I am going to skip past my first two years of selling firewood locally. I pretty much gave it away so not worth discussing. I started selling firewood in the Nashville area after a guy from Brentwood, TN contacted me about my white oak advertisement I had posted on Clarksville CL. He offered me $100 more than what I was asking if I would deliver a rick to him. He wanted only white oak and nobody else had it. He was 65 miles away and I hesitated a little before saying yes. After his delivery, I moved my CL ad to "Nashville & surrounding Cities." I sold more firewood in a month and earned more than my first two years selling locally. I steadily raised my prices in $20 increments and that didn't slow demand down what so ever. So I researched everybody (including companies) to see what they were selling the same types of firewood for. I determined the average price of the top five sellers and then raised my prices even more. Within six months, I was charging more than anybody else and still selling every stick I produced. Now I will offer a few guesses as to why I am doing well. I sell only 100% cherry, hard maple, red & white oak and hickory; all the top firewoods of middle TN. I do not sell "mixed" firewood which usually means a few choice pieces with a majority of less desirable wood. The large firewood companies can take weeks to deliver. I deliver the same day if contacted early enough in the morning and for sure the next day. A lot of sellers have extra fees for delivery, stacking, and distance outside of a small range. Some will not wheelbarrow or do steps or stairs. I don't charge extra for anything. Where ever the storage spot or spots are located, that is where I stack it, no questions or complaints. I make more per hour delivering, wheelbarrowing and stacking than producing the firewood. I also have a summer and a higher winter price, about $30 difference. I sold hickory and white oak for $280 a FC last winter and think I can even charge more. However, I typically receive three Benjamins. Nashvillians are great tippers, especially from November through January. How can I do better and what is your pricing story?
Those splits are actually much smaller than they appear. I used the .5 setting on my iPhone to capture all of this 16' rack which seems to make things appear larger.
Do you charge mileage? Being that I'm in a rural part of Wyoming, I've had a few requests for delivery to the next major city which is around 100 miles. How do you account for it?
Doesn't matter what state you're in rural areas wood will be cheaper and harder to sell. The money is selling near cities where they don't have room to store wood to season
I don't sell firewood so no comments in that regard but,, kudos to you. Sounds like superior customer service and top quality wood is your success story. Round these parts people typically sell by the cord only and it's 180-250. Sometimes you can find locust right around $200/ cord.
I have 70 miles one way built into my "free delivery" price. I do make deliveries in the 90-100 mile range occasionally and sometimes charge just the added diesel cost if they are my only load for the trip. If they buy more than a FC, I don't charge any extra. I feel I make enough per FC to not worry about another $5-10 in diesel. When I do have one of those 100 milers, I slyly mention how far away I live from them. 9 times out of 10 they will give me an extra $10-20 to cover my fuel. Rarely do I have a delivery closer than 60 miles. My diesel truck averages 22 mpg (full load going and empty coming home) and about 18 with a FC in the truck bed and two in my trailer. The best stations I hit are currently in the $3.25 per gallon range. So about $20 per delivery just using my truck. Fuel expense is greatly reduced if I can leave home with 3-4 FCs which is typical from October-February.
I am very fortunate to have great hardwoods on my property and close by. My main competition is tree service companies and great trees like hickory and white oak are not usually found in residential areas. I see a lot of nasty stuff in customer's firewood racks when delivering. I can't fathom selling firewood for those prices! I would work at Walmart instead of cutting.
I shop there enough to know where everything is located. I would be a great employee if I wasn’t so skinny.
Can we just make a chain of stores where everything is organized in the same manner? Please. Every Walmart/HD/Lowes changes it up.
Sounds like you are tapping a formerly dissatisfied market. The folks in my part from what I know are burning anything and everything. The wood I see in ads looks either soaking wet or punky mostly. I have somewhere around 4-5 cord that I would like to sell. 100% hardwood mainly red oak and hickory. There is some sugar maple and white oak smattered in. I am not wanting to compete with the $65/"truckload" folks, so my plan is to approach campgrounds and see if they are willing to partner up. Also...I worked at Uncle Wallys in the 90s. Not near as bad as everyone thinks it is. Only company I have worked for that offered me stock options. They probably don't do that anymore.
Sounds like you have some nice smoking wood. That has the potential to bring way more than what the $65/truckload guys get if split and dried properly. That's becoming a large part of my business. I focus on small quantities and bagged splits.
I have considered trying. We only have really one restaurant in town I think that would use any. Thought about making some small bags of chipwood to try to sell. I am very flush with hickory at the moment. A passing ice storm was pretty hard on them, specifically. Still have one full tree to process yet that I know of. It's all Bitternut. Yep, the tater sacks are what I plan to package in. Have found for around .60 per bag I think. Is that around what you are paying? The orange mesh ones...24x20 or something. My 'selling' splits were all cut at 16" specifically for this reason.
How much of your business is electronic payment? For 'scientific' reasons, I'm hoping to deal in as much cash as possible. I have zero knowledge of all the newest and latest payment platforms. Honestly would prefer Silver coin/bullion for payment. LOL
Is FC a face or full cord? I'm selling mostly red/white oak for $150 a FACE cord.....so $450/full cord. I also charge $10 + $2 per mile if I have to deliver. I'm NOT in the firewood selling business though, I just sell to keep my supply from getting out of hand. I just don't burn enough to keep up with what I produce a winter. Last winter I sold ~11 full cord at $390ea. Just trying to find that price point of selling some but not too much to maximize it's value to me.
I would guess about half of my payments are through Venmo and then equally between check and cash. Not too many people carry $300 in cash on them and it is an extra hassle to hit an ATM. I have accepted hundreds of checks without a single issue. Checks are very fast and easy to deposit via mobile apps these days. I actually prefer check. Notice a lot of other sellers state "cash only." Scientifically speaking. I use FC to mean face cord. My cord price for hickory is currently $780 and $795 for white oak. I'll be selling both for $840 towards the beginning of September. I will discount cord purchase up until September since it saves me fuel and driving time. No discounts what so ever after the beginning of September since I am usually heading out with multiple face cords per trip. I use price to stimulate and slow down demand. Running out of seasoned firewood during the cold of winter is the worst thing that can happen to you as a seller. Price isn't much of a factor to customers when sub-zero ice storms are approaching with potential power outages.
I received an email late last night from a guy in Hadsden, AL who wanted a full cord of hickory and wanted to know if I would deliver that far (230 miles one-way). I deliver anywhere for the right amount of Benjamins. I came up with a figure that subtracted my 60 mile free delivery range from his 230. Was only adding my extra diesel of 20 gallons and $90 for the extra driving time. Haven't heard back. Notice $2 a mile is what most charge for delivery after a short free range.
