Bundles?

[Sandhill Crane]

Bundles around here, Southwest MI, are selling for $6.oo each, and are about 12" x 12" x 16".

That comes out to 32 bundles per 1/3 cord, or 96 bundles per cord. Whole sale price for the wood and bundling seems to be about half of that, which is a guess on my part. 96 bundles x $3.00/bundle = $288./cord.

I'm selling a cord of Oak for $225./cord plus a small delivery fee.
So my question is... Is it worth $63. to do the extra work of bundling, if it is sold wholesale?

The vending machine set up starts to enter the picture if one could make an extra buck per bundle. Also the theft factor of buy two, take three enters in if you retail off a pallet somewhere, like gas stations do. Wholesaling, that would not effect you.

 

[lknchoppers]

At that price and markup I wouldn't do it.

 

[mijdirtyjeep]

Few things to think about.

1. All my bundle wood is split smaller than cord wood. While it does take a little more time to split it a little smaller, that cord of wood stove size split wood ends up being larger once its turned into bundle wood. Every time you split it smaller there is more airspace introduced between the pieces.

2. With a 12x12 jig , you will be hard pressed to fit them so tight in there that it actually turns out to 12x12. I usually figure somewhere around 120bundles to the cord, but my jig is 11x11 and I have yet to receive any complaints.

2. I cut a lot of wood at 15" every 16 bundles that give me a so called freebie (if my math is correct)! LOL

3. Vending trailers are $$ and do not hold much wood. I looked into them and decided I would rather sell the bundles at wholesale and let the retailer deal with the theft. One of the guy's I supply with bundles that holds a large state park campground contract at says he expects a 10% loss in theft at that park. He has averaged over the last 6yrs at that park $40k a year in bundle sales. That's $4k in lost bundles a year. He has even had people try to just walk out with free bundles when he was in the shed re-loading it. Thats just messed up.

 

[unclemoustache]

I sell bundles at $4 wholesale. I get 1 cubic foot in a bag - 128 bundles/cord x $4 = $512/cord, and I bundle only Silver Maple. $512/cord for junk wood is pretty darn good, and that's only at $4/bundle. The gas stations sell it at $6. I only sell about a cord's worth anyway, but I'd sure love a bigger market for bundles. No campgrounds around here.

 

[woodshax]

I have a different solution from the "vending Trailer"......and like I have said before state parks sales are very profitable......I have 10 DFW state parks and expanding to 13 next week.....I use 2 cu ft by volume bags rather than bundling but you can only fit about 1.3 cu ft of wood in the bags.....so 100 bags a cord. We are expecting between $150,000 to $200,000 in gross sales based on 2016 as we began deploying machines......and since I have real time sales data on every machine we have never run out.....got there with only one bag left...but never sold out

 

[lknchoppers]

I have a different solution from the "vending Trailer"......and like I have said before state parks sales are very profitable......I have 10 DFW state parks and expanding to 13 next week.....I use 2 cu ft by volume bags rather than bundling but you can only fit about 1.3 cu ft of wood in the bags.....so 100 bags a cord. We are expecting between $150,000 to $200,000 in gross sales based on 2016 as we began deploying machines......and since I have real time sales data on every machine we have never run out.....got there with only one bag left...but never sold out

How much are your bags?

 

[woodshax]

With shipping about .24 (includes the shipping) but they are stronger and have more UV protection than the ones I found in the States......I have to buy 5000 at a time...but this year I will need at least 15000 so I am hoping for a price cut on that number of bags

 

[Sandhill Crane]

Woodshax:
Do you need kiln dried wood to bag?
Do the bags breath?
What thread was it where you discussed this last Fall?
Inquiring minds and all...

 

[Guswhit]

At the risk of being banned, try this link.

Wood Shax Movie firewood vending machine YouTube

 

[woodshax]

In Texas there are no restrictions yet on kiln dried or locally sourced but I am pushing the parks department in that direction and we have started to build a Kiln to provide safe wood when we cannot source it near the park. The bags are open mesh and breath well just a tighter weave and more UV protection than I have found in the U.S. It was titled "firewood vending" from Sept.

Here is the Youtube video

 

[woodshax]

O crud....I did not think about that.....If they get mad at you Guswhit....point them to me for banning....I put that up before I read all the stuff that could get you banned and have stayed away from it ever since

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

150k profit? I'd have To sell about 45,000 bundles a year to do that, not counting costs if that electric cabinet, which I'd imagine is in the 5-7k area.

 

[woodshax]

ValleyFirewood, you always play around with my posts....gross sales...not profit.......about 60% of that would be profit....but I have high wood cost because i don't have a processor.or much else....just a splitter , metal tubes and bags...we just buy by the cord from guys who cut near the parks and bag and sell....If I had an operation like yours My wood costs would be much lower and profits higher but i invested in the other end of the operations....the VA says I am 170% disabled and after their math it comes to 90% so....while I can get a bag of wood into the compartments and drive around, I gots to rely on others for the hard work part

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

Play around with your posts? If I have I don't remember. I thought you were new on here even.

The VA says I'm broke too, but there's no way I could live off disability, shoot it barely covers my utilities at home.
It's why I have equipment though, back is shot.

 

[woodshax]

It was back in Aug and september....we just went back and forth a bit and it gave me some new points to consider....and maybe my drain Bamage made me mis-remember. I am lucky I got to retire as well so I have the pension and disability to keep me from having to be a walmart greeter

 

[rarefish383]

I'm about 30 miles from Baltimore and DC. Bags go for $5-$7 and most say they are .75 of one cubic foot, some kiln dried. At .75 per CF that's about 170 bags per cord, or $850- $1190 per cord retail. Check my math, that's a lot per cord, Joe.

 

[Wood Doctor]

I think this thread is neglecting an important consideration -- wood species. In my case, the bundles I wrap are mostly lighter density species such as eastern cottonwood, soft maple, willow, poplar, elm, and linden. For truckloads, I process oak, walnut, ash, locust, hard maple, mulberry, hackberry, etc. These are all higher density, slower burning, and used for fuel wood to heat buildings.

The lower density species make good bundles that are easy to carry, and the fires are easy to light in open air. To compare prices with high-density logs on a volume basis doesn't work very well. Remember also that portability is important because people, including women and older children, have to carry the bundles. One of my bundles if made with oak or locust would weigh in at over 50 pounds. Even if you carried it to their car or truck, they would still have to get it from there to the fire pit.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

It was back in Aug and september....we just went back and forth a bit and it gave me some new points to consider....and maybe my drain Bamage made me mis-remember. I am lucky I got to retire as well so I have the pension and disability to keep me from having to be a walmart greeter

Vaguely remembee. I think you were supposed to get me a price on a credit card payment booth if i remember right.

 

[Guswhit]

Good thoughts Wood Doctor. In my position, and I only speak for myself, I don't have the luxury of keeping wood species separated. For my parks, the wood is all harvested from within one of them now. For the last several years it has been overwhelmingly oak and hickory. This year, they have chosen to get rid of some of the dying ash, presumably from EAB, and also a handful of leaning mulberry's. I would say I'm still processing over 80% oak and hickory though. All of the trees that we are using have been toppled in storms, dead or dying.

 

[Wood Doctor]

Good thoughts Wood Doctor. In my position, and I only speak for myself, I don't have the luxury of keeping wood species separated. For my parks, the wood is all harvested from within one of them now. For the last several years it has been overwhelmingly oak and hickory. This year, they have chosen to get rid of some of the dying ash, presumably from EAB, and also a handful of leaning mulberry's. I would say I'm still processing over 80% oak and hickory though. All of the trees that we are using have been toppled in storms, dead or dying.

For the upcoming campfire season, my local drop site has been bringing in dead cottonwood trees. These were standing dead when cut down and are surprisingly dry and solid to the core. And, the big logs have very little bark on board because the crew shredded it all into mulch. So, I have a good supply for bundles awaiting my splitter.

It rarely happens this way because in the past, the trees were usually green and the big logs could not even be processed until the fall. I tried splitting some of it on the same day that I bucked it to length, and it split like a breeze into very nice sized logs, nothing stringy. No complaints at this end. I didn't even have to wait for it to check up. All I need are some dry days for the rest of the harvest.