Fire wood= To stack or not???

[Deadman]

I would do like above said, charge extra to stack it and let them chose. If they pay the extra, you are making money, if not, you are out of the extra work......
People get pissy if you say you are not offering a service that you used to offer, so instead just charge for it.

 

[Deadman]

oops double post....

 

[charlz]

Figure out the 'opportunity cost' of stacking versus going and getting more wood and then charge that rate to stack. Either way you are making the same amount of money.

 

[namesray]

All very good responses and reasons. The one thing that stays in my thoughts is liability. One customer wanted "as much as I could stack" right next to their cabin so they could feed it through their window to the stove. area was mostly level, but their gas line ran above ground along the wall of the cabin right there.

Another customer wanted it "stacked about 7 ft high in rows" on uneven grass ground. ground frost heaved throughout winter and a row fell into another row.

Another recent instance, a customer wanted it stacked in their room attached to their house. I have stacked at the residence before, but not inside this area. about an hour before I leave to deliver I have a message on the answering machine "I won't be home, door is unlocked, money is there." The truck was already loaded with special dry wood (because it was prescheduled to go inside=not much air flow inside this room, so had to be real dry) and it was getting close to raining that afternoon. When I arrived, the door was open, but it was a windowless room and no lights on and I couldn't find a switch. It was hard to see, and their was obstacles in the way and such. I was trying to help them out, but I felt really taken advantage of. This was a "tier 2" customer who always paid for stacking, and I thought if this isn't stacked right, here is a prime example of a liability case, because they "paid" for the stacking service.

What do you all think. Am I over thinking the liability thing???

Another thing, handling the firewood so much is taking its tole on my body=back, hips, and wrists. When we are talking about stacking for everyone and doing 300 to 400 face cord per year, that's like handling 1200 plus face cord a year! It is a lot easier and quicker to just dump it off.

 

[oosik]

I don't know about the liability but in todays society - - - For the first ten years we burned firewood. That was from 1982-1992 and it almost killed me to bring in six full cord per year. And all the wood was right here on my property. Felling, trimming, cutting to length, stacking in my wood trailer, restacking into my wood shed. The old saying - firewood heats you two times is BS. This is a saying by weekend warriors who have to carry an armload into the house for the wood stove. That is a reason, as I got older, that we went from firewood to wood pellets to electric heat. The hardest job heating the house now is playing with the thermostat - ha,ha.

 

[Jstpssng]

All very good responses and reasons. The one thing that stays in my thoughts is liability. One customer wanted "as much as I could stack" right next to their cabin so they could feed it through their window to the stove. area was mostly level, but their gas line ran above ground along the wall of the cabin right there.

Another customer wanted it "stacked about 7 ft high in rows" on uneven grass ground. ground frost heaved throughout winter and a row fell into another row.

Another recent instance, a customer wanted it stacked in their room attached to their house. I have stacked at the residence before, but not inside this area. about an hour before I leave to deliver I have a message on the answering machine "I won't be home, door is unlocked, money is there." The truck was already loaded with special dry wood (because it was prescheduled to go inside=not much air flow inside this room, so had to be real dry) and it was getting close to raining that afternoon. When I arrived, the door was open, but it was a windowless room and no lights on and I couldn't find a switch. It was hard to see, and their was obstacles in the way and such. I was trying to help them out, but I felt really taken advantage of. This was a "tier 2" customer who always paid for stacking, and I thought if this isn't stacked right, here is a prime example of a liability case, because they "paid" for the stacking service.

What do you all think. Am I over thinking the liability thing???

Another thing, handling the firewood so much is taking its tole on my body=back, hips, and wrists. When we are talking about stacking for everyone and doing 300 to 400 face cord per year, that's like handling 1200 plus face cord a year! It is a lot easier and quicker to just dump it off.

It sounds to me like you just answered your own question.

 

[94BULLITT]

I would not be stacking wood for free. If I stacked it I would charge accordingly. What happens if a Tier 1 customer tells a tier 2 or regular customer you stack the wood for free? What is the difference in getting payed for stacking the wood or cutting more wood?

 

[Dutch445]

at your rate of growth i don't think it matters what you do.
if you want to stack, go ahead, knowing it costs you money.
i'm sure you can charge a little extra for the stacking at select customers.
if you tell most of them you can't stack, they will either stay with you or
try to find another source, but ultimately you are selling as much as you
can source, so you could drop stacking completely and still sell as much
as you can source. The year after you could be in a worse situation,
if not it will be the next year after.
it all comes down to how much are you willing to sell/produce, and how far
are you willing to go to do it.
think about it this way:
you have grown your business very well. some customer expect extra service,
others don't, which puts more money in your pocket? what is the real reason
you are doing this? are you undercharging for your area?

it comes down to supply and demand, which is nothing new.
how much can you supply?

 

[square1]

I stack for one elderly lady now, don't do nearly the volume you do, and am not in it for profit, just exercise. I used to stack for just about anybody until one day a guy that wanted it stacked "as high as possible" (for free mind you) didn't like my stack so he paid the neighbor kid to restack it while he barked orders on nearly every piece the kid put in place :laughing:

I'm with the don't stack crowd, lessens the aggravation and keeps you doing the profitable part of the business even if at a diminished capacity (which fits in with your diminished local supply).

 

[radioman]

here lies the problem. you have loyal customers now that goes to you because of the VALUE of getting wood AND stacking. The moment you stop is potential to lose them maybe forever. If you are already busy and can afford to potentially lose them and others, then by all means stop stacking. Otherwise you need a crew for stacking to keeping your customers.

If you are still feeling conflicted by advice here, its time to pick up the phone and start calling your 1st tier customers and put out feelers to see if they still want stacking and add price to it if they do. chances are you can pare back your 1st tier list.