how far do you deliver firewood?
- Thread starter absrio
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Four hours of driving...yeah I'd do it if made financial sense and I didn't have anyone closer to sell the wood to.
In theory you should be getting paid for your time plus mileage.
In theory you should be getting paid for your time plus mileage.
T. Mainus
ArboristSite Operative
For our storage shed deliveries we charge $3 per mile one way. But if you can charge the guy for delivery for the 2 hour ride and he still wants to buy the wood, that tells me your prices are to low. Unless the guys an idiot, even with the delivery charge he is getting the wood cheaper from you, 2 hours away than he can locally. Unless you are the only guy around selling wood but I doubt that is the case.
Sure if the guy will pay it. How many miles are you looking at?
I am a little surprised by this dialog. Up to five years ago I delivered wood all over Southern California for $1.40 to $1.75 per mile. My limit was about 600 miles and crossing stateliness. Having port of entry authorities was and is a big issue today. I have had several years where as my trucking brought in well over a 100K a year. I started working with a guy some 30 years who worked on private land thinning and maintaining a large tract of Oak. At the time when I first started with this guy he needed help with everything from delivering to cutting. Soon he started getting reliable crews to get the cutting done, but the delivering was always a problem so I started loading my truck and trailer. With just 7 or 8 cords I could sneak into communities with weight restrictions. After several hundreds of cords of deliveries I invested into better larger equipment and started seeing profit that I never imagined. I continued my own timber sales and kept hiring more people to get the work done. I know that no one can run much of a wood business unless they deliver to any body that wants to buy their product. I started with 7 1/2 cords then went on from there. Most western states allow up to 12 cords of hardwood and 15 or 16 cords of soft wood with a profit margin of likely a $100 per cord mark up the larger the volume the more potential there is. If you happen to be some one who needs to be home often well this could be a problem because I only made it home once a month on average. To this day I save up many of my deliveries to be done only during certain weeks so that cutting does not interfere with deliveries. Thanks
jrider
Addicted to ArboristSite
No way in hell. I don't like to go more than 20 minutes away. But where I live there are plenty of people close by and I can't meet current demand. If things were different, I may consider it but it would cost him big time. As stated earlier, I'm sure the customer could get firewood cheaper from a closer source.
At $2 a loaded mile extra..plus the cost of the wood ($150-$200) i'd bet you're talking $350-400 a cord...who would pay that for wood?
Hell, if I had to pay for wood at all I'd just turn the gas furnace on.
Hell, if I had to pay for wood at all I'd just turn the gas furnace on.
That would be tough to pull off here in PA where there are strict limits on which counties you can transfer out of (due to Emerald Elm), this year there are strict Township limits due to Spotted Lantern Fly. I doubt there is any direction I could legally drive 2 hours with a load of wood. We are very limited. I guess unless I added a kiln to dry and kill any remnants of the bugs. I've got no interest in that. A skeptic might suggest the municipal governments are trying to kill the business, and any wood burning in this area.
the guy says he just started looking (likely he is still calling around). he also made mention of possibly picking it up. he said he cut his own for many years but now he's getting older, and i think he has the money. processed seasoned oak around here goes for $250-$325 per cord. so I'm right in the middle of that. also I am one of the few (if not the only one) that sells properly seasoned wood, especially when it comes to oak. so any one of those could be the reason he called. we'll see how it turns out.
were you charging 1.40-1.70 per loaded mile or round trip?
Well I don't think your rate is unreasonable. Adding 160 bucks to two cords will make expensive wood but if he needs it and is willing to pay then all parties are happy.
look at this way fed reimbusement @$.55/mi x 160 mi= $88 just for vehicle round trip. Your time is worth something also.
there's nothing wrong with 15.00 an hour for sitting on your can! along with making a 1.00/2.00 per mile covering ins., auto repair and all the extra's one wants to figure in!! life's expectance, life ins., social security, grand kids collage fund and the list goes on!!
ChoppyChoppy
Tree Freak
Not sure what math your using but at $200 a cord with delivery it'd be $280/cord.
And I'm not sure what math you're using but $ 150-200 for the wood and a delivery charge of $1.50-$2.0 a loaded mile works out to $120--$160 . Looks like $270 to as much as $360 a cord total. I wasn't necessarily talking about the OP's discount deal of two cords delivered for the price of one, I'm also pretty sure most people making money hauling firewood wouldn't drag 4,000 of wood 80 miles for free more than once.
ChoppyChoppy
Tree Freak
$160 to deliver (80 miles at $2/mile)
2 cords at $400. $560 total. $280 a cord.
Delivery would pay for the truck, not per cord. At least I've never seen it done otherwise. Wouldn't make sense.
per delivery(1 cord or 10 cord), is the common means of fee's to be paid for transport and not by way of items(cord/cords) being delivered....
I was charging based upon how far I had to go between loads. If I was going to a particular town like San Diego I would deliver 2 or 3 cords to one part of town then 5 cords to down town then 4 cords to Southern San Diego and come back with $5,000 profit. If I had to drive to Lake Forest first before going to San Diego then I tried to get the maximum amount of hauling fees. Some times firewood yards would want 25 to 50 cords ASAP and would pay almost retail so I had to be somewhat flexible. Many times a good customer would call needing some wood ASAP so I would load my pickup with a half a cord and give them a free load and no mileage fees. It always panned in the long run where as I got a little extra $$ overall. From my point of view I was in the timber business with a large amount of forest product and plenty of customers so the more volume I could turn over the more $$ would get brought home. Each year is different so make hay while the sun is shinning because you never know when it is going to start raining again. Thanks
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