I think the winter madness has begun. Delivering four face cords tomorrow morning, another Sunday and Monday. All repeat customers. Am so looking forward to not advertising on Craigslist or any where after this year.
Great to have regulars and repeat customers. I hear you on CL. I tire of dealing with impatient knuckleheads.
Long day. Departed my house with four face cords at 7am sharp and arrived at 9:05. 82 miles one way. Bummer, no tip just $255 per face cord. Did land another delivery while driving though. One tomorrow and two Monday. Diesel has gone up about 50 cents a gallon over the last week, so will probably add another $5 to my price.
Wild last three days; eight face cords sold. All eight were repeats customers. My AirB&B today was a little weird. The storage rack is right next to the fire pit. It smelled like 5 day old fish heads. Had to be some kind of sewage leak. My other delivery was a six rick customer over the past 18 months. He called me last night wanting his normal rick of hickory. When I showed up I noticed a pile of garbage wood across from where I normally stack. Thought maybe a rotten tree had blown down and he was going to use it for fire pit wood. Nope, it was pecan he had recently purchased that he couldn't get to burn. He cheated on me!!! Since I always have my moisture meter with me I gave a few pieces a stab. All 35-40%. Rotten wood is like a sponge and soaks up the rain. I sent him my moisture pictures and he said "I was his Man." I like repeat customers, but I sell every stick I produce and really could careless who gives me the Benjamins. Yes, I know wood should be split and tested, but didn't have my maul with me. All my hickory was reading 11-15% tested on the ends.
I test every pallet of wood before loading for delivery. Delivering high moisture firewood is a big sin which I will not do. This is why I crush the Nashville firewood market.
About a month ago I was paying around 3.15 a gallon for diesel at my discount station on the way to Nashville. Now 3.89 and most stations are $4.19. Sorry customers, but all my firewood types went up $5 today and that doesn't cover the full diesel increase. The big commercial firewood businesses are running in the $315-360 range a face cord delivered depending on wood type, so think I still have plenty of room to jack my prices higher. Thinking about buying another heavy duty diesel Ram 4X4. $80k before taxes and other fees. Wow!!!!! See how this Winter goes before pulling that trigger.
Yep, lots of physical labor. Took me two hours to load four face cords, two hours to unload and stack, and four hours round trip for driving. And about 5-6 hours for producing a face cord. So about $30 a hour after all expenses, depreciation/maintenance costs. My second delivery Monday took a toll on my body. I was tossing the splits about 40' from my trailer over a fence. Felt like I had pitched 18 innings the next morning.
Hauled home ten pallets today. This should be my last load for the next nine months. I’ll be stacking the empties ten high in the next six weeks.
Do you have Termites out there? If those pallets were here, they would be gone in two years or less! I've had termites literally EAT a pallet under a stack of wood and cause it to fall over!
I use scrap lumber underneath most of my pallets to help them last longer and to level them out. When I see broken pallet slates, I usually bring home the scrap pallet pieces for placing underneath. I also spread a thin layer of creek gravel in my wood yard so the pallets aren't touching bare dirt. When I am drowning in pallets starting every November, I frequently ask customers if they need one for stacking the firewood on. This keeps my pallet inventory sort of fresh. I do spray around my pallets every six months or so mainly to keep ants away.
Like clock work (21 days average) with my restaurant two face cord hickory delivery. They cook with hickory in the kitchen and smoke outback. Diesel just keeps screaming higher. I should be able to piggy back one or two more face cord deliveries onto the restaurant's starting next month. Today's 134 mile round trip cost me $30 in diesel. So delivering four face cords on an outing would get me well under $10 a face cord in fuel expense and save a boat load of driving time. Oh, that nice dent was from loading a large heavy round that got away from me. Should have rolled it in from the back instead of lifting it over the side. My suction cup wouldn't stick to the rounded panel, so will have to remove the wheel well cover and see if I can gently push the dent back out.
Learned today that I am the restaurant's third firewood supplier for just this year. I have about 30 cords of hickory in my 70 cord inventory, so think I am good to go for keeping this account.
From my experience and research online around the country, Nashville and the surrounding area is the highest selling firewood in the country. There is a lot of cheap stuff around here also, but not in the quality and quantity of what I provide. I am just hoping I can get through January with my 70 cords.
Right on a curve like that can be very difficult to get out...you might consider hiring one of those "paintless dent removal" services that go around to all the car dealers each week...they can often work miracles on a dent like that, especially if there are no "creases" in the metal...that gets a lil trickier.
Split from 7:30 to noon today. Had some lunch and just laid down for my afternoon nap and then my phone announced a text. A repeat customer wanted firewood today. Looked at the Nashville weather and thunderstorms were supposed to hit in three hours. So loaded my truck in record time and might have been heavy on the pedal getting to the customer's house. Filled the 1/2 face cord rack in the Florida room and almost had the garage filled with the other half when the sky opened up on me. The repeat customer appreciated the short notice delivery since he was entertaining guests this evening. With tip, three Benjamins filled my wallet. I never turn down short notice deliveries unless it will be dark upon arrival. My white oak is flying out of the wood yard as usual. I have dozens of cords of perfect red oak, but nobody wants it even though I discount it compared to the white.
I keep all of my white oak top covered from time of splitting and stacking and uncover when the sun is shining. This keeps it pristine looking even at 18 months aged. My restaurant hickory stacked to the left stays uncovered since they don't care what it looks like; just that it burns great. I do keep about five cords of hickory covered to make sure I have plenty of dry stuff to deliver. Never know when a big customer comes along.
Made a hickory delivery today to a repeat customer. Raised my hickory face cord to $270; same as white oak. One more sale this month and I will have matched last year's August amount.
