my competition is calling me to buy wood

[spencerhenry]

second guy in a week wanting to buy wood from me to sell in the same area that i retail. maybe i need to raise my price? this latest guy gets trees from tree service companies and sells it as a mixed hardwood. he wants to buy my aspen to "thin out the hardwood". he admitted that sometimes the load is short, sometimes it is not. he gets the wood in now, splits it and sells it as ready to burn firewood. he proclaims that he can split elm and it is dry in a week! he even proclaims that in the winter the wood dries just as well as it "freeze dries".
the humidity is low here, but come on. green elm or maple or ash dry in 7 days????? i call b.s. what do the rest of you think?

i cant dry lumber that fast, let alone firewood.

[mrwood]

Personally I wouldn't worry about what he proclaims to his customers!  That is on his reputation not yours!  But I would raise it 25 a chord or so just to pith him off hey if he wants it bad enough he'll pay. I guess it depends on how bad you need the sales

[stumper]

to dry firewood in 7 days he must have a kiln :D  I think some of the guys around here well seasoned wood by sprinkling pepper over the wood once it is in the truck.

Wood will dry in the winter, it just does so very very slowly.

[SwampDonkey]

Very limited as to how much it will dry, out in a stack in the cold weather.  Some drying is expected, but don't look for it to be seasoned by spring time.  ;D

[Al_Smith]

Ha towards the end of last year the trimmer I kind of help with his equipment had to "borrow" about a half dozen cords of oak from me .It seems he fiddled about too much and all he had was half dry .No problem,he replaced it .I tried to tell him but he wouldn't listen .

Same old stuff that gets discussed on forums .--"Oh I'll split it as I need it ".Fine but it won't be dry enough to sell .

[Kansas]

I don't know if you need to raise your price.  But I sure wouldn't be afraid of selling to a competitor. I buy and sell all the time to other sawmills and loggers. If its profitable for you, I would do it. I actually liked the old days when I had more competitors. We could have a timber logged out, and flow different species and grades of logs that we didn't need. Don't be afraid to partner up as long as you make money.

[spencerhenry]

if in the long run i make money i dont care who buys the wood. i will however sell everything i can produce at a retail price. selling wholesale is preferable as i dont have to deal with all the customers who can be a real pain, but if i have the time, i make more money from retail sales.
the guys that are calling me are the sellers that really make it hard to make a living. the one guy admits that the loads he delivers are short quite often, but since no one complains he thinks that is ok. he also admits to selling green wood. his deal is that he gets wood from tree service companies, he sells it as a hardwood mix. this hardwood mix is cottonwood, willow, aspen, and some ash, elm, and maple. he wanted to buy the aspen from me to "thin out" the good hardwoods he has. sure he is a business man, but making his money based on trickery and customer ignorance. he is not lying, aspen, willow, and cottonwod are hardwoods, but around here you can barely give away cottonwood. so the customer gets a half cord of "hardwood" that is likely to be green. there is no way for me to be competitive when i guarantee my quantities and that the wood is dry. but a few of his customers from last year are have now bought from me. i did 2 deliveries this week of 1 cord, and 1.5 cords. both guys said that the loads they got from me were bigger than the 2.5 cord loads they had gotten before from other guys.

[doctorb]

I suggest continuing to do what's right.  Quality product in apporpriate quantities for a fair price.  I don't think you need to raise your prices (yet), I think you need to raise customer awareness.  "Is your firewood sizzling?  It shouldn't be!  Try Henry's".  Why would you sell your higher quality product to a competitor for wholesale prices when he will turn it around and get retail?  Happy customers are going to bring in more happy customers.  Get a moisture meter and show your customers the moisture content.   Guarantee a 4X4X8 load and sleep well.

When you hear people comparing your product to your competitors, you can raise the cost of a cord then.  When I used to buy firewood, the old guy told me his "secret".  He said that every man wants the most impressive, best woodpile.  Best stacked.  Best seasoned.  Biggest.  He said people will pay for a better product if they are sure they are not getting skimped on the deal.  He sold his oak for $250 a cord.  It was always a full year seasoned and always clean.  He sold out every year and had to turn people away.  There are a lot of guys advertising to dump a cord of "mixed hardwood" for less.  Smart people paid up for the real deal, and they will for you too.

[T Welsh]

I agree with doctorb, we sell out every year and we have had the local landscapers buy us out this year. I personally do not like dealing with the home owners either, our wood is good quality mixed hardwoods and is seasoned at the least a half year. and is sold as such. I like the no delivery system myself. you bring your truck and I will load it. as you said, I dont care who I sell it to, as long as I sell it. unless these guy,s are encroaching on YOUR end. thats a whole different ballgame! Tim

[clww]

I agree with Doc and T Welsh, completely! Sell a good product and the masses will buy it. If the competition wants to buy from you, it's more $ in your pocket.
I sell wood from my tree removal stockpile. It's all seasoned at least 6 months, mostly Oak. I've been selling it for 5 years, more each year, and I sell out every year. Most of my customers are repeat business, too. This year, I have 40 cords in my back yard to sell.

[motohed]

When my firewood competitors call me for wood , I generally charge them 20 to 30 dollars more because they have me deliver it to their customers , and they are usually farther than I normally go .