What's with these firewood prices?
Aged Red Oak firewood - $75 (street MD)
Aged Red Oak firewood
I suppose that seasoning is no longer enough to differentiate one in a crowded market. We are now "Aging" our firewood... kind'a like a fine wine.
I would like to comment however, that the prices being advertised by folks that supply firewood for a living, are a bit of a puzzle to me. Years ago while living on the DelMarVa peninsula we used to supplement our slow season with firewood sales. We had two splitters behind the shop and would cut our own logs as well as have tractor trailer loads dropped in trailer lengths for about $15 a cord. Back then (and I'm talkin' like 30 years ago) I seem to recall we could get about $125 -$150 a cord locally (in an area where just about everybody had stands of red oak in abundance right outside their door), and $175 to $225 a cord for seasoned oak, split/stacked/delivered.
Since inflation due to our Federal Reserve constantly dumping more scrip into the market - literally by the trillions - has devalued our currency by at least 30% just under the last two knuckleheads to get elected, why is firewood experiencing a relative decline in price (when compared to other available energy sources)? I don't know about you, but even natural gas is expected to go up at least 5-10% this winter here, and they' aren't even forecasting a particularly harsh one. Other forms of energy have enjoyed tremendous technological economies of scale while increasing in price (even though most of it's probably just higher taxes placed upon it), but firewood today, in spite of some extremely ingenious automation, is still principally a guy with a chain saw and a splitter.
The cost of those saws, splitters and the consumables associated with them have more than double and tripled. The cost of the fuel to run the equipment and trucks has about quadrupled! When adjusted for inflation my insurance is still up at least 100%, as are the road tolls (actually more like 300% and climbing), and the cost of government mandated ABS/Airbag/crash bumper equipped vehicles has put them on par with what I paid for a house back when. Even with the recent decade's decline in average earnings, the customers buying the wood are still making almost twice as much as they did 30 years ago (forgetting for a moment that what they earn is in reality nearing total valuelessness).
So why are folks only gettin' today, near about or less than what I was gettin' 30 years ago? It's not that we were particularly expensive back then either, although our margin was a hell of lot healthier than what people are willing to work for today? My gut tells me we're just steadily workin' toward a third world economy, where our sweat continues to be devalued with our currency, as more and more jobs flee to follow even cheaper labor available overseas. More folks out'a work means more pressure on the labor market to work for less. Some will and some won't. Who says illegals don't impact everybody?
Time was I could have ten cords of logs ready for buckin', dropped right next to my splitter for $150. For a couple of days' work I could manage a before tax net profit of near about $1,500, in an economy where gas was less than a buck, and bread was 2/$1.
Not until the Fed ceases propping up artificial markets will we actually see any correcting of this imbalance, but in the mean time... I'll just let it sit before I sell myself that cheap. A business model built on bein' the cheapest guy in town typically ends badly.
Ron Paul: Blame the Fed for the Financial Crisis - WSJ.com
