[SeaGoat]

The SO and I split firewood during the colder months.
Its no lie that it sells more by the stack and not nearly as much work.


I stay at home while the SO works dawn til dusk. He does not like the idea of people knocking on the door all day to buy a stack of firewood.
I get that.


Fortunately we have an extremely long driveway.
Id like to put about 5 stacks at a time out, with an honesty box.

We are along a little bit more of a rural/residential road so its mostly neighbors that are driving by..


I know people sometimes do this with eggs and veggies and Ive even seen them with firewood, but I was wondering how "honest" people are.
Does anyone have experience with them?

 

[CraterCove]

I know that I always put the money in the box. I thought it was really convenient too... never had to worry if the stand was open, just popped by on my way home and picked up some greens or squash or whatever.

However, I stopped going when the banana spiders got to be about as big as my hand so--- I'd sweep occasionally to keep us arachnophobes coming.

 

[Danaus29]

I used to get straw from a place that had a money box. Always put my money in. But my mom has had issues with hers. People not paying for stuff and a couple incidents of the box being stolen or broke into.

 

[Awnry Abe]

I have one inside the fridge at work where I deliver eggs and milk. Honestly, I don't know of they are honest or not. It sure beats acting like a collection department.

 

[copperkid3]

All it will take is one (or possibly two times)
to reconsider the labor/time spent for collecting,
splitting, transporting and then stacking that wood for free.

Either that, or install a security camera and
find out which of your neighbors are .....
(fill in the blank.)

 

[FarmboyBill]

We had a guy who had a dairy who did that. They robbed the box, and stole the milk. He quit it.

 

[DLMKA]

Used to live down the road from a guy that sold vegetables on honor system with money box. He said 7 times out of 10 he'd be money over or have a note from someone that didn't have correct change and overpaid with the intention of underpaying the next time to even things up. Said he never had anyone break into box or lose enough veggies to theft that he'd noticed.


I wouldn't have a problem with an honor system box. Then again, if you trusted your customers that much why not just have them knock on the door and be neighborly and talk a bit.

 

[pinfeather]

Not sure how I'd feel about it if it were me. I'd probably want to believe my neighbors are honest, but I sure can't afford to lose much money!

Depending upon the size, a stack of wood is a much bigger ticket item than a few squash or a dozen eggs. Someone who would normally be super honest might have a harder time putting bigger dollars in the honesty box.

Could you put up a sign with a phone number alongside one of your stacks of wood and arrange for pickups when your SO is home? Your neighbors would probably want to meet him as well.

Hope your venture works out well for all!

 

[SeaGoat]

You can see my house from the road so if they wanted to steal in broad daylight Id be able to sit and watch.

I read a study that changed out an honesty boxes signs.
One week they would put flowers on the sign, the other eyes
They found people were a lot more honest when eyes were watching them :grin:

 

[CraterCove]

Yeah the eyes thing really works, it hits something in that 'lizard brain' we all have and makes us wary.

You know, putting little voodoo or other witchy sorts of things out and about might also make people think twice about stealing. But the idea of a camera wounds like a good one to me.

 

[unregistered358967]

I wonder if there was a way you could put the firewood and the box closer to your house? Kind of defeats the privacy thing though....

 

[unregistered41671]

All it takes is the one bad apple to ruin the entire crop.

Nope, there is no way I would work that hard and let someone just walk off with my wood and money.

 

[mmoetc]

I'd guess to me it depends on what a "stack" of firewood is and what your selling it for. We used to set up excess produce for sale by the road ( the box is still attached to the corner fence post) and though I never added up what should have been as opposed to what was I never felt ripped off. Id empty the box and pull produce every night. I'd sometimes find money in box in the morning when I moved produce out the next morning. I figured it was someone who didn't have the right cash at some time making up for shorting me.

All that being said, I wouldn't expect someone to put enough money for a pickup load of wood in a box by the road. I have seen and would expect them to honor a few dollars for a bundle of wood for campfire or fireplace use. You'll have to decide if the extra money is worth the intrusion into your day of people coming down your drive or if the risk of losing some wood to the unethical is worth the cost trade off of your time.

 

[SeaGoat]

The drive is only about 200' long with nothing inhibiting the view.

I figure people who don't burn fires that much might want to pick up a small bit of wood on the way home one night.

Just a few extra dollars every now and again.

I guess I could try it out and see how well it works..

 

[PrettyPaisley]

Where we get feed is open 24 hours. He has a box bolted to the wall to deposit money but he also asks you write down in a notebook what you've purchased AND he has slips of paper cut and asks that you bundle your money with your name and phone number on it before dropping it in the box.

He also has cameras set up. I've seen just a couple of times a note on the bulletin board describing folks who stole from him. But we are talking about a fairly decent sized mill. NOT that is makes his losses any less great, but I'd say with five stacks of wood you have much more to lose.

 

[Bellyman]

I had gotten the impression from the OP that it was those little bundles of wood you see along the side of the road intended for campers, just a little bundle for $4 or $5 maybe.

I've seen quite a few of those in various places and that would seem like a good way to make some extra $$ getting a premium price for something that wouldn't normally sell for that high of a price.

I don't imagine you'd ever put our more than maybe 4 or 5 bundles at a time so the risk might be somewhat limited that way.

Whether or not you'll get ripped off probably depends on who stops by. You can always give it a try and see how it goes. And if theft is a problem, find another way to sell your firewood.

Good luck!

 

[SeaGoat]

Yeah, just stacks of 10-15 pieces for $8-$10
No more than a few stacks out at a time, that way if there is left it's at a minimum.
Id like to leave our number out for larger orders, but the SO HATES delivering and stacking. We have about 5-6 repeat customers he'll take it to, after that he's grumbling.
....which is where my idea comes in

We have about a quarter of a cord left from last season I could probably stick out there for a test run..

 

[mmoetc]

Yeah, just stacks of 10-15 pieces for $8-$10
No more than a few stacks out at a time, that way if there is left it's at a minimum.
Id like to leave our number out for larger orders, but the SO HATES delivering and stacking. We have about 5-6 repeat customers he'll take it to, after that he's grumbling.
....which is where my idea comes in

We have about a quarter of a cord left from last season I could probably stick out there for a test run..

Nothing ventured , nothing gained. Good luck.

 

[highlands]

The SO and I split firewood during the colder months. ... I know people sometimes do this with eggs and veggies and Ive even seen them with firewood, but I was wondering how "honest" people are.
Does anyone have experience with them?

I don't use and honesty box as you call it because one dishonest person ruins it for everyone and there are a lot more than one dishonest persons out there. I figure that 90% of the population is honest. That's not good enough.

If you don't want to deal with people knocking on the door all day put up a sign at the end of the driveway like this:

Firewood, Dry, Split, You Truck, $200/cord
By Appointment Only - Call 555-1212
No Drop By Sales​

This works. This way we don't get cheated. I work too hard to let crooks steal from me. Life's too short for that.

My sign also says:

No Evangelists, No Politicians​

Customize as needed.

 

[diamond h]

Paul Wheaton has a YouTube video of a farm stand with an honor box. Money is put into a split tennis ball and dropped down a shut. The ball rolls to a secure location.