You should call back and offer your hauling services, for a fee of course. Since you "know what your time and resources are worth!"
I had thought about sending a smug message but figured she had already figured it out, the hard way after looking at it for a few months. Quite honestly even if she offered to pay that, I still would not have gotten it, 25 minutes one way trying to roll it into my trailer and back home to have a headache to split in my yard? No thanks!
I think people see a fallen down tree, think to those cellophane wrapped bundles at teh store for $4.50 and then do a quick mental calculation of what their tree is "worth" and make an advertisement. But I have had foresters do something similar. They were talking about a pine stand and making recommendations on what gets cut and what should not, and I was like, "Guys, you do realize everything I cut is measured in truck loads, not by the tree." Instantly they deduced it was not worth cutting and that I should let the overall stand grow. It is not that they were wrong, it is just some things are a volume business. After the storm I could have made a killing by using my log trailer behind my Ford Explorer to clean up people's yards, but I was really sick at the time. :-(
I saw a CL ad today that I had to respond to, please don't berate me I just couldn't take it anymore. Wish I would've taken a screenshot. Ad was to clear a lot for building, looked to be about 6-8 small to medium trees, had to leave stumps 4' for dozer. $ 150.00 for the Oak trees & $ 100.00 for the Cherry trees each. I responded to the ad with the following: I can remove the trees in the picture for $ 450.00 total assuming I can drop them without needing to climb or rig them. Will haul off all logs, brush cleanup or chipping extra. Oddly enough I haven't heard back. People don't seem to understand that the darn things are yard waste till they're css & dry. Nor do they have a clue how much work that is.
That’s what I thought. Im thinking this guy has something that’s average around here and he either has a sales pitch or some other kind of snake oil up his sleeve. Half that tree is still a log anyways!
That would have been a killer deal! I wouldn't be surprised if they saved your number and you'll get a call in a couple weeks.
If heating oil goes back to $4 a gallon or Natural gas goes over $12 MBTU (4x today's price without inflation adjustment) as it did in 2005 and 2008, it changes the math on some of these technical and cumbersome "scrounges". Until that happens (of course with price adjusted inflation) one would be a fool or truly desperate to pursue this very expensive (in $ and labor) firewood.
It really is a volume business. I see the bundled up wood for $5 at Safeway, its barely half a cubic foot. They actually measure it by the liter to give it some kind of reasoning that the customer will think its more. I tend to look at the ends of these things and think of the burn. Its a fire that likely won’t last 2 hours! If its an emergency, that’s different You gotta heat your home. However its a difficult sight when .55 cubic feet of bundles sold at 5 bucks basically comes out to just over $1100 for a cord! no regards to bulk orders or bundling the bundles. Yes it is also because most of the wood sits for quite some time before being sold but it doesn’t require any maintenance or refrigeration, not a food item so practically no overhead unless someone moves them and they have to pay them to move it.
I imagine the kindling making machines and wrappers cost a pretty penny, but it is an up front cost. Once that is paid, you are right there is very little overhead except for the wrapping material.
Yes that’s true but if Safeways and others are selling this, I’m sure its a different price unless they act solely as a seller for the company that makes the bundles and only get Paid for every bundle they sell... But the shelf life of wood seems to have the upper hand for both parties as its sold all year regardless of demand.
I always tell em come cut my lawn and you can have all the grass-clippings for free ! Treework not Freework !
I like those people that say heat your whole house for a whole season with one tree. I wish!!! So far this year I am down almost 2 cords.
That would be a great thread, "Things City Folks Say." Like the people that think meat comes from the store. Mac n'cheese comes as a powder. And those that think firewood comes in a bag at the front of the store at $5.99 for 5 pieces!
Here in Maine it is the other way, my father included when he burned firewood. It was like a right of passage to boast about how many cords you burned through, the more the better. Naturally the people that are like this tends to overstate their firewood though. He would say he burned 12 cord per year, but it was only 8 cord. Even now I might put up 6 cord and he will call it 9 cord. I work with wood everyday though in various forms, stacked, firewood, 8 foot, log length, and tree length so I am more in tune to cords in a pile granted. ... As for one tree...if these people are trying to say somehow their tree is superior in size and quality, well I do not know about that! But if they are honestly claiming they can heat their home on very little wood, the first thing I ask is; how big is your home? A single guy living in a 12 x 12 well insulated shack could easily do that! But one thing to keep in mind is, some of these Greenies use what is called Rocket Mass Heaters which use sticks and saplings to burn, which burn for a very short time, then use the heat to warm benches and such that radiate heat into the rooms over a long period of time. These things are misers for wood consumption! A lot of times these might be yurts or teepee's...yes you read that right. So IF this is the case, it is possible, but that begs another question: how drastically do you want to alter your way of life just to avoid having to put up firewood or otherwise heat your home? For some it is very worthwhile, for me...no thanks. It is true I want to move to a smaller underground home, but that has nothing to do with putting up, or not putting up, firewood.
Oh the best one I ever saw was PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) standing in a dairy isle at the store protesting milk. Well I grew up on a dairy farm, and the last I knew dairy cows were never killed for their milk, in fact after 12 hours they were lining up at the barn door to be relieved of their milk. I have searched a zillion times for that picture, but they must have taken it down because it was so silly. Keep in mind this same group puts NAKED women in cages in Portland Maine on the streets with signs that say, "I would rather be naked than wear fur." Ethical Treatment of Animals...ever see what starving animals look like in an overcrowded forest situation? After seeing that a person wishes fur was in fashion vogue. Another great one was a caller at a radio station that suggested the Dept of Transportation not put up deer crossing signs because "if it was a high prone deer collision area, they should be directed somewhere else." Honey, those deer signs are to warn the drivers, not the deer, Deer cannot read.
I listened to that lady on the radio, that was priceless! "There' a lot of deer collisions there, can't they move the deer crossing to a less populated area?" Oh boy. In regards to the naked women in cages...it sounds like PETA folks would fit in as members of Congress.
