My winter wood order

Thursday, 8:06 pm

Aug

14

2008

This afternoon I called my wood guy to put my winter order in. I caught him on the road on the way back from Maine. He’d gone up today to deliver a load. That’s quite a distance to travel for a load of wood, but he charged a lot for it, too—$360 per cord. People in Maine have found a dearth of available wood this year and they are going far afield to get some. They’re willing to pay the price since $360 per cord is still vastly cheaper than heating oil.

I’ve placed my order for 3 cords, which will arrive in my driveway either on Monday or Tuesday. He’s charging me $325 per cord—about what I expected given the high cost of diesel and gasoline.

Interesting note about wood availability. My wood guy said that with new housing construction going in the tank, trees aren’t being cut as they used to be. He’s having a harder time getting trees to cut up and split and anticipates that the trend will continue over the next few years. Being a long time customer has its benefits. Those of us who have been long time customers get first dibs on his supply. My wood guy calls me a couple of times a year to ask if I need a late winter load (before he sells to new customers) or will need an autumn load before he commits for the year. New customers are going to have to scramble for what’s left over.

I expect that one of these years, there isn’t going to be enough wood to go around even for his established customers.