a cord or a face cord. Whatever someone wants. I'll sell it by the piece also. I'll sell it by the bundle also. I'll sell it anyway you want to buy it.

 

[turnkey4099]

I haven't taken anyone to the cleaners. I sell wood by the face cord. I tell them exactly how much that is. I have had repeat customers for 20 years. Why would you sell a cord of wood when someone only wants a 1/3 of that?
Why would I want to take someone to the cleaners? I'll sell a cord or a face cord. Whatever someone wants. I'll sell it by the piece also. I'll sell it by the bundle also. I'll sell it anyway you want to buy it.

So just what is wrong with selling the customer "1/3 cord"? That way you are in compliance with any regs that apply and you aren't using a measure that was designed to fleece customers.

Harry K

 

[STLfirewood]

So just what is wrong with selling the customer "1/3 cord"? That way you are in compliance with any regs that apply and you aren't using



Around here if I advertise 1/3 of a cord I wouldn;t get as many calls. Most people advertise a face cord as 1/2 of a cord. It is if you cut it 24". But they only cut 18" wood. I cut mine 16". If I advertise 1/3 of a cord they call the other guy selling 1/2.

Scott

 

[abohac]

So just what is wrong with selling the customer "1/3 cord"? That way you are in compliance with any regs that apply and you aren't using a measure that was designed to fleece customers.

Harry K

I guess you could call it a 1/3 of a cord instead of a face cord. Problem is up here (Michigan) the people who would call me would say "I don't know what a 1/3 of a cord is but I do know what a face cord is so bring that".

 

[woodbooga]

I compare it to a gallon of milk: a gallon has 128 ounces, a cord has 128 cubic feet. EVERYONE knows what a gallon looks like 'cause they've seen thousands of them (except our metric friends). Same would be true if everyone had always sold a true cord.

Makes one wonder what would happen if millers sold lumber by the cubit and realtors sold land in rods.

I was recently at a yard sale where there was a loosely piled heap of split wood with a for sale sign on it. Pile dimensions were maybe 3' tall at apex, and maybe 5' wide at the broadest point. Looked to be about a third of a cord, what fits in the bed of my ranger.

How much?, I asked.

$200.

Wow. How'd you arrive at that amount?

That's a good price, the guy said. There's about 2 cords there and a cord is fetching up at least $200.

How do you reckon that's 2 cords?

Because a cord is about half that amount?



If I'd had the time, this could've become a teachable moment, but I had neither the time nor patience to explain, stack, measure, and calculate.

The pile is visible from the road. I should drive by to see if anyone's taken this guy up on this particular bargain.

 

[tomtrees58]

it happens just don jet greedy tom trees

 

[dbmatt]

I am someone who buys two cords of firewood per year. After getting ripped off by some dealers I investigated what the weights and measures department of NJ had to say. Firewood is to be sold by the cord or fraction of a cord. Not by the truckload, facecord or rick. The reasoning is that those three measurements are not a definite amount. What size truck is it? How long are the pieces in your face cord or rick? However, this does not stop the (many) unscrupulous dealers in my area. One in paticular advertises that he sells a full cord 4x4x8 128 cu ft. and then delivered to me two thirds of a cord. The reason he gets away with it is twofold; as stated earlier, people just don't know how much wood is in a full cord, and to prosecute him I would have to stack the wood, not use any of it, and call the weights and measures department and wait for an investigator to come and check my measurements. By the time I found out, I had already used some.

So, I guess the moral of the story, from a home owner to the legitimate firewood dealers out there, is thank you for your honesty.

Dave

 

[Dennis_Peacock]

Around here? I call about firewood at times. I ask, "How much is a full cord of firewood?". Their answer is almost 100% of the time, "I don't sell wood by the cord, I sell it by the rick....so how many rick do you want?".

I'm afraid if I asked for a "face cord" I'd get looks like a calf looking at a new gate. :crazy1:

 

[coog]

I've always been amused by the different term"short cord","kitchen cord" "rick", "run" It is well known that a legal "full" cord is 128 cu/ft, but less well known (at least in Mn where I sold wood) is that is only applied to 8 foot lengths.I used to carry a copy of the regs in my truck, but it was easier just selling a 128 cu/ft cut and split cord

 

[dbmatt]

Here is another one I just thought of... this is an actual conversation I had with a firewood dealer...
I called to order a cord of split seasoned firewood. The sign says it is $175. Having been burned (no pun intended) before I asked her if it was a true cord 4x4x8. She said no, a true cord would be $225, this is a face cord. I was amazed. I could buy a full cord for $225 or three face cords for $525 and according to standard measurements receive the same amount of wood. In this case I declined to buy from them and found another dealer that knew how to measure the wood.

I guess the point is that sometimes even the dealer dosen't know the proper terminology.

Dave