WinonaRail's Wood Yard

I can do 15 in 45-60 minutes. My current set up is ideal as the stack is right there. No moving wood to assembly area.

 

Got a call yesterday from another store. He was sold out. Ill bring him 30 today and work on the other after.

 

Don’t think of it as stress think is a learning curve
Next year you guys will know more of how much wood you will need

 

Every time I think I have enough, I think I need more. Even today as I wrapped 90 bundles I'm thinking I need to get cracking on new inventory. Luckily there's a cord of rounds in the same yard. Just need to get them SS.

 

Not bad. Doing commercial accounts like you do, have you considered a manual or electric wrapper? If you could cut your rapping time by a few seconds it might pay for itself in a year if you do 1000 bundles.

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I really don't have a good spot for one with my wood storage issues.

 

Assembled 90 yesterday. Delivered 30 to my guy that was empty. ll bring him more at my convenience. I get gas there often so I check his inventory. He is my best customer. Pics of assembly area and staged bundles. Last pic of 75 bundles ready to go. I may do more today, but raining here now. Id at least like to get the 100 ready.

 

Good thing you have so much time on your hands. The customers must like your bundles if the store sells out. Keep doing what you're doing!

 

The learning curve is about 2 years behind me. I keep a spreadsheet of what I sell weekly so I can see what sold in previous years, what sells more, what doesn't sell well, etc. The stress comes from knowing what to expect and simply not having the inventory or time to keep up. I decided not to stress about that, put the wood out and just work hard producing for a couple days. By Saturday afternoon, I had enough dry wood staged to get up to the 4th of July. That will be the next big weekend, although it should stay pretty busy all through June as well.

 

With the fortune you have amassed from selling firewood, maybe you should purchase a large estate so you have a secure place to produce and store your thousands of hoarded cords.

 

Good looking bundles! Did you build the rack/display at the store?

 

Yes. He used to manage another store and when he took over this one he needed a rack. Maybe five years old. I noticed yesterday it was vandalized as someone ripped off a piece of roofing. Maybe time for a new one.

I got a call from my 100 bundle guy. Wants to postpone delivery for a couple weeks. Sales werent as good over the weekend and he had other wood on hand when I dropped his order last time. I made another 30 up and dropped at my other local customer as I owed him some. Delivered another 15 to the one you just mentioned. he had sold ten since the day before.

 

The fortune is very small!

As you know its a lot of work. With the current onslaught I'll be slow for a month or so. My fifth guy is local so ill do a drive by. Have to check on the one that closed for new tanks too.

 

I'm not looking for commercial accounts but I'm curious about a few things. Was providing the rack part of the deal to get the business or did you charge for that? Do you get paid on delivery or just leave an invoice? It's a whole different business than what I do where people pick what they want from my driveway and leave cash in a box.

 

I'm trying to take some time off to do other projects around the house. I ended up buying about a cord of wood to "buy" some time. Are you still delivering a lot or truckloads as well?

 

I built the custom rack and charged him for it. One other account I built a small 2x4 rack that holds 30. He bought a second rack that can hold 45+ so I don't have to bring a full order at once. Ill rotate the inventory.

CASH on delivery with no invoice. Sometimes with a new cashier a phone call will be made to the boss to confirm.

 

Sounds like you have things set up right. It's nice to get big orders but waiting 30 days (or more) to get paid would be a deal breaker for me. Do you provide a receipt when you get paid? I'd think they would want that for their records.

 

I seldom sell loose volume wood in the warm weather. I did deliver a half cord of dead white oak a couple weeks back as I had to move the rack and the guy had asked for more and could deliver at my convenience. I have sold "counted" volume. 200 PCs for $99. Usually its older inventory that's past its prime so ideal pit wood. Have some like that on hand and may try it again.

Access to one storage area has been stopped due to all the rain. Water table high so yard is mushy. If it dries enough I may move wood out of there. More than likely I'll abandon it due to that. I only was able to get in there for a couple weeks in the Winter when the ground froze. Got stuck once and had to be winched out.

 

Oh, sorry for the wording. I get paid on the spot.

I meant with my current barrage of orders, it'll be slow for a month now which is typical for Summer.

 

I'm constantly amazed at the differences between locations. By both volume of wood and dollars, I sell far more loose wood than bundles in the summer (year around for that matter). I met a couple people a the stand this weekend that are interested in truck loads for their fire pits. I guess that's just more of a "thing" here.

I've definitely not seen wood sold by "counted" volume here. Interesting concept. I could see it working since a truckload is really any amount that the seller decides to load. Knowing exactly how much would you get should be something a customer would appreciate. I sell by either 1/4 or 1/3 cord and explain what that would measure when stacked.