Price of a cord of firewood

dave1949 · Dec 4, 2013

We have a law that firewood must be sold by the cord measure too. I think it lessens the chance for sharp trading, "he said, she said" types of things. There are older people and others who are vulnerable to that sort of thing.

If I go into the grocery store and see a jug of orange juice with a price, the next thing I want to know is how many ounces are in the jug. That's not so different than buying firewood. The store even calculates the per ounce price for me and puts it on the shelf tag.

daugen · Dec 4, 2013

Yeah, I'd say the various Bureaus of Weights and Measures aren't supervising many of the firewood transactions out there.
When we bought wood by the truckload from a local farmer, it was always so much for the truck and it was seriously large pile of wood on the driveway. A small mountain, and some years he brought huge loads. and when it was all stacked on store bought wood bins I keep on the back porch, each half a cord, there is always a huge pile left over that won't fit on the bin racks. So my guy always errs on the heavy side, at least for us. And we always gave him a twenty dollar tip, which was his fun money, the other money went right into his farm account. Mulch in the Spring, firewood in the Fall. Now I do the firewood but he still delivers the mulch. About twenty years now, same guy. I think he has increased his price twice in that whole time. About 220 for a full truck, which was more than a cord, delivered precisely and cleanly on my driveway, which has a huge tarp put on it.

If you've worked with firewood all your life you get a pretty good idea what a cord should look like when stacked.
But by the time it's stacked, my firewood man is long gone. Aahhh, I can see it now... legislation is coming. Requiring all wood to be stacked by the delivery person and measured with an official tape bearing the regal seal of the County...

That ought to drive the cost up to 500 a cord in no time...isn't government great?

And btw, you aren't allowed to burn your precisely measured cord of wood. Nice decoration...

dmccarty · Dec 4, 2013

dave1949 said:
We have a law that firewood must be sold by the cord measure too. I think it lessens the chance for sharp trading, "he said, she said" types of things. There are older people and others who are vulnerable to that sort of thing.

If I go into the grocery store and see a jug of orange juice with a price, the next thing I want to know is how many ounces are in the jug. That's not so different than buying firewood. The store even calculates the per ounce price for me and puts it on the shelf tag.

Yes, but the price is for the jug and the number of ounces in a jug is not defined. One has to look at the teeny tiny letters to find the cost per ounce which might be cost per cup, pint or quart. How much ice cream is in that "box" that used to be a 1/2 gallon? Most people do not look at how many ounces are in a container. They just buy the container and ASSUME they get the same amount of product that they bought in the past. Kinda like buying a load of firewood.

More people are getting ripped off buying a jug of OJ thinking they are getting 1 or 1/2 gallon than buying a cord of firewood. I seldom see a cord of firewood for sale. I see a load of wood for sale.

Later,
Dan

dave1949 · Dec 4, 2013

dmccarty said:
Yes, but the price is for the jug and the number of ounces in a jug is not defined. One has to look at the teeny tiny letters to find the cost per ounce which might be cost per cup, pint or quart. How much ice cream is in that "box" that used to be a 1/2 gallon? Most people do not look at how many ounces are in a container. They just buy the container and ASSUME they get the same amount of product that they bought in the past. Kinda like buying a load of firewood.

More people are getting ripped off buying a jug of OJ thinking they are getting 1 or 1/2 gallon than buying a cord of firewood. I seldom see a cord of firewood for sale. I see a load of wood for sale.

Later,
Dan

You won't see a load of firewood for sale around here, or a small mountain, or a good-sized pile, or a truckload, or a whatever. Just regional differences I guess.

I did sell some firewood logs recently not knowing how many cords they were. I told the buyer I think there are 4-5 cords there, he seemed happy with my guesstimate. It was a spur of the moment thing, he was the driver delivering driveway stone and mentioned he was behind on dry wood for his stove. He could see the pile of logs clearly, what shape they were in, knew how long go they had been cut, the tree species, and how easy it would be to get them loaded.

If I had advertised those logs in the classifieds, I would have scaled them for a reasonably accurate and stated cord measure of "mixed hardwoods, no birch or popple." That would be what is expected here.

My point about the OJ is that the measure is clearly marked on the container, by law. You can read it, not guess about it. Which would you prefer, OJ sold by the jug, or OJ sold by a known number of ounces? The deceptiveness of the jug design, or lack of due diligence on the consumer's part are other topics.

daugen · Dec 4, 2013

popple." That would be what is expected here.

Well, ok, you Maineacs are different.
Is a poplar that tipples too much a popple?

vtsnowedin · Dec 4, 2013

daugen said:
popple." That would be what is expected here.

Well, ok, you Maineacs are different.
Is a poplar that tipples too much a popple?

Careful Daugen. Posters that insist on being spelling Nazis will get every post of theirs double checked and their nose rubbed into their every typo.

LD1 · Dec 4, 2013

Late to the thread and didnt have time to read it all, but I have sold ~16 cord this year.

$150 delivered and dumped within 15 miles. And $2 per mile one way there after. Farthest I delivered this year was 25 miles, and that was $170.

Seems to be about the going rate in my area. I see ads on c-list for $120-$130/cord, but still dont have trouble selling all I care to cut. And almost everyone I deliver to says its "way more" than they are used to getting as a "full cord"

daugen · Dec 4, 2013

vtsnowedin said:
Careful Daugen. Posters that insist on being spelling Nazis will get every post of theirs double checked and their nose rubbed into their every typo.

Impoppible!

dave1949 · Dec 4, 2013

daugen said:
popple." That would be what is expected here.

Well, ok, you Maineacs are different.
Is a poplar that tipples too much a popple?

It's something like that. :laughing: They don't say poplar here, it's "popple". And a truckload of top soil is not loam, it's "loom".

I just live here, didn't make the rules. :laughing:

Maineiac: one who left Maine and was silly enough to return.

Jstpssng · Dec 4, 2013

We have two measures of a cord... thrown and stacked. A "thrown" cord is 180 cubic feet, just as it fell out of the truck.

I have some issues with this... I once swapped a stacked cord of wood from my woodshed... it was nowheres near the legal size when I threw it out into their driveway.