For the guys selling bundles,

[woodroe]

That looks great. The business is expanding !

[cutterboy]

BCC, I've been away for three weeks and am now trying to catch up. I am really pleased to see what you are doing with your firewood business and how it is expanding. I love the firewood box at the store.
Keep it up! You'll be the Firewood King of Penn.

[Magicman]

I took this picture of a store's firewood rack this week.  The bundles contained 4-5 sticks of wood and were priced @ $5.99 each or two for $10.  All was about 18" and Red Oak.

[Greenie]

I'm late responding to this discussion.... From 2004 - 2019 (when I retired) we sold about 50 cords of hardwood per year in a campground bundled in 16" long finely split packages. The bundles weighed about 30 pounds and were formed in short plastic culverts (14" diameter) and then tied with poly baling twine. The bundles shrank while stored so we had to tap in a few small pieces of firewood to tighten up the bundles before they went up for sale. Mice and vermin chewed fiber twine.
Each bundle sold for $7, we kept about $5 after taxes and various fees.
We used a Super Split wood splitter - a fast way of dicing up firewood meant for campfires. Trees were mostly dying or soon to be dying white birch being climaxed out of the oak forest; the trees were best removed before they fell on campsites, roads, or improvements.
We had prison inmate labor; they liked dropping the trees more than splitting the firewood so we always had to push them to do the splitting and bundling - which they saw as not enjoyable/glamorous enough. More drug convictions changed the work ethics of our inmate work crew (the best workers were habitual offenders & vehicular manslaughter convictions) ... Drug convicted inmates were less desirable. Being a campground inmates convicted of sex crimes were naturally never on outside crews. 
After taxes and fees for handling the accounts (bureaucracy) we generated about $15,000 USD a year which we then purchased capitol equipment with (compact tractors, disc mower, golf carts, diesel zero turns, woodworking equipment and wifi repeaters ) Most of the capitol equipment could not have been purchased with the existing budgets we had to live with.
WAG (wild guess) is that the labor involved in harvesting, hauling, cutting, splitting, and handling would be equivalent to one person working 40 hours a week 52 weeks per year and not viable for a stand alone business venture with a $15,000 per year bottom line.
We could have wrapped the bundles in shrink wrap but then most campers would have burned the shrink wrap in the fire making an unpleasant stink and mess. The shrink wrap would have eliminated tightening bundles after they shrank.
I retired, the prison inmate program ended and the enterprise account was rejiggered with greatly less motivation for doing the extra work. We also produced dimensional lumber - that too ceased when I retired. Self-sufficiency in a park (creating materials and operating money) is a tough sell now and won't find much support in governmental agencies. We did it successfully for 16 years and never had any serious injuries or incidents.   

[barbender]

 Sounds like an interesting operation, Greenie👍

 I'd venture a guess that a good portion of the poly baling twine from the bundles went into the fire, too.

[Greenie]

It probably did go into the fire too - natural baling twine would have been better if not for the vermin.

[OH logger]

Is anyone else noticing there bundle sales being down this year? I only keep records on how much I sell a year and it seems I'm behind in sales at year to date but not sure. Any of you guys having the same experience? 

[mudfarmer]

Made a bad mistake and worked too much overtime this week to pay attention! My bundles are all gone!

Well, because the roads are flooded with campers and boats and out of state plates gearing up for July 4th and they bought them all. I did not have any prepared and am having a few cold ones, making bundles. Happy bundling to you all 

[B.C.C. Lapp]

Well, I was doing pretty good for a short time there. Then it just kinda fell off a little.    Certainly slow now.  I didn't sell a single rack yesterday.  For a Friday that's not normal.  Cant really say why.  The wood looks great. Its all testing fine, dry as a bone.  Kind of discouraging but still working at it.

[barbender]

 It's all market dependent🤷 We've delivered 350 in the last week. I'll probably have to do another 300 before the 4th.

 For my area, and maybe others, I think one thing you have to get out of your head is what you think "good" firewood is. What bundled customers want isn't the same as what I would deliver to someone for their indoor fireplace, at all. Many of the people that are buying bundles probably aren't very skilled at starting a fire.

 Here's a good experiment- take one of your bundles, and use what is in it to light it. No kindling out of your woodshed, no using your hatchet. Maybe some newspaper and charcoal lighter fluid like the weekend camper will have. Can you get it lit? If you can't, or it's a challenge, then 99% of the campers won't be able to either.
 
 This is why I mix softwood, or light hardwoods like aspen or basswood in my bundles. While a regular firewood customer would be insulted by their inclusion in a load of hardwood firewood, a camper just wants to get a fire going while the children look on with hotdogs and smores ready to go😊

 I shoot for a 50/50 mix of hardwood/softwood, the hardwood isn't even dry. But I know it will all burn well, and light easily. We put some of the slivers and splinters in the bundles fir kindling as well.

 As of late, I've been using firewood bags that I put short off cuts, ugly pieces and lots of slivers and other small pieces for kindling in. I stuff the bags as full as I can get them. I sell them at a location alongside bundles, and the bags disappear quickly. It's ugly wood/junk! But campers like it for some reason🤷

 I'm not suggesting that you should sell your customers a poor quality product. What I am saying, is reconsider what your customer may be looking for. Your areas are different than mine, and what works for me may not work for you. But you can always put a few bundles out with more slivers and kindling in them alongside your other wood, and see how they move.

 There's plenty of places up here that bundle straight up sawmill slabs. Campers love them, and I have no qualms using them myself. My only issue with slabs right now is processing them in a timely fashion, compared to just running roundwood through the processor. I tried running slabs through the processor- that didn't work too well🤷

[B.C.C. Lapp]

BB when I make up my bags each one is as close to a ahh, well,  let me call it a "campfire kit" as I can get it.   Two larger pieces and the rest wrist thick and smaller.   If the weather is dry and humidity low I think you could put a match to the bag itself and get the whole dang thing lit. 
We have evening campfires here frequently, having one tonight in fact.  Mrs. Lapp and I enjoy cooking over an open wood fire.  I'm burning the stuff I'm selling and it really is campfire ready bags.

[barbender]

I was just using some of the firewood bags we made while out camping this weekend. Each had a few pieces of white birch bark, and lots of slivers and debris from the firewood processor. Then some larger short chunks of hardwood. They worked really well...it's good to do product testing once in a while😊

[GAB]

I was just using some of the firewood bags we made while out camping this weekend. Each had a few pieces of white birch bark, and lots of slivers and debris from the firewood processor. Then some larger short chunks of hardwood. They worked really well...it's good to do product testing once in a while😊

I do a lot of product testing when picking strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries and other things like apples, plums, etc.
When they start weighing people in I'm going in with rocks in my pockets.
GAB

[mudfarmer]

Well said, guys! Can you start a fire with basically just your bundle? It is good to try I take wood out of my regular dry stacks and resplit to make bundles The slivers etc are a bonus. Folks like @cutterboy here sell separate bags of kindling, we have not tried that. My bundles make fires (easily) that you can cook your dinner on, we do it a lot. But this is so much smaller volume than you are talking... 300... MAYBE hit that this year, not this week but also just direct sales, no wholesaling.

Saw a guy at the gas station loading 5x bundles @ $8 each into his truck the other day, really makes you think while running the splitter for hours.

[Pclem]

Well, I'm pretty late for this post... Honestly, I've not been on the forum for a few years now, but this post got me interested to read and reply. I've not sold a stick of firewood for close to 4-5 years now I'd guess. But we had a pretty substantial bundle business here for 7-10 years. Built one kiln, then had to keep up and build another, then finally buying one from kiln direct. The last 5-6 years of the business, my wife, I and two kids stayed plenty busy spring through early fall splitting, drying, packaging and delivering 700-900 bundles a week. I tried everything from mesh bags to plastic mesh tubes with hog rings, and stretch wrap. We found the best, cheapest, most efficient method was stretch wrap. It's been a while, but I think we had about 30-35 cents in each .75 cu ft bundle for cost. We used blown stretch wrap... Not sure if it was 80 or 90 gauge. Blown wrap is much stronger and resists tearing. I had an electric wrapper from wood beaver. We had firewood baskets for the kilns with drop down sides, and would set two of them on either side of the wrapper. 1 person could wrap 30 bundles/hour. With 4 of us... My wife and daughter filling trays, me wrapping, and my boy stacking the pallet, we could do about 75/ hr. Honestly, for selling premium wood to homeowners and restaurants, we profited more. So much time and overhead with splitting small pieces, wrapping, and making sure everyone was stocked up. In the end, a broken foot in the woods for me, and my wife cutting her thumb off on the splitter was the straw that broke the camels back. I'm not sure this helps or puts anything in perspective for the op or anyone else... Lord knows I made plenty of mistakes and could have done things better. But.... If I was to sell firewood again, and I just might, It would only be premium smaller split/dry for homeowners. That's where we did the best.

[Pclem]

Oh and btw, all equipment at the bottom of this post is sold and long gone... Except for a few jonsereds and some old vintage axes

[barbender]

 Good to see you back, Pclem- and sorry to hear about the misfortunes!

I think that is a good cautionary tale for all of us to be careful out there though. All it takes is one mistake and you can have an injury that costs more than you'll make in 10 years with firewood!

 A local friend of mine got his hand in a splitter bad enough a few years ago that the Drs were close to just amputating it. He and his teenage son were working together on the splitter- something I don't like doing. I think there should only be one person with their hand at the controls and handling the wood on that side, or it's just a matter of time before someone sticks their hand in there while the other person hits the control. I know I've pinched my hand a couple of times when resplitting wood on the processor. 

 I worry about that kind of stuff a fair bit, it's dangerous work that we do.

[Magicman]

Oh and btw, all equipment at the bottom of this post is sold and long gone...

You can go to your profile and edit it all out. 

[B.C.C. Lapp]

Sales been slow as of late.     I know my biggest problem is that there is to many guys selling wood because logging is about non existent around here now. And so many of these fellas undercut  every bodies prices trying to get the business their way.     Nothing I can do about that. I've made a promise to myself I'll not waist time or energy worrying about what the other guys are doing.  Just make sure the wood is dry and there is plenty of it and the world should turn.  I hope. 

This here is exactly what I'm talking about.   One of the camp grounds I sell to had not called for any wood for quite a few weeks.  I didn't know why and it was on my mind.  Did I muck it up somehow?   Just didn't have a clue.  Worried, you know? I KNEW the owner should have been calling weeks ago.   He's a good customer and I hated to lose him.   I was on the edge of calling him when he called on Thursday.   He said hey I need some wood for this weekend.  I told him I'd load up and be over there before supper time.   And I did and was.
    And I found out what was up.  Here he had been buying slabs from a small Amish mill for half what I charge.   Trouble was his campers couldn't light it nor keep it lit. So he bought a cheap load of mixed hardwood and pine form some fella, no idea who.   That turned out to be mostly bark and chunks.  And once again his campers were not happy campers.  And so he came back to me.   My price is set right where the other serious sellers are in my area are.   No higher but no lower.  I let the bigger outfits set the price and follow them along. Any way he's back where he should be. But the whole thing worries me.  And I don't believe in that. Worrying never helped me or changed the outcome much.   But things are tight. 

[Magicman]

You are very wise to not get into a throat cutting race to the bottom. 

[cutterboy]

BCC, I think you played it smart. You were always there with the good and dry wood and he came back to you. I think most who stray will come back. Everyone wants to buy at a lower price but if they need good wood they will be willing to pay a reasonable price.

STOP WORRYING! You seem to have your head on straight.

[GRANITEstateMP]

Magicman and cutterboy,

Both of your statements had me shaking my head up and down!  Cutter, I could use an inspirational pep talk like that about every 6-8months.  Can I schedule you for mid March?

[cutterboy]

Can I schedule you for mid March?

Sure. $200 a half hour session.  Cash!   

[B.C.C. Lapp]

Geeze Louise Cutter, $200 hundred for a half hour? I'm in the wrong end of this business. 

[Bostonstrong]

Sorry to be jumping on this thread late in the game.
I just sold my 1000th bundle in a self serve stand at the end of my driveway since I started bundles just 18 months ago, so thought I would put my 1.5 cents in....
I have an endless supply of free wood right on my property (thank you emerald ash borer) along with as much wood as I want from several tree services.  I am a one man operation with a souped up box store splitter and farm tractor.  I have a full time + job and am at that point in life where elder care is taking up hours each week as well. 
Firewood is plentiful in my area (southeastern PA), and the current rate for a cord of seasoned hardwood delivered is in the $250-300 range. I tried the delivery gig for a while, but my time to load, drive and unload was sapping my profit.  I can make a nice penny in my day job, so I had to consider time committment as a cost of doing the firewood thing.
I can easily make 50 bundles in an hour myself without leaving the house.
Assuming, I can get 135 bundles per cord (conservatively ...I use 1.O cu ft bags), at $5/bundle, I get $675 per cord/bundled.  And, I never have to leave my property.  I can't retire on that, but it is pin money for tools and such.
I have been approached by a local campground to provide them bundles, but I don't have the time right now....maybe when I retire.
I do include kindling in the bag which, when I started doing that, increased my sales by about 40%.  The bags are the way to go for me, as I tried the plastic wrap method and got frustrated trying to keep the kindling from falling out (customers complained as well).
I get the bags for .52 a piece from Northern Woodsmen.
Anyhow, at the end of the day, I think what works for you in your unique situation works for you. 
I can see how plastic wrapped bundles are fast and would certainly be the way to go if you weren't doing kindling and had more of a commercial type business.
I am just a hobby firewood hack.