Full cord ? Give me a break !

[burntime]

Go ahead and tick off your wood guy. I agree, if he shorted you he needs to fess up or pay you the difference. There are plenty of wood guys and you will find an honest one. No threat to stop cheating you out of wood...the threat is to stop buying his wood AND telling all the people you know. Not to mention a wieghts and measurements call. Why is it ok to be short...I never hear "oh my, the wood dude dropped an extra face cord!"

 

[dave7965]

Getting screwed is never acceptable. If I were in the business I would probably deliver bulk loads of roughly 180 cubic ft (or whatever equals a stacked cord). Funny, but I have NEVER received more than what I ordered. An honest person in this business would make a good living

 

[hareball]

Too many out there have no passion for any part of our ultimate goal--Seasoned Firewood. They are sharks looking for a way to make money during a season when people need wood the most, especially in an area like mine with the average lot 1/4 to 1/2 acre and not alot of room to season their own.

 

[RIJEEP]

Hey Wood Dog,

Im from RI too. Just curious, where did your supplier hail from? I've heard of 2 shady dealers in my area, South County.

Anyway, if you are in need of firewood I can pass on to you the number of a guy I deal with, in Exeter. I think he is fair and has not cheated me.

PM if interested.

 

[dave7965]

To RIJEEP
the guy's out of greenville and his name is Lou. I got "burned" by someone down your way a while back too. It was a father/son team.Don't remember name...but got cheated out of 1/3 cord. Does your guy sell discounted green ? I will need several cords come spring. I'm in the Northwest part of RI

 

[btuser]

This is why I burn biobricks.

Where's the adventure?

 

[whotheguy]

I cut and sell wood 10 months plus out of the year and here is how I do it. Depending on how much the customer wants I bring one of two trailers. One trailer holds a little over a cord and the other holds a little over two cords. For new customers, when I get to the house I meet the customer, we look over the trailer of wood and then I hand over a calculator. We then go around the trailer measuring HXWXL, he/she does the math. Most of the times I hit around 130 ft or 260 ft or above this number depending on what trailer I brought. I then stack it and I again re-measure and let him/her do the math if he feels compelled to. On repeat customers, I don't have to do the above measuring as they know what they're getting. I have yet to have anyone call me out on being short. I also make a habit of leaving a good size bundle of kindling on EVERY order. I've built such a client base that I've actually had to hire on a friend to help me in the summer. I would rather under promise and over deliver.

 

[kenwit]

I live in Smithtown NY (long island) I bought 3 cords today. My supplier wanted $225 per plus $25 to deliver. I got the three for $200 each + the $25. His men stacked for an additional $100. I measured and came up with 320 sq/ft. BTW his guys stacked tighter than I've ever done it myself. (if anyone is interested I can post a photo). These guys own a garden center, so there is a long standing physical presence in our community. The wood was split 1 year ago and looks it. All things considered not a bad deal for western suffolk county.

 

[whotheguy]

I live in Smithtown NY (long island) I bought 3 cords today. My supplier wanted $225 per plus $25 to deliver. I got the three for $200 each + the $25. His men stacked for an additional $100. I measured and came up with 320 sq/ft. BTW his guys stacked tighter than I've ever done it myself. (if anyone is interested I can post a photo). These guys own a garden center, so there is a long standing physical presence in our community. The wood was split 1 year ago and looks it. All things considered not a bad deal for western suffolk county.

IMHO, 64 cu/ft is quite a bit short regardless of how "tight" it was stacked. Granted the words "tightly stacked" is relative, but shouldn't he have coughed up the
extra wood if his guys are skilled enough to stack so tightly? 128 cu/ft per cord does not allow for air space. Essentially he shorted you half a cord. Just my $.02 cents.

Edited to add that they charged you $100 for stacking? I don't know how many men did this stacking but I bet they got it done in less than an hour. Which translates into $100 per hour for labor....kinda spendy.

 

[kenwit]

Whotheguy, do you deliver in NY?

 

[Danno77]

I live in Smithtown NY (long island) I bought 3 cords today. My supplier wanted $225 per plus $25 to deliver. I got the three for $200 each + the $25. His men stacked for an additional $100. I measured and came up with 320 sq/ft. BTW his guys stacked tighter than I've ever done it myself. (if anyone is interested I can post a photo). These guys own a garden center, so there is a long standing physical presence in our community. The wood was split 1 year ago and looks it. All things considered not a bad deal for western suffolk county.

IMHO, 64 sq/ft is quite a bit short regardless of how "tight" it was stacked. Granted the words "tightly stacked" is relative, but shouldn't he have coughed up the
extra wood if his guys are skilled enough to stack so tightly? 128 sq/ft per cord does not allow for air space. Essentially he shorted you half a cord. Just my $.02 cents.

y'all are confusing me. now, was it 320 sq feet on the face, or was it 320 cubic feet? cause if it was 320 square feet and they were 16" splits then it was 427 cubic feet (3 cords should be 384 cubic feet) so you got a good deal. if it was 320cu feet that you got then I'm with whotheguy on this one.

 

[kenwit]

My apologies, 320 cubic. I sell glass, everything is priced by the sq/ft. As far as my measuring, My 10 year old daughter helped hold the tape. I'll do a more accurate job tomorrow and post a photo. If lite, I'll make the call. I'm willing to bet he'll make good. In the past I've picked up truckloads and I've always been happy. Ken

 

[Rich L]

Those of you who say a short cord or cords is a good deal are nuts.I'll bet you'd want what's due you when you won't have enough to get through those arctic blasts in the dead of the winter.The rest of what you were shorted would come in real handy then.

 

[whotheguy]

Whotheguy, do you deliver in NY?

I don't currently but could. Granted the travel fee's are going to be waaay spendy, more so than what you dropped today. :cheese:

I'm not giving you a hard time, but I call it like I see it. And I SEE it this dude owes you 1/2 a cord, plain and simple. I suggest you remeasure, recalculate,
and if needed, call is arse to the carpet for him to make it right.

You can see my post a few above this one in regards to how I operate. I have obtained so many customers simply because they got "bent over the wood pile" from prior sales.

 

[kenwit]

I'm going to do just that. But, like I said I've dealt with him in the past and I'm not worried. Some of the operators here (and I'm sure from anywhere) I wouldn't want near my home or family. I dealt with the buisness owner from initial phone call thru delivery. That means a lot to me. I've been to West Yellowstone 2x to rent sleds. Now that's some real fun. Have a good night. Ken

 

[dkuntz413]

I have a friend who recently bought a cord of wood from a local company on Eastern Long Island. When my friend was asked how he liked the wood,his reply was simple-"If I buy anymore wood from you, please also deliver 5 gallons of gas so it will burn."
So many people sell "seasoned" wood that was cut 6 months ago.

 

[ISeeDeadBTUs]

To be fair, I doubt that many of the firewood sellers are 'shorting' by design. Most of them do not take the time to stack the wood they sell. If you think about the time involved with stacking, you can imagine what it would do to the rice. And without stacking, there is no way to [reasonably] accuratly determine the volume of wood.

So they do the next best thing. They determine how much wood their truck or trailer holds, and they never look back. We all do the same thing to ourselves when we scrounge without selling. I say my truckload is 1/3 cord, my FEL is +1/5 cord, etc. Is this always accurate? No. But it should even out.

For you people who buy firewood c/s/s . . . if you have time to stack and measure it, why don't you have time to let it sit there for a year so its seasoned too? You are your own worst enemy in this scenario. You try to buy wood in the middle of winter, you want it seasoned . . .he already sold his 'good stuff'. Any now that supply is down and your demand is up, you're gonna' pay more. I would bet that if you paid most sellers to stack, they would then be glad to measure the stack and make it good. Obviously there are some sheisters out there too, unfortunatly.

Ok, let's carry the argument to the extreame. When stacking, you dont want three rows butted together because you want air movement. So how will you calculate volume? Use the 16" that the wood is supposedly cut? Not all pieces will be 16", so where do you draw the line on this little exercise.

For that matter, how do we and the seller know that you are not burning some of the delivered wood during the time it takes you to get it stacked and measured? Maybe some of the 'short' is going through your stove??

 

[Tony H]

A cord of wood is not that hard to measure , I picked up some wood from a guy a couple years ago and he used a simple frame of 2x4's (4 x8) to measure a face cord and then threw it in the trailer for delivery. Heck I bought a pick up load of scraps he was selling for 40.00 a load , it was all wood not good enough for his regular orders and was mostly ulgy misshapen or short splits and any pine he came across.
He was one of a couple honest dealers vs the other 5 or so scam dealers I encountered buying wood.

If you get shorted and the guy won't make good on it do what I did one time call the police (not 911) and report it as a theft the guy ended up giving me back cash to prevent the police from picking him up as he had several run ins with the law before.
Later I ran into the guys cousin who told me he shorted one guy and wouldn't make good on it so the guy had his buddy order 2 cord and when he delivered they had him pull into the backyard to unload and closed the gate. Six of the guys buddies unloaded the truck then told the guy he forgot his wallet and would get him next time for the payment and opened the gate . Needless to say there was no next time but the guy did get his wood.

 

[lexybird]

lets face it selling firewood is a poor mans business . most poor men that i know will do whatever they can take make an extra buck
sometimes that means skimping on quantity and quality ,the easy way to fix this is stop relying on others and cut your own ,its alot cheaper and youll always get exactly a full cord ! if it(burning wood) was easy everybody would do it but for us the benefits outweigh the disadvantages ...good things come to those who wait

 

[ISeeDeadBTUs]

. . . most poor men that i know will do whatever they can take make an extra buck
sometimes that means skimping on quantity and quality

Ok, now thats funny!! So ripping people off is a poor man's game?? do these names ring any bells?
Michael Robert Milken
Kenneth Lay
Jim Bakker
Bernie Madoff

. . . the easy way to fix this is stop relying on others and cut your own ,its alot cheaper and youll always get exactly a full cord ! if it(burning wood) was easy everybody would do it but for us the benefits outweigh the disadvantages ...good things come to those who wait

Amen. For those who can't cut their own i.e. G'ilanders, you should band together and form a Co-op. You could then let it out for bid and buy say 100 cord at a time.

 

[moshiersr]

Just reading this post is crazy. Back when I was kid (~10-15 years ago) and we had some land logged, my dad and I cut up all the tops and scraps and sold it as firewood. We always made sure people got a little MORE than they ordered, and if it were an eldery person or someone who needed the help we would even stack it when we delivered it. Its hard to believe even fire wood is a crooked business now. Now our idea of seasoned wasn't what I would call seasoned now.. but we certainly weren't selling green wood.

 

[kenwit]

I called my supplier today. He laughed and said his guys measured 3 1/2 a 1/2 cord too much. I told him I would re-measure tonight. He told me he would be happy to bring more wood if his men were wrong. And not all wood sellers are poor. You should see the garden center.

 

[dave7965]

Hey Burning Chunk, keep us posted as to how this goes....

 

[kenwit]

Here is the stacked wood. After a more careful meas. I come up with 387cubic feet wood. All is well on Strong Island. Ken

 

[Danno77]

Here is the stacked wood. After a more careful meas. I come up with 387cubic feet wood. All is well on Strong Island. Ken

good. I've always heard there almost always is some size lost in a restack, but i've never really noticed that. at any rate, you got your three cords, so all is well.