absolutly bananas

[Patrick62]

Absolutely bananas

So I am about 5 months into my new career, working at a hardware store. I was asked today where to get firewood bundles... Oh?

City market, has some.

Then I ask the head cheese why we don't have any? We used to, and it should still be on the computer under (don't laugh) FWD for "firewood"
I poked it up, and it was $3.75 for a bundle.
More inquires with big boss, and maybe some negotiation is in order.
I could keep a straight face while I ring up a bucks worth of wood for 4 bucks.
Plus, it would be NICE wood. Seasoned, split, bundled pine.
No, I am not going to comission one of you guys to deliver me a couple of cords of oak out here.... It isn't in the budget.

So I go checking what a "bundle" is. somewhere between .75 and just over 1 cubic ft. Length? Probably about 16 inches.

I figure I could manufacture a round cage contraption about 14 inches in diameter and jam it with wood, then shrink wrap it. That would make 1.4 something CF, with air spaces probably somewhere between 1 and 1.25 CF.

I need opinions, am I out of my mind?? Thanks!
-pat

 

[Sprig]

Don't laugh, they do it here in the cities, like 1 fire-place load, 4$. GAHHH!!!!

Just friccan shoot me! (like 3-5 pieces of 14"l nice wood) oi, considerin' air quality and such, fancy cheap saws and all, and the general lack of wood in some places, for a night of nooky, a glass of whine, and thou, hm, ok I guess.
:jester:

opcorn: opcorn: opcorn:

 

[turnkey4099]

Same here. Stack outside the only grocery store in town all winter and I see it shrinking steadily. I don't recognize the species, seems rather heavy but well seasoned.

Harry K

 

[mga]

many people just use a fireplace for show, so they don't mind buying wood like that...especially around the holidays.

and, now that those patio fireplaces are "in", expect more people to be interested in those little bundles.

these are the people who can't be bothered with a stack of wood in their yard, or the labour that goes into it, nor do they want to be bothered with cleaning a fireplace constantly.

 

[b1rdman]

Same here...and they sell a ton of it.

There are three stores in town and one of them sells the shrink wrapped bundle supplied by the same purveyor that supplies them with food/candy/cigs.

The other two buy locally and distribute in the large mesh bags in which you see onions packaged (a 50 lb. onion bag).

 

[Billy_Bob]

They will buy it.

The only thing I would think about is cost of gas on your end to transport the wood. I think retail stores typically pay about half of what the retail price is for things.

So say you get $2 a bundle. Say it costs you $10 in gas to transport the wood from your house to the store.

Say they only want to buy 5 bundles at a time. You would get $10 for 5 bundles!

But then factor in cost of the wood from where you get it from. Gas to transport to your house. Gas for chainsaw? Splitter?

Wear and tear on chainsaw, transport vehicle (truck), splitter, insurance for transport vehicle, etc.

Then your time.

Might want to figure out your cost. Then cost of delivery. Charge for wood plus delivery. Delivery would be same charge for 1 bundle up to truck load.

If selling to other stores, figure in mileage! Further away = higher charge.

Also stores these days want a barcode on everything. They keep track of inventory and know when to re-order. And who to re-order from. All with a unique UPC barcode. More info here...
http://www.dataid.com/upccodeprocedure.htm

 

[fireman31]

wood to go.

The local convenience stores sell loads of shrink wrapped or bundled wood. One supplier even puts a little package of kindling in with it to get things going. the one with the kindling sells for $6 and change. I see the wrapping machines for sale from time to time on ebay. Seems like a good racket to me as long as you don't burn up too much in gas delivering the stuff.

Has anyone done the math to figure out how many bundles to a cord? The shrink wrap stuff is cheap and if you didn't burn up lots of gas in delivery this could be a more profitable cord of wood.

 

[njtuna]

they sell them by the bundle at gas stations, supermarkets, and home depot here, and the price is more like $6-8. about an evening's worth of wood.

 

[Bass]

Has anyone done the math to figure out how many bundles to a cord? The shrink wrap stuff is cheap and if you didn't burn up lots of gas in delivery this could be a more profitable cord of wood.

Those wraps have .75 cf of wood and a cord had 128 cf of wood - therefore it would be 170.5 bundles per cord. my local 7/11 sells them for $5.00 each (4-5 sticks) and i just laugh when i am stacking my wood

so if you could sell these for $3.00 each - you'd sell a cord for $511. 50 (3*170)

 

[sawinredneck]

It's HUGE around here, and there is LOTS f money to be made!!! Our problem is if you want QT, you have to supply the whole are of QT's, 30plus stores. You want Dillions, same deal. You'd really have to be set up to supply them all, and one warm winter would pretty well shut you down!!
If you can start small and work up, I say go for it!!! They do make machines for bundling, can't remeber the name now,but knowing you're creativity and capabilities, I see no problem with you making one, or making one better!!

 

[Patrick62]

Easy money...

Awsum feedback! Thanks! It is soo nice to hear a encouraging word!

It is not that complicated. I would be creating bundles for my store. transportation is my truck on the way to work, which just happens to be about 2 miles from the pile of wood. I think I will create a stacking bin and get me a roll of shrink wrap and go for it!

Once I negotiate a price with the big boss.....

-Pat

 

[Ole Farmerbuck]

The local convenience stores sell loads of shrink wrapped or bundled wood. One supplier even puts a little package of kindling in with it to get things going. the one with the kindling sells for $6 and change. I see the wrapping machines for sale from time to time on ebay. Seems like a good racket to me as long as you don't burn up too much in gas delivering the stuff.

Has anyone done the math to figure out how many bundles to a cord? The shrink wrap stuff is cheap and if you didn't burn up lots of gas in delivery this could be a more profitable cord of wood.

I usually sell my firewood by 1/3 cords. Pretty sure about 220 logs.

 

[Sprig]

It's HUGE around here, and there is LOTS f money to be made!!! Our problem is if you want QT, you have to supply the whole are of QT's, 30plus stores. You want Dillions, same deal. You'd really have to be set up to supply them all, and one warm winter would pretty well shut you down!!
If you can start small and work up, I say go for it!!! They do make machines for bundling, can't remeber the name now,but knowing you're creativity and capabilities, I see no problem with you making one, or making one better!!

What about one of those little strappers? The ones that use like 3/8 white nylon stuff, and make a couple of small cradles to throw the pieces into and keep the size consistant, good weekend/after school work for a bored kid or two

 

[spike60]

Go for it Patrick!!! It will work. Around here those bundles go for at least $5. I have one customer who has a bundler and delivers to most of the local markets. The logs need to be split a bit smaller than usual so people have more pieces to put in the fire between sips of wine.

Look at what people pay for those Duraflame logs at the grocery store. What would a cord of those things cost??????

 

[alderman]

Isn't it a hoot?

Went camping down the Oregon coast this past weekend. A little bundle of punky pine was going for $5.00 and a dozen sticks of kindling was $2.99. I threw in a little bit of my own wood before leaving home and figure I ended up with about $50.00 worth of wood. Sure seems like it would be worth looking into doing it for profit.:jawdrop:

 

[Andyshine77]

I've sold bundles for the past three years. 6-7 pieces per bundle @ $2.50 ea, I get about 100 bundles per cord, and all my buyers are within five miles, so gas is not a big concern to me at this time. I only sell about 10 or 15 cords a year, so I'm not a big operation or anything, and I don't make that much from it, so I guess I just like being outside working.

 

[sawinredneck]

What about one of those little strappers? The ones that use like 3/8 white nylon stuff, and make a couple of small cradles to throw the pieces into and keep the size consistant, good weekend/after school work for a bored kid or two

Great idea, I can find bored kids all day long, I just can't find any THAT WANT TO WORK!!!

 

[Engineeringnerd]

I bet if you put a printed card with a thoughtful poem and lighting instructions and wrapped it with a ribbon you could get an extra $3.00 per bundle in the ritzy section of town! Soak in a 1/4 cup of kerosene and market as "Easy Light - Easy Night" and you might get an extra $1 on top of that! Put a green sticker on it and say that no healthy trees were injured in the process and younger growth was stimulated to produce more oxygen, and you might get $1 more.

Marketing boys, marketing!

 

[Andyshine77]

I bet if you put a printed card with a thoughtful poem and lighting instructions and wrapped it with a ribbon you could get an extra $3.00 per bundle in the ritzy section of town! Soak in a 1/4 cup of kerosene and market as "Easy Light - Easy Night" and you might get an extra $1 on top of that! Put a green sticker on it and say that no healthy trees were injured in the process and younger growth was stimulated to produce more oxygen, and you might get $1 more.

Marketing boys, marketing!

LOL:jester:

 

[Billy_Bob]

Yes, put a sticker on it which says...

Organic All Natural Wood - No Additives