corded face ricks
They went to cords only here because so many people were getting ripped off. I agree going to dry seasoned weight introduces some problems, but the compromise is using the "cord", tightly stacked, that can be measured with a tape. That just gets fairer. Different areas of the country have different "standards" apparently, whereas a "cord" is the same everywhere.
Using weight is done for so many other products out there, really, I don't see it as being insurmountable in the modern day. The closest energy analogy we have is coal, it is sold by the ton, or fractions or multiples thereof, not by the "face load".
Say, you go to buy dry dogfood, you want 50 lbs, you don't want to try and figure out if this bag is doable or not for you if it is measured in "face pecks" or some other such nonsense.
Just a for instance...firewood sellers would be tasked with once a year registering and having their scales measured, same as at the slaughterhouse or auction barn, etc when you go to sell your cows. I know I check mine before they go out...so if there is a wild discrepancy beyond what I expect for stress loss, we can have a "discussion" about matters. If they are caught low balling, well, that's fraud and done commercially they could be charged.
Scales won't lie if they are inspected and calibrated, no "interpretation" needed, stacked wood can vary wildly due to air spaces. Or like when the gas station has to have their pumps measured, you want to just guess if you are getting x-amount gallons? That's what you want with wood, just "trust" but no "verify" for the consumer. Or is it better that they are inspected and you know you are more likely than not to actually be getting x-gallons at the pump? You want the gas station to go FU, trust us or GTFO, you don't have to buy it, then you go to the next station qand it is the same, then the next one, ditto? Or is it better to have their dang pumps measured and at least have that assurance and have a single makes-sense unit of measure?
Same deal. It's a business, firewood is an energy selling business, You don't want to guess on your kilowatt hours of electricity or what gets put into the propane tank or whatever, you want a minimum, and you know they get inspected and verified periodically. And you have that gauge on the propane tank to back up what they claim they are pumping in.
You would theoretically have some minimum expenses to proceed with dry wood by the weight instead of volume, just like the climbers here have to get contractors insurance and some competency license most places anyway.
We got rid of "caveat emptor" snake oil pure anarchy selling of products for a reason, human nature tends to de-evolve into the biggest crooks take over and sell crap. I am not for over burdensome government regs, far from it, but some is necessary, consumer warranties are a good thing, as are some standards for quality and measure.
Anyway, I am old fashioned, I believe in "just weights and measures" from the good book. Less than that gets squirrelly and can lead to problems and "ricked and racked up corded faces" is not any sort of real measure that can be universally applied at this time, all sorts of people will have all sorts of ideas what those measurements really mean, whereas a tight packed cord or weight by the ton is, and could be applied anywhere. Rick/face cord/rack are all independently come up with out of thin air, two different people can argue over how much those really are, they don't apply universally. A cord or a ton or a gallon is much closer to a real universal standard.
To each their own, I would prefer as both a seller or as a buyer to have a clear cut easy to understand measure, no matter what commodity you are talking about, corn to firewood to dog food to gas or diesel or whatever.
Please note, I am not trying to be insulting and am not trolling here, just I have been around and HAVE seen really big discrepancies in what people say are "ricks" or "face cords". Cord works, half a cord works, two cords works, and this is precisely why my state went to a universally understood measure for firewood selling. They had it the other way, it lead to a lot of problems because people would just claim this or that was this or that, with no legally defined way to see who was correct.
then go look in western kansas and around oklahoma city and tulsa. its a regional thing. You know wheat being sold by the bushel is actually computed off weight and shrunk right? i'll bet they round some of those figures and screw a farmer or two by a cent! i should turn my co-op in. there is up to 9.9 pounds of scale fraud on EVERY weight ticket too!!! oh.. and go from 1 co-op to the next and your 25 ton load can LEGALLY vary up to 500 pounds 
