Stop giving your logs away...

[R5log]

Why mess about with bags, if you reuse them customers are getting more every time with the stretch

 

There crap to put loops on your own

And fall over

 

Shed with concrete floor or metal or wooden crates and rotating forks

is the best way

Bigger out lay to start but better in the end

[Westwood]

A really interesting thread that highlights different measurement techniques. I sell measured logwood (solid cubic meters in the log) 35 cube ringed hardwood containers and 900cm square retail bags.

 

I reckon I get 1.9 loose bags from a cubic meter of logwood (solid not stacked) and 1.25 cube of containerised rings loosely loaded. My customers tell me that each container generates 55-65 bags.

 

We stack for retail customers occasionally using 360 litre wheelie bins - loosely filled from a shaken bag we get 2.75 wheelie bins which is just over a cubic meter. Which is what I tell customers if they ask. The bins are obviously fixed size and the bags expand but there is little variation.

 

All of this depends on measurement, wastage and the shape of any fixed container but I am convinced that 900 cube bags naturally stretched give about one loose cube in wheelie bins which obviously don't stretch.

 

I have not had a customer query quantity at delivery but they do on enquiry and I explain the wheelie bin test!

[Justme]

 

I am convinced that 900 cube bags naturally stretched give about one loose cube

 

Thats a 33% increase.

 

Surely they dont stretch that much?

 

The smaller the fixed container (wheelie bin) the less it will hold or big odd shaped bits compared to its actual volume.

[flatyre]

Does anyone deliver their logs in crates or wheeled cages? whats the volume reduction in transit like in a solid sided container compared to the 30% from bags? and is it worth the extra time needed to load and unload?

[Rob D]

Why mess about with bags, if you reuse them customers are getting more every time with the stretch

 

There crap to put loops on your own

And fall over

 

Shed with concrete floor or metal or wooden crates and rotating forks

is the best way

Bigger out lay to start but better in the end

 

 

That's better for drying them but bags have advantages when delivering.

 

We could get x3 cubic bags on the back. Quite quick (if fiddly) to load. Quick to unload with small hiab. A lot of customers really liked the 'no mess' and neatness of logs being delivered in a bag.

[MonsterMonster]

I must point out before I start this reply that I am not selling logs but process them for my own use.

Last weekend I was splitting straight into builders bags along with brother in law so we got equal amounts of wood, we ended up with 4 bags each. A buiders bag is approx 1cube,i threw mine into a cubic metre wooden box and managed to get 2-1/2 bags into box, I didn't stack them but I was carefull how I threw them.

Its surprising how if you stack rather than throw the volume goes down

 

As you said "bag is approx 1 cube" that approximate being between 0.4 and less than 1.0 typically 0.7 cube.

[MonsterMonster]

wouldn't fancy trying to explain to a customer the whole volume thing, new bags/stretched bags, different sized bags, loose filled/ neatly filled blah blah blah.

 

Spot on.

 

If I bought a cube bag of wood and upon delivery found it to be 75% filled "due to settling" I'd have none of it as a customer and go elsewhere. The perception of the customer is that they are being ripped off. To be honest even if it were sold as "a bag of wood" with no mention of volume I'd still feel ripped off as it is only 75% full.

 

Saying that I'm happy to buy a box of washing powder or cornflakes and accept the "contents may settle during transit", but then again its sold by weight and I can easily weigh my box of cornflakes unlike a bag of wood.

 

The bottom line is if you sell by the bag make sure the bag is full at delivery.

 

I daren't mention kiln dried wood sold by the stacked crate!

[SbTVF]

 

 

 

Premium Kiln Dried Ash Firewood Logs Suppliers - Premium Kiln Dried Ash Firewood Logs Supplied and Delivered Nationwide

 

 

 

.....and they say a neatly stacked 1m3 crate actually holds 1.75m3! whereas a bounced and topped up 1m3 bag holds 1.3m3 of logs. Does a 0.7m3 dumpy/builders bag hold close enough to 1m3 of logs once bumped and stretched to advertise as a cube of wood?

 

 

I wouldn't trust a word those scam artists say. We bought a 38m3 bulk tipper load out of pure desperation from them to keep customers happy after issues with our kiln. Bagged up we got 32 cube at best. Was only 80% filling new 1m3 bags and not even shaking them.

They wouldn't take the complaint, not even a derisory £50 back or something.

 

In one sentence he said they couldn't fill right to the top because of the loader driver... clearly needs sacking if he can't manage that. Then in the next said they empty 19 x 2m3 stacked crates out into a bay and fill the wagon with that. Never heard such rubbish. Had half a bag of gravel in the bottom too out of the bay no doubt.

 

Now our own kiln is running we're using IBC's not quite filled (so they measure 1m3 volume rather than 1.1) and empty them into 1m3 bags. If I have any issues I'm going to either give each bag some sort of ID so I can a) keep track of them and b) I can have evidence of how each one was filled; or explain to customers how they are filled using a video or photos on our website/Facebook and state that they may settle in transit by up to a certain percentage.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Westwood]

Thats a 33% increase.

 

Surely they dont stretch that much?

 

The smaller the fixed container (wheelie bin) the less it will hold or big odd shaped bits compared to its actual volume.

 

These bags are bounced on the forks and filled over the top when delivered. As you say the wheelie bins are inflexible but the largest vertical unit and just about wheelable when full. The point is that unless you calculate and sell direct from the log the customer will not get the full cubic measure (27 hoppus feet to the cubic meter). They do not want to buy like that so they buy processed logs which are delivered loose in bags or trucks - depending on the size and shape of the logs and container they will be buying a degree of air. Even if they are crate stacked and assuming the dimensions are 100% accurate and consistent they are still buying air.

 

I am honest with my customers in that I say bag sizes are inconsistent because they stretch but I expect them to get 2.75 wheelie bins full which is 1 cubic meter of LOOSE logs not shaken or stirred ( 2.75 times .36 equals a cube) . If they pay our stacking charge that's what they will get - the logs may be delivered to their site as loose loads or bagged. I have not had a complaint about volume but I have won a lot of business from people delivering in bags a fraction of that size called builders bags.

[Daerve]

I daren't mention kiln dried wood sold by the stacked crate!

 

Here lies the elephant in the room.

 

I can get 2m3 of kiln dried ash for £190 delivered in the summer, that 2m3 is stacked in the crate with very little spare space so I'm getting just under 2m3 of wood.

 

The cheapest local supplier charges about 80 quid a cube for seasoned hardwood if I go and fetch it, slightly more delivered. They supply in 1m3 bags which are loose filled. I'm therefore gambling on both moisture content and quantity so the kiln dried crate will generally win hands down.

 

For what it's worth I much prefer using air dried logs and giving my money to local businesses but it just demonstrates the competition imported kiln dried logs bring to the market from a consumer point of view.