Interesting craigslist rant about high firewood prices

[michaelthomas]

I thought this was good. I havent seen any rants about firewood around here in maine. At this point I can buy 100 gallons of heating oil for $200 and a cord of green hardwood CSD for $250-325? I think they are gouging us.
(broken link removed)

 

[mayhem]

A cord of "seasoned" wood was about $175 late last winter...same guy this year is charging $225. The cost of heating oil has crashed and 6 weeks ago that $225 was looking pretty attractive.

Supply and demand...if the demand is high suppliers can charge whatever the market will bear.

 

[fattyfat1]

One more reason to scrounge your own or buy a log load and do the processing yourself. then you will know what is seasoned and what isn't, exactly how much you have, and exactly what you will need. I have yet to EVER pay for wood (knock knock) but if I did, I would buy whole logs and and self-process it into cordwood. It's cheaper that way, it's good exercise, and you are WAY less likely to get ripped off. If you don't like the looks of the load, you turn em around without money ever exchanging hands.

 

[Brian VT]

In defense of the "gougers", cut/split/delivered is a ton of work, I imagine, and I can't believe it'd be worth selling for less than $200/cord.
The whiners should be getting it themselves if they don't want to pay. I've never processed firewood but I doubt I'd be willing to sell it cheap after the effort it must take.
I'll be learning what it takes in the next few months. My back is twinging just thinking about it.

 

[bsruther]

The firewood prices here on craigslist are pretty vague. From what I can decipher, it's running about $270 a cord. Nobody will give a flat out price for a cord. It's either a pickup load or a 4X8 stack.
No matter what the price is, I don't see any reason to complain about it. They can charge whatever they want, it's their wood.
If people don't like it, let them heat with oil or propane or better yet, go out and cut and split your own and see what your time and effort is worth.

 

[Brian VT]

Got me so mad I posted this:

"I installed a wood stove this year and had to buy firewood. I was grateful that someone had cut, hauled, split, stacked, stored, and hauled firewood to my house.
It cost me money and I was glad I had the $ to pay it. I plan to try to process my own firewood soon for next year but I wonder if the $#s will show me making more than minimum wage when all is said and done.
Don't whine about firewood prices. Make it yourself, ask Obama for some, or buy oil from some other country."

 

[Bigg_Redd]

There is no such thing as "gouging." The market will bear what it will bear. If I have a cord of firewood and one guy wants to pay $150 for it and another guy is willing to pay $250, why should I sell at the lower price? To expect someone else to, or to dictate the price of another's goods and services is called COMMUNISM. Dude should pull his head out.

 

[CowboyAndy]

posting the actual post so people can still read it when it gets taken down...

shame on you fire wood gougers (me.)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reply to: see below
Date: 2008-11-24, 7:20AM EST



I can't agree more with the posting I just read . Those are the facts you can research it yourself on burning wood for heat. I'VE been flagging the wood sellers who post aBOUT EVERY SITE every day to rip off there fellow MAINERS for what they call seasoned wood. Yes one cord 100 gallons do the math. If you pay it of course they will keep gougging you. The pefect storm . Pray on the fears of your fellow Mainers instead of helping them out. Last October I paid $140.00 a cord cut split and delivered green and oil was way over $2.00 a gallon. You wood sellers can sit in front of your pc's and flag me because you're not pedelling firewood at your inflated prices. Shame on you




Location: me.
it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
PostingID: 931861217

 

[kenny chaos]

Let one of them firewood dealers figure out whose been flagging their posts and the little (offensive word deleted -Mod) will wish he'd just minded his own business.

 

[iceman]

well... two things... many people who sell firewood, well yes they process it.... they buy truckloads of log length.. the market is down so not as much building =not as much lot clearing PLUS those heavy prices for deisel we paid over the summer... what people used to pay for a truckload 3-500 bucks is now 650-1200
basically 2xs as much now throw in the high price od diesel and bam there you go... now keep in mind most of the firewood was bought or processed a couple of months ago at least!
gasl/oil is coming down now but if they reflect that in your price they lose because they got the wood back then.
the people who are cheaper sometimes are the little tree guys who keep the wood and then sell it ... you know "joe the wood guy" whose kids help him split it
but he is prolly already outta wood because when everyone was 250 he was 200-225...
next year or in the spring wood will come down.. but many people here will be selling pellet stoves and wood stoves because they figure it will be cheaper to burn oil/gas... i am committed with about 6-8 cds outside ... my wife would kill me with that wood out there
i don't believe they are price gouging unless you see the 300-350 range when there are people selling 250 then 100 difference raises an eyebrow
but even the "joe the wood guy" may have bought his oil when it was on "sale" for 3.50gl!

 

[Dill]

That's exactly what I was planning on posting. Its the same reason that food is going up even though diesel is dropping.
The products where made this spring and summer with expensive fuel and expensive inputs. Fertlizer trippled this spring and farm diesel was 4 something a gallon all summer. So any hay I have for sale was expensive to make.
Same with wood, it cost the producer quite a bit to make, especially if he processed it all last year, which your hoping for if its "seasoned".

 

[Bubbavh]

THAT'S INSANE!

I can get a cord "seasoned" hardwood for $140 a cord by me($130 Green). <--------------------- never seasoned properly though.
Oil is cheaper at those prices.
I don't heat with wood because it's fun!
I do it cause I'm cheap!

 

[Adios Pantalones]

To be fair- hardwoods are worth more like 150 gal oil per cord anyways, not 100 gallons, IIRC. So at $2/gallon, your break even point would be more like $300/cord right now.

 

[firefighterjake]

Well while we're talking about Craigslist ads for firewood here in Maine. . . .

Here's firewood with a positive chi . . . not exactly sure what makes it positive . . . perhaps they've figured out some way to remove the negative energy?

(broken link removed to http://maine.craigslist.org/grd/933099231.html)

And I wonder if the whiny I-don't-like-these-prices poster saw this ad . . . only $700 and change for a cord . . . I can only assume this was posted as a joke. Of course the wood is bagged already.

(broken link removed to http://maine.craigslist.org/mat/930302648.html)

 

[caber]

This just pisses me off. It's not right to go flagging every wood sellers ad just cause you feel you were wronged by some individual selling wood. Everyone always says they can buy a cord cheaper from xyz, so abc is ripping people off. Maybe, maybe not. Could be abc's is better quality, better service, more honest. If you don't want to pay abc's wood prices then don't. But don't go flagging his ads. If you really think all wood sellers are rip-off artists than cut your own damn wood. Hey - cut enough and YOU can sell it for $100 a full cord and really stick it to the supply and demand theory. Maybe you'll make your fortune. Probably not.

I had a couple customers this fall who bitched and bitched that I was trying to gouge them with the prices of chicken. They claimed gas was down and there was a record harvest of corn. Too ignorant to consider that when feed was being harvested, diesel was at record prices. Or that the demand for corn was tremendous. They wanted to pay half what I was charging. They thought that would be fair but in truth, I'd have taken a loss. I sent them packing and won't sell to them every again. They can try going elsewhere, but they'll be very disappointed cause costs hit everyone. Inputs determine price just as much as demand.

 

[Danno77]

so i'm a little fuzzy on why this person was flagging wood-peddlers. was it because they were gouging, or did it have something to do with the links they were putting in their ads, or was it something to do with posting too often?

 

[smokinj]

It is What it is!

 

[kenny chaos]

It is What it is!

Boy that's deep. :coolsmile:

 

[eba1225]

I too have been seeing a wide range of prices with most stating the Pickup load amount which is not really a full cord but they try to make you think it is. As long as you are aware of what they are selling, both qualtity and quantity, you can make an educated decision on whether they product is worth the fee they are charging.

 

[smokinj]

It is What it is!

Boy that's deep. :coolsmile:

much deeper than it needs to be!

 

[adrpga498]

It is What it is!

Boy that's deep. :coolsmile:

much deeper than it needs to be!

Thats what she said

 

[smokinj]

It is What it is!

Boy that's deep. :coolsmile:

much deeper than it needs to be!

Thats what she said

Hay, Now thats funny

 

[kenny chaos]

What's really funny is that she never says that!

 

[myzamboni]

If you read the rant it seems like JaPipe (I think now banned) wrote it. I remember him complaining about Maine firewood guys.

 

[Bigg_Redd]

THAT'S INSANE!

I can get a cord "seasoned" hardwood for $140 a cord by me($130 Green). <--------------------- never seasoned properly though.
Oil is cheaper at those prices.
I don't heat with wood because it's fun!
I do it cause I'm cheap!

For me it is it's both because it's fun and I'm cheap. But, it's fun for me because I'm cheap.