Received an interesting telephone call from a fellow firewood seller today

[JEA]

Sorry for the length of this, but it was quite a phone call:

My firewood selling background: I have sold firewood for 2 years now and have all the business I want by placing a few ads around town. I don't want to be a big or the biggest firewood seller in my area, but my goal is to sell a high quality product to a select group of people who I can maintain as repeat customers over the years,which I have done so far.

I received a telephone call from a person claiming to be a firewood seller in my area. This person told me that he had several customers who needed firewood immediately, but unfortunately he was already out for the season due to the colder than normal weather. He wanted to know what kind of deal I could give him if he bought 7 ricks (i.e. face cords) of my best seasoned firewood at one time, as a fellow seller who didn't want to lose his customer base. I will add that my best wood is seasoned for 2 years inside a well ventilated shed and is top quality. He wanted to come and pick up the wood versus me delivering it. So, I told him that Saturday was the earliest he could pick up the wood as I couldn't get away from my job before then. He was not pleased with this, but eventually agreed to this next Saturday morning. Now to the price: I told him that since he was going to pick up the wood, I would knock $10 off per rick. He then made it clear that $10 off per rick was not an acceptable discount for a fellow seller. I told him that was the discount. The call then ended and I knew I would never hear from him again.

Thoughts after the call:

1. Was this person really a seller or a customer posing as a seller thinking they would be able to get some type of "wholesale" price on the wood? If he was a seller, he must not have been too great at his job if he was already out of product to sell during the 1st week of January. Makes one wonder....

2. Evidently, I am suppose to "give" my wood away to my competitors who haven't spent the time I have in cutting, splitting, stacking, and storing the product for my own customers.

3. If he would change his mind and call back and want the deal, I think I will tell him one of two things: I have changed my mind and instead want full price for the wood or he can simply save himself the hassle of dealing with his customers and give me their names and telephone numbers and I can sell them my own wood directly.

So, to all the AS participants out there who sell firewood, here is my question: Is this the type of B.S. you routinely have to put up with just to sell your product? Please post your comments and similiar stories as I would like to hear them. Thanks.

 

[wvlogger]

i would say he was posing i hate this kind of stuff

 

[nparch726]

:agree2:Well, if he was really a fellow firewood seller, I see a bit of a problem with his business plan! Obviously it's been a bit cold over the past few weeks, nobody can argue with that, but it is winter!! Running out of wood to sell the first week of January shows that he either runs a darn poor operation, or he's just some average Joe trying to screw you out of some wood.

 

[pinesfarm]

that has happened to me before but i was able to accommodate the seller and give him a reasonable price where i was still making close to what i normally would have been making picked up. i myself have also been in this situation and find that he probably was posing because if you think of it who spends the time and fuel to pick up wood then deliver it to make what a few bucks doesnt sound right to be because im sure his prices were pretty close to what yours were or even the same seeing as your wood is most likely a higher quality i know when i was in this situation i decided to out source my orders to a buddy of mine and he could make a few bucks it just wasn't worth the time and gas to make 20 bucks or so off a cord .

 

[Wood Doctor]

Complete trash. Avoid this guy immediately and forget that he ever communicated with you. He may be someone trying to bleed you dry, or it might even be a fake from some idiot who has nothing to do but pester good businessmen. Agree to nothing and remain focused on your current group of customers.

It's times like this that I wish I could operate a business with no telephone connected. The world appears to still be dog eat dog.

 

[willt1981]

i did have another very small time seller buy a few loads off me one year and take it to his customers. hes a pretty shady guy so i dont really know what the hell he was up to but he paid full price for the wood so i didnt care... $10 off for picking it up sounds reasonable to me, espically if the guy has already run out of wood, what does he expect? strange...

 

[Curlycherry1]

I dealt with that for years and now my brother and his wife get it all the time. Some sellers want to buy seasoned wood wholesale at the peak of the selling season. That is bunk. If he has customers, they should be forwarded to you directly. Several fellow woodsellers recommend customers to my brother and when they call he tells them that he will sell them wood this year, but next year they should go back to their regular supplier. Guess what, most of them do not go back, but at least he tries. It probably does not hurt that he staples a business card to 2-3 pieces of wood in each delivery.

We were the #1 backup seller for Tracy Lumber of Fayetteville NY. Every year countless people would see Tracy's firewood and then wait until the last minute to buy their wood. Tracy would sell out in about a month. Tracy would send folks to us and we would always try to send them back the next year. My SIL actually keeps track of people recommended by Tracy and she tells them to buy from Tracy the next year if they call and order from her and Tracy still has wood. One reason she can pick them out so easily is that Tracy's area is quite far from my SIL's house.

If the guy tries again, tell him to just have his customers call you and you will supply them one time. Then tell him you will send them back next year and that you will provide him with their phone numbers so he can call them next year before he sells out.

There is no reason you should be his backup for him having a good year or more likely his poor planning. Why should you tie up your capital for a year or two and then he just comes in at the last minute and makes all the profit? No how no way.

 

[bytehoven]

IMHO, you were being generous by being willing to help him out AND knock a little off your price.

I can understand the buyer being interested in getting delivery as quick as possible.

I can not understand the buyer asking you to knock down your price, since you're basically helping him cover his butt. He screwed up and basically surrendered his opportunity to make a profit, especially at your expense.

I would have tried to get you to deliver more quickly, rather than get you to lower your price.

One last point... what's your risk of not being able to serve one of your clients if you help out the other guy? Sounds like you might have plenty of inventory, but...

 

[knockbill]

everyone knows what their time is worth, and i agree with how you handled it, as long $10.00 a rick is your discount for a customer picking it up,,, i would not discount my price to someone, just because they want it cheaper,,, now, if teh caller was really a firewood dealer, and is out of wood, his customers may come to you directly, and pay your price, and you have a chance to retain a new customer,,, you can't lose...
good luck...

 

[iCreek]

I would agree with Wood Doctor, and keep an eye on your wood pile, since he now knows your tied up at work until Saturday.....

Complete trash. Avoid this guy immediately and forget that he ever communicated with you. He may be someone trying to bleed you dry, or it might even be a fake from some idiot who has nothing to do but pester good businessmen. Agree to nothing and remain focused on your current group of customers.

It's times like this that I wish I could operate a business with no telephone connected. The world appears to still be dog eat dog.

 

[blackdiesel]

If 7 rick was going to get him out of a bind, then he is not a very big wood seller.

 

[REJ2]

I dont really fall into the firewood selling category, but as with most things price is somewhat dictated by supply and demand. You have the supply and there is a growing demand. Dont give it away. The poser probably figures that the demand is growing also and will gouge someone with your wood and little effort on his part. Is it wrong for him to do this? Not wrong to resell at a reasonable profit but lets face it this winter so far indicates much colder temps. which will require more wood consumption. He could be hoarding it waiting to make a killing. REJ2

 

[olyman]

sounds to me,he ran out of wood for his house,or,he is trying to charge a preminum,for some people he knows--a ripoff. also,like said,,best lock your wood supply up, sounds like hed rip you in a new york minute--

 

[Woodcutteranon]

Even if his story was true I would tell him to jump in the lake. Anyone who is trying to work a deal and uses anger and impatience as a leveraging technique is a jerk and should be treated as such. Full price plus $10 extra a face cord since he is so desperate. Nothing less.

 

[Wood Doctor]

He now knows that you have a good firewood supply and he has none. He may also know your address. Consider a sign near your supply like this:

 

[flotek]

hmmmm ..sounds like just some poser who wants wood at a discount becuase he thinks he can finagle a deal out of you ,no reputable firewood seller would operate business this way let alone run out of wood right at the peak of the season. something is fishy!avoid this clown if he calls back

 

[palmrose2]

hmmmm ..sounds like just some poser who wants wood at a discount becuase he thinks he can finagle a deal out of you ,no reputable firewood seller would operate business this way let alone run out of wood right at the peak of the season. something is fishy!avoid this clown if he calls back

In other words. F*.* him!

And I mean that in the most dismissive way.

 

[Hoover]

Desparate people do desparate things. ANYTIME we get calls like this I am always happy to accomodate - at a 25% premium. If they don't buy, no skin off my neck - if they do, I made extra money.
If he calls back, tell him the price is higher - if he balks, be polite and calm, but then tell him to call someone else. End of conversation.

Like someone's quote on here: "Never argue w an idiot, you'll lose everytime!"
Stand strong brotha !!!!!

 

[JEA]

Thanks to everyone's comments so far. A few points have been brought up that I hadn't thought about.

The more I think about it, the more P.O'd I get. So, if he would call back, I will simply tell him that I have already sold those 7 face cords and have no more available for him as I need to keep my own customers well supplied for the next several months. In addition, I typically don't allow people to come out to my place to pickup wood as I agree that bad stuff can happen when one has a string of strangers showing up. This is the second guy this season that wanted to pickup a quantity of wood in exchange for a discount. I offered the first one the same $10 per rick discount as I do have quite a stockpile (at least for me) that I can sell if so inclined (i.e. 42 seasoned face cords plus fresh stuff). I have been cutting every weekend and wouldn't mind some more room in the woodshed. The first guy declined the discounted deal as well. So, I guess these guys don't think saving $30 per full cord is worth their time to pick it up, so I have decided that is no longer worth my time to offer such an option or discount. All my future sales will be by delivery only, period, end of discussion.

Keep the comments coming and thanks again for the discussion.

 

[Curlycherry1]

We never allowed people to come pick up wood because they were often late, or they never showed up. This in turn prevented us from being productive by keeping us from being able to go about our business of getting stuff done. Sitting around waiting for someone to show up was a waste of our time and it costs us more than we made.

Plus we had a nasty guard goose that was mean as a junkyard dog and he could do some serious damage to people's legs when he bit, and he bit often!