Just Sent One Packing

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.

Battenkiller

Minister of Fire
Nov 26, 2009
3,741
Just Outside the Blue Line
15 minute conversation about what I want and what he can get. Finally nail it down. One cord of locust and cherry mixed. Cut to 18" and split big. $140? Deal. If it's what you say, I'll buy at least five more. Monday delivery? Sure, I'll be there. Wait all day, no wood, no phone call. Getting ready to leave and the bell rings. Guys with the wood.


"Look, I got a real deal for you. I got a load of seasoned wood I'm gonna let you have for the green price. It's not locust, but it's been sitting for a long time. You can have it for the green price if you want it."


I look at the partly filled truck. "That's supposed to be a cord?"


Scratches his head. "Well, yeah... it's more than a cord in fact."

"No it ain't. Not even close. And it's junk wood."


Mock horror.


"What do you mean 'junk'? It's all maple and oak that's been sitting for a couple years now."

"Yeah, in a big pile of logs I'll bet."

"But it's dry, just feel it."

"Right... dry and all punky on the outside. And that looks like some willow in there. And that's some box elder. The rest is soft maple, except that piece of ash right there. And I don't see a stick of oak in there"

"Well, there was one log about 6' long of something we didn't know what is was. That's it. Isn't that oak?"

"No, that's the ash I mentioned."


Long awkward silence.


"Well, it don't matter anyway, it ain't a cord."

"This truck will hold two cord full."

"No it won't. Maybe stacked, but it's just thrown. And it's not even half full."

"OK... We'll stack it for you and show you."




"No you won't."
 
Guy drives a hard bargain. %-P Rick
 
Sounds a lot like those guys that come around this area a few times a year selling "steakhouse quality" meat. They started at $350 and over the course of 5 minutes, I had the price down to $100. Too bad I wasn't going to pay more than $50!
 
What a shame really, when anyone Im dealing with starts sounding like a used car salesman my guard goes up real fast
 
In the sellers defence.......maybe.....he just didn't know. Really....I know guys that have been selling firewood for years and they think that oak can be seasoned in one summer....really. The same ones tell me that pine will clog your pipes. Just because someone has been selling firewood for twenty years dosent mean they know what they are talking about.
 
mtarbert said:
In the sellers defence.......maybe.....he just didn't know. Really....I know guys that have been selling firewood for years and they think that oak can be seasoned in one summer....really. The same ones tell me that pine will clog your pipes. Just because someone has been selling firewood for twenty years dosent mean they know what they are talking about.

Right. I'm not calling these guys dishonest. Clueless is more like it. Big, strong farm boys with more muscles than smarts, trying to strike it rich on CL. I don't take offense, and I don't call someone a crook until I can feel the Ben Franklins sliding out of my pocket. But I already knew this guy was BS'n me by the 15 minute long sales pitch.

This guy gets one more chance. He really wants my business he told his helper, because "we want to learn this business." I showed them exactly where the wood should come to - stacked. Four rows, three feet high, eight feet across. Locust and cherry only. If he shows up, I'll pay him and say, "OK... now I want you to stack it right over there."

Might as well break 'em in right, eh?
 
So, I keep wondering. Where is the Blue Line?
 
Battenkiller said:
mtarbert said:
In the sellers defence.......maybe.....he just didn't know. Really....I know guys that have been selling firewood for years and they think that oak can be seasoned in one summer....really. The same ones tell me that pine will clog your pipes. Just because someone has been selling firewood for twenty years dosent mean they know what they are talking about.

Right. I'm not calling these guys dishonest. Clueless is more like it. Big, strong farm boys with more muscles than smarts, trying to strike it rich on CL. I don't take offense, and I don't call someone a crook until I can feel the Ben Franklins sliding out of my pocket. But I already knew this guy was BS'n me by the 15 minute long sales pitch.

This guy gets one more chance. He really wants my business he told his helper, because "we want to learn this business." I showed them exactly where the wood should come to - stacked. Four rows, three feet high, eight feet across. Locust and cherry only. If he shows up, I'll pay him and say, "OK... now I want you to stack it right over there."

Might as well break 'em in right, eh?

Awesome!!
 
woodsman23 said:
3 face cords of cherry today for 125 delivered and it is well seasoned in a metal building for 3+ years... good deal??

If it is really a cord, yes.
 
Battenkiller said:
...the 6 million acre Adirondack Park in NY. The park is so much like home to me, I sometimes feel I live in it...

Ahhh, the good place.
 
Battenkiller said:
This guy gets one more chance. He really wants my business he told his helper, because "we want to learn this business."
What really irks me is why people that are getting into a "business" don't do some research or have some knowledge up front.
 
Swedishchef said:
ick. That's no gooda. Good grief.

How can a person try to be as dishonest as that?

Andrew

Perhaps not trying to be dishonest but really don't know squat about what they are doing or talking about.

I know a man who sells firewood and has for years. He also burns wood for his home heat. He still cuts his wood in November and December, splits it and sells it then. He doesn't believe in seasoning. But then, he once had a mechanic's garage and also sold tires. He would never balance a tire as he thought it was pure bunk and unnecessary. Said as soon as a piece of dirt got on the tire it was unbalanced already so why even try to balance them. Okay...
 
ikessky said:
Battenkiller said:
This guy gets one more chance. He really wants my business he told his helper, because "we want to learn this business."
What really irks me is why people that are getting into a "business" don't do some research or have some knowledge up front.

Ya, imagine starting a business where your customers know more than you do? Very puzzling, but as long as I can get him to deliver the wood I want at the price we agree on, I'll leave it to him to figure out the details of his chosen profession.
 
He's counting on his customers knowing less than him. He might do just fine as long as he stays away from people who actually do know what a cord is.
 
Backwoods Savage said:
Swedishchef said:
ick. That's no gooda. Good grief.

How can a person try to be as dishonest as that?

Andrew

Perhaps not trying to be dishonest but really don't know squat about what they are doing or talking about.

I know a man who sells firewood and has for years. He also burns wood for his home heat. He still cuts his wood in November and December, splits it and sells it then. He doesn't believe in seasoning. But then, he once had a mechanic's garage and also sold tires. He would never balance a tire as he thought it was pure bunk and unnecessary. Said as soon as a piece of dirt got on the tire it was unbalanced already so why even try to balance them. Okay...

Hmmm


"once had" a garage . . . this might be a bit telling.

On the flipside, maybe the guy isn't a complete idiot . . . I mean if he isn't balancing the tires just imagine the repeat business he would get from selling tires that prematurely wear not to mention folks coming back to complain about the front end of the vehicle shimmying and shaking . . . and with wood just imagine all the extra wood folks will need to burn off the excess moisture in the wood so they can get a decent amount of heat from the wood. Yeah, maybe he's not such a doofus. ;) :)
 
I turned away one last year. Somebody showed up with 1/2 ton Ford with wood stacked level in the bed. I asked if when he planned on coming back with the rest of it, because a 1/2 ton truck can't hold 5000 lbs of wood. My first job was stacking wood at 9 years old. I think about it now, and how my wife still cuts up my 10yr old daugter's meat.

I've got a wood guy who's dead nutz accurate, just a shade over so no one can complain.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.