Firewood pricing

[Sandhill Crane]

I don't try to compete on price, plus no discounts, no holding wood for fall.
People come and go. There are price shoppers. That's fine.
Some of them come back a year later. Some don't.
Some want guaranties that the Oak I sell is seasoned.... Ha!!!!!!!! No guaranties either.
I suggested to every customer this year if they want seasoned wood to buy one year a head minimum, two if they can.
Most have burnt wood for years, if not decades, and that suggestion to buy a head, brings up a different excuse each time.
Half of them want me to put them on a list for next year. No list. First come first serve.
I like what I do, but I don't call myself a business person either. Just trying to find what works. However, selling the same thing to different people for different prices doesn't sound like a good plan.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

You make good points and if you can sell all you want in that environment then more power to you! In an environment with more sellers and less buyers you sometimes need to negotiate to get the sale.

True. I live in an area of about 350,000+ people in a 100 mile radius and about 7 professional firewood vendors.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

Raising price to steady customers also requires an explanation and those are people who are counting on you. Do you want to lose steady customers? I don't.

A local restaurant just started charging $2 for a cup of coffee. Half the steady customers vanished.

Cost of living increase, min wage increase (need to pay my guys more), etc. Provided it's not an incredible increase and is what the market bears, people will still stick around.

Interestingly enough, I've been able to move that market myself. I guess I should be flattered that most everyone else (firewood hacks and pro vendors) used my prices. Market 5+ yrs ago used to be $200-250 area, now $250-$300.

Many also do the 10 miles free, $2/mile over, again, that's from me. Before a lot of others used a round about amount. Might be free one day, $20 the next. Or $20 to town x, $40 to town y (trouble with that is it might be 20 miles or 40+)

I log and sell wood year round, no worries on running out. Work in 80* or -25*, rain, snow, sun.

 

[Ted Jenkins]

As I read through this thread my thoughts were different prices for different customers how ridiculous. Then it occurred to me that each customer gets treated differently. The bottom line is that no body is going to get a great retirement plan off of firewood. So a seller must capitalize on any and every opportunity to make extra money. I hold back about 10 to 15 cords every fall just for the people who forget to address the issue and have more money than brains. It is not uncommon to sell a cord of pine for a $1000. Of course it will require about 6 deliveries for one cord. Or the people who want just enough wood for the weekend. A $100 is typical for 20 pcs and 20 minutes delivery time. So using ones noodle is important. Just today I dropped off a marginal 1/2 cord and will charge him $250 per delivery including stacking. He wants nice large Oak so he pays for it. For many other customers they get what comes out of the field. In 40 years I have never heard of people comparing prices on what they paid. If this actually happens there are so many reasons it is ridiculous. Different times of year different qualities of wood. Thanks

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

Same price and same quality year round here. People certainly compare price.
I increase the cord price for 12" or shorter wood (just took an order for 8" today for example) and reason for that is because it costs me more because it's more labor, discount for military & vets, about it.

Dunno on the retirement plan. Smart business plan and some luck... people are going to always need to heat their homes.

 

[Ted Jenkins]

Here in Southern California nothing has been the same seems like forever. About 15 years ago we had the bark beetle infestation where as 3.5 million trees were removed because of fire danger then we had a fire that destroyed entire communities. So available pine is not very plentiful. Now solid pine is getting more and more pricey because it is in short supply. Here one has to change with the times or? Thanks

 

[muddstopper]

I think if your going to sell firewood to make a living, you have to set your prices and leave them there. Someone that is just selling a few loads or has a little extra they want to get rid of, then they have a little more leeway as to dickering on price. On this site, you have people selling hundreds of cords a year, as well as some folks just selling a little wood for pocket money. I would say thats is also the reason you get many different answers as to pricing, delivery charge, stacking fees, etc. If your in the making a living side of the business, you have to add something to your pricing to take care of things like fuel and labor. the more time you spend with one customer driving time and stacking time, is the less time you have to spend on the next customer. This makes a bigg difference if you are selling multiple loads a day to different customers. On the other side of things, if you are only selling one load in the evenings after you get off working at your regular full time job, you might can afford to spend a little extra time stacking a load of wood at a customers house.

As for dickering on prices, even as a part time seller, you need to be real careful entering into this practice. You cut your price to one customer for one load and they are going to expect that same price on the next load and the load after that. You have locked in your pricing even tho you didnt intend to. Word gets out that so and so paid a certain price for a load of wood, now all your other customers are going to expect the same discount, and they are going to be upset if they dont get it. While I think it is probably ok to offer a discount on a set number of loads, or a full seasons worth, if taken all at once, dickering on single loads and different pricing to other customers is going to come back and bite you sooner or later. To my way of thinking, I wouldnt be interested in selling out as soon as possible, my goal would be to make the most money on the limited amount of wood I had available. Prices spike on firewood late in the season for a reason, and thats because producers have sold out early. Why discount just so you can sell out and miss out on full price sales as the season progress's.

 

[Wood Doctor]

Early bird discounts seem to make some sense. That could even out your delivery schedule. In my case, sales peak in November when snow forecasts start showing up. So, if a customer buys in September, it makes some sense to pass along a price break of some sort to him or just don't expect a tip.

I also explain to the early bird that the wood, if recently split, has more time to dry if he buys it early. This past summer was unusually wet and humid in these parts and that has slowed down the drying process. Regardless, I like to keep the price almost constant as Muddstopper also recommends.

I might add that one of my new customers paid me extra because she could not believe how much wood I packed inside of my truck. Her previous supplier threw it in loose.