Thread: Timber Bandit

Get used to it. As the equipment gets cheaper and more readily available, and more people take up milling as a hobby, the more people will undercut each other just to make a hobby income.

I used to pay for my woodworking through work as a wedding DJ. With the rise of cheap, computer-based do-everything systems, and rampant thievery of online music, hobbyists were able to drag the income from a wedding down from $1000 to $200. Forget the quality, just sell on price, is their motto. I gave up. It wasn't worth the time any more.

This is symptomatic of the caution I've mentioned before that there will soon be too many people trying to mill and sell timber. That will lead to regulation (or banning) of the practice, just to stop forests being raped and pillaged.

Start thinking about your exit strategy.

nifty my guess is it isn't dry, and theyr're trying to rip people off .They wont be around for too long

Oh Crud, sorry Nifty, I didn't think I'd be doing a fellow forumite out of some $'s. Request received and understood.

nah just kidding, I won't supply timber for that unless it's proper fencing/landscaping grade and most folkes aren't happy with the look of fencing/landscaping grade so basically I don't do it.

As grammatically correct as you are Ron Dunn there are points Im trying to make other than what you have pointed out. Having run a night club with my wife for many years I understand what your saying about the music industry,that is just human greed via ecommerce, but to take from nature and produce a product and under sell it is disrespectful. Would Rio Tinto take 100 tonnes of iron ore and sell it for half its market value in the name of turnover?

Originally Posted by nifty

Would Rio Tinto take 100 tonnes of iron ore and sell it for half its market value in the name of turnover?

They sure do. Mining companies will mine high grade ore with contaminants that is worth $0 a ton and mix it with high grade ore with minimal contaminants to make high grade ore with medium level contaminants. It's called business!

Same with ag products like potatoes.

I don't like it but it happens.

Nifty I'm hearing ya mate - like you say it's easy to say well I've paid for my gear so as long as I have a bit of profit, I'm happy. A long time ago I was slabbing for $35 an hour, I looked at it from the previous point of view, I couldn't understand why slabs should cost so much, the saw cut them quick enough and it only cost x amount of $'s so hence a really cheap price.

It wasn't until an old fella and I where talking about tree's and logs etc, that he spoke about how old the tree has to be just to get to 600mm and then not get caught up in development, also be lucky enough to be nice and healthy all the way through etc etc. Since then I've been a lot more respectful of big slabs and the resource they represent.

Originally Posted by nifty

..... could you remind him or could he remind himself that the beatiful resource that we work with takes a minimum of 80 years to reach its natural spleandor so have some respect for it and sell it for a reasonable price whether your strapped for cash or not. True beauty of a tree is under the skin so respect the bush dude!!

From a consumer's point of view it is totally irrelevant whether it has taken the tree 5 years, 50 years or even 500 years before it is cut down.

All you should be charging is a proper cost plus profit margin and not what you think it ought to be because the tree is older than most of us. If you don't others will sell it cheaper.

Maybe rather than having respect for the bush dude, the bush dude ought to get into the real world. It seems you are whinging because you have been caught out profiteering and overcharging.
Peter.

nothing like desperation to bring the price down ! when his logs are gone he has to bring his prices up , good for those who buy it , if its worth having ! if you are cutting good timber i wouldnt panic just now .theres always a market for good wood .. cheers bob

i belive its called competition.

Despite my post saying "get used to it", I've got a lot of sympathy for Nifty's position.

I don't see this as simply as "competition" or "profiteering". It is more a need to educate the fool selling timber too cheaply.

The same is the DJ industry, this is what happens when a hobbyist goes into something thinking "I just want to cover my costs". What he doesn't realise is that he is grossly under-valuing his work. Similarly, he thinks, "I'm having fun, that is enough return for me".

I call him a fool because he COULD be earning a lot more. The market pays a good price for good timber. Why give away money needlessly?

And what of the timber? Forget the romantic nonsense, what of the value of the wood that has been cut? Probably he has found/harvested this wood, probably illegally, and considers it no cost to himself. If he had to PAY for his raw materials he would value it more highly, and either be forced to stop selling at a price less than the value of material, or increase his prices to realistic levels. In DJ terms, if the music-thieving scum had to actually PAY for thousands of CDs and use quality sound equipment, they'd have to charge a lot more to meet their costs.

Nifty, I've got a couple of suggestions.

1. Find who it is, and sub-contract him to mill timber which you will market. Obviously you have good sales contacts, and this is a way of giving him the low level of income he expects, while maintaining the price of your output.

2. Show him the true value of what he is giving away. Better yet, show his WIFE how much money he threw away in that transaction, and let her beat some sense into his head.

Of course, you've still got to find him, which brings us back to your original post ...

Hi everyone,

No, I'm not going to take sites, as is no sites to take but simply, different view points on the "modern" business and money making mentality. If I had to give an opinion about this "new surviving in the jungle" convenient excuse to justify nearly anything one wants to do, in our days, my opinion is, I would much rather the "surviving in the jungle" methods of the older days and days not that long gone.

Now and specifically speaking on the matter that made this thread public, what is the value (average) for dry marri per cubic meter?, considering that we are basing the prices on good quality. Dry marri cut in 150x50 & 250x50 sizes, how much should it worth per cubic meter?

It appear obvious that these tree species does take a few long decades to develop and is some sort of hardwood, so for those of us less familiar with this marri species, can someone give us a run-down of the most relevant information on this species and proliferation in Australia?
Thanks

Cheers
RBTCO

I price my marri as follows, fature grade 1500, standard grade 2200 to2500, select grade 3300 to 4000 per cubic metre. I pride myself on only buying good logs, cutting them upon their merit and only selling good timber. I like your suggestions Ron hope to find him. ve learnt alot from posting this thread , there are certainly two ways at looking at this type of thing, split opinions are good to learn from in bussiness.

Isn't this just competition??

Now this guy could be selling himself short and he will soon realise this and raise his prices (or go out of business).

Or maybe this guy is a hobbyist, in which case he would only have a small amount of product to sell and therefore shouldn't have a big impact on the market.

Or maybe you have been overpricing your timber and this may force you to be more competitive.

Or maybe it's a combination of all three.

I don't believe that respect has anything to do with price. They are not even on the same scale so linking them together is very dodgy logic in presenting your argument.

I don't know who the person is who is selling the marri but I'd be a bit gentle about approaching the person unless you are sure that this is an ongoing price.

Consider this scenario: the economy has caused the person to lose their main job, they have a couple of cubes of already cut timber and the bank are threatening to foreclose on the person's mortgage and evict the family.

I know I'd sell the timber cheap for quick money to keep the wolves from the door as I tried to get another job.

Think carefully before you act. Ignorance makes mistakes.