Sales not near what I thought they would be.

I surpassed last January and February is off to a great star with 6 face cords delivered in the first two days of this month. Watching football in the open air back patios with a fire blazing is a big thing for most of my customers. So expecting a lot of business leading into Super Bowl Sunday. Most of my customers also have fire pits and smokeless stoves, so March thru May is good for business as they start burning outside.

 

Nice

 

Been watching the weather, looks like your area is in line for some cold weather for sure.

 

Yup 10* here now. Got a delivery for a regular tomorrow. After tomorrow its back abnormal higher temps.

 

Booked full in deliveries through Monday. I have a six week regular delivery dude I am hitting Sunday with a 1/2 cord. His place is too large to post, but his family loves watching TV and football outside. White oak and beech is what I am delivering.

 

???why???

 

After 7, 10K SQFT it just gets ridiculous. One place early in the week had six maids and a nanny. I must be weird, but I don't want people inside or in the yard working all the time. Uber wealth looks like a hassle. And if they burn a lot--which they do--my finely tuned diesel truck is rattling their windows when I arrive.

 

I toured an 8800 sq ft house that only 2 people were living in. Imo it was just a bunch of unused space. Rooms for the sake of having extra rooms.

 

And here I’m struggling trying to justify a 1700-1800 SF single floor with a conditioned crawl space… 2B2B.

 

Big day of firewood deliveries. Left home with 2 face cords and received another order :45 down the road. So had to reload and head back to Nashville. Had planned on cutting this afternoon, but no, another 3 hours of driving. Bonus that all three deliveries gave great tips. Tips paid for my diesel and this evenings adult beverages.

 

Perfect firewood day. Sold a face cord and cut, split and stacked 1/2 a cord. And a nice tip this morning. Have received many Benjamin tips over the last three years, but topped it today with $120. Don’t really understand why, but sure is nice. Took me about :75 nonstop to wheelbarrow and stack. Handled each piece three times to get them to their final resting place. Customer appreciated the difficulty of getting the firewood to where he wanted it.

 

Meeting with a local logger this week about purchasing 80-100 cords of logs. I have been cutting about 70-80 cords a year over the last three years cleaning up post logging operations. I am getting tired of 50-60 hour weeks and looking for an easier way. If the price isn’t right, thinking about just backing off and serving my best customers with 30-40 hour weeks.

 

Today was my first non delivery day in two weeks. Actually enjoy breaks from all the city driving. Cut almost a cord of mostly white oak at a post logging site. Big juicy logs piled 50’ high and about 150’ long. Used my 8’ pry bar to roll them down to cut. Sort of dangerous but made it fun in a weird way. Felt like a mountain goat with a chain saw. These piles are usually set on fire when they get dry enough to burn. Such a waste.

 

About 25% of this awesome wood is out of my league. 25 plus inches in diameter and half a ton logs. Many hundred Benjamin’s never to be born.

 

We need pictures of this pile!

 

this

 

Should have taken pictures to monitor my progress; will post some after my next cut. Unfortunately I have to drive through a swampy muddy area to get to the pile. So has to stay dry for many days before I can get access. Have thought about dropping some bucks on some aggressive mud tires that would allow safe passage, but then I'd have nasty rides on my 150 mile roundtrip deliveries. Maybe I need another truck? Thinking the logger must have used some kind of swing boom to get the log pile so high.

 

I have a very good season so far. Ran two full cord deliveries today, and was informed that the older guy supplying the Casino restaurants is done. Kind of a bummer because he was a real nice guy, but his health just isn't good anymore. I am now their main/only supplier. I've got plenty of good seasoned wood for them and I hope enough for my regulars. I'm averaging about 2-3 cord per week out the door without advertising. Keeps me busy enough.

 

Sounds like a good account to have. Hopefully you can keep them in dry wood.

Years back i had the chance to supply a wood fired pizza place. He would need a cord monthly IIRC and at the time i wouldnt have been able to keep that quota up...that is keeping dry wood going year round.

 

I have a small dirty firewood secret. I purchase mixed firewood from a guy who runs a large logging and firewood operation. His “mixed firewood “ is typically all red&white oak and hickory. It is all freshly cut and extremely wet. I have to split 1/2 of my purchased loads to smaller size and stack it for a year or more before selling. I sort out the various types of wood after re-splitting . When it is too wet and muddy to cut in my post logging areas, I head over to his place for a load. He has won the Master logger of Tn award recently. Two of the post logging operations I am currently cutting on were his clear cutting jobs.