Does anyone here sell firewood?

[canfossi]

Just wondering how you advertize? Also, do you sell in bundles ever and do people ever come and pic it up instead of you delivering it? Finally, do you always get yoru asking price? Thanks Chris

[freeinalaska]

I usually sell some firewood during the month of December. I try to have around 10 to 15 cords to sell. It's kind of my Christmas savings account. Usually an add in the paper for a week does it. I look at the going prices in the paper and undercut the average cord price by $30, with the add declaring "delivery available". Well, I charge an extra $30 for delivery so I'm really getting the going rate. Most people get it delivered. I've only sold less than a cord a couple of times and that was to someone who was broke and getting ready to be cold.

[bill not in oh]

Originally Posted by canfossi

Just wondering how you advertize?

1 simply stack a half-cord in the front of my property (Oct - April). However I live on a street with a daily traffic count of about 2500. Folks just stop and ask about it. I deliver about half of what I sell this way.


Also, do you sell in bundles ever?

I sell 'camp fire wood' (May - Sept) In bundles of approximately 2.5 cu. ft.. These bundles are all well seasoned coniferous wood as I live in an area quarantined because of emerald ash borer. This restricts the transport of hardwood from a quarantined area to a non-quarantined area - the coniferous woods are specifically exempt from the quarantine.


Finally, do you always get yoru asking price?

I sell cords or half-cords for about 15-20% less than the going rate (I am selling pine and spruce which provides fewer BTUs than hardwoods, though) - the bundles for $10 each. I've been selling them for about a year and never had anyone try to negotiate the price of either - or refuse to buy once they stopped. I charge $20 to deliver within 5 miles $30 from 5-10 miles.

...

[Jim S.]

I'm on the buying end. Let em tell you how I shop, and offer you a suggestion.

I usually cruise the local shopper ads and listen to the swap and shop on the local radio at noon. Then I call up at least 3 but sometimes as many as 6 folks and get prices. Then I decide.

A few years, I have advertised wood wanted on the local swap and shop show. I always get 8 to 12 calls off that.

What is amazing is that the same wood, species and all, can have such widely different prices. I usually go with the low guy, as long as it is what I want.

One thing I will suggest to you is that, when you get a customer list, keep their names and phone numbers and just call them back every year as the season approaches. Try to make it a relationship, not just a single-year sale. I used to have a guy who did that. He brought me solid hickory wood, at a fair price, delivered and stacked, and he called me every year to ensure he had my biz. He quit doing it a few years back, and no one else is interested in selling it that way, so far, even if I point-blank ask them. I miss that guy so bad, if he called me tomorrow and said he was doing it again, I'd place an order right now.