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I charge to unload trailers

Started by POSTON WIDEHEAD, May 08, 2017, 09:05:23 PM

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POSTON WIDEHEAD

Most of the logs that come into my mill are on dump trucks or dump trailers.
But I have quit a few logs that come in on trailers with sides on it or have fenders.

I charge to unload these trailers. if its one log or 10....I charge $15.00.

I had a guy question me about it today. I said yes, I will saw your Pine at 250/thousand and it'll be $15.00 to unload your trailer.....but I will load your lumber back on the trailer for free....but with the fork lift.

I do not load lumber by hand.....if your trailer is a deck over, I supply the short 4x4's to lay on your trailer and will set the stack of lumber on the 4x4's.

If your trailer has sides on it....you can load your own trailer by hand or I will slowly spill the lumber on to the trailer.

NOW......if you leave your trailer, I can back it beside the mill and load it by hand as the lumber comes off the mill.......but you have to leave your trailer.

So....this guy thought the 250/thousand included unloading a trailer 1 log at a time with the Tongs and supply a helper......NOPE!

I asked him..."Do you only pay a carpenter when his hammer hits the nail?"
I think he got it.

This is what another customer got late this evening when I loaded his Red Oak flooring and Poplar beams.
He was happy he didn't have to load all this by hand.
But some people try to get as much free work out of you....if you let them.



  

  

  

 


 
The older I get I wish my body could Re-Gen.

Bruno of NH

I'm going to start charging some kind of fee for loading trailers with the tractor . They all come with trailers with sides on them or a mini van like showed up today :)
Lt 40 wide with 38hp gas and command controls , F350 4x4 dump and lot of contracting tools

POSTON WIDEHEAD

I don't load Mini Vans or especially Pick Up trucks.....to much liability.
The older I get I wish my body could Re-Gen.

Dave Shepard

 Sounds reasonable to me. I'm at the point where i just don't want to load anything without a flat deck. One mill near me charges full sawing rate,  $400.00/hr for a WM1000, from the time you arrive, until the time you leave.
Wood-Mizer LT40HDD51-WR Wireless, Kubota L48, Honda Rincon 650, TJ208 G-S, and a 60"LogRite!

Peter Drouin

With low bed trailers I use straps. Under the load, Slip on the forks , set the load easily.
Never a charge to unload here.
I have never dumped lumber like that.
Must be a goat thing. :D :D :D :D
A&P saw Mill LLC.
45' of Wood Mizer, cutting since 1987.
License NH softwood grader.

POSTON WIDEHEAD

Don't worry about the Goat....just load the wagon.  :D :D :D
The older I get I wish my body could Re-Gen.

Larry

I have a customer that drops off nice 8' white oak logs for me to saw into beams.  He is not interested in the side lumber so its a freebe for me.  Sometimes I peddle it on craigslist. 

A couple shows up wanting the side lumber but its a little long for his lumber car.  So I cut the stack in half.  Than I help load.  I'm easy, but they were a fun couple but they didn't tip. >:( :o ??? ::)

Larry, making useful and beautiful things out of the most environmental friendly material on the planet.

We need to insure our customers understand the importance of our craft.

swampbuggy

That's why I charge by the hour. Unload time and load time is Included in my time. I like the way you think though. I do more unique and specialty cuts and I explain to the customer it takes time to set up. The Milling is the easy part.
If it was easy, everyone would be doing it!

barbender

Oh that goat, resents people coming over and giving him their money even- Billy Goat Gruff? :D
Too many irons in the fire

YellowHammer

I was at a commercial mill some time ago where they buy logs from everybody and anybody.  As I was watching, a guy came in on a little utility trailer with sides, loaded with the ugliest logs I'd seen in a while. Without missing a beat, I saw two big Deere 544 loaders come in from either side, angle their forks gently, vertically between the rails of the trailer and logs and slowly drive forward and rotate their forks up at the same time to make a "V" corralling all the logs between them, and the lifted all the logs out of the trailer in one move without scratching the paint.  Amazing skill. 

Anyway, I don't charge for unloading or loading trailers with my grapple or forklift, but I won't do it by hand, either.  If they ask why I just tell them that I bought all this fancy equipment so I wouldn't have to use my hands, but if they would rather do it by hand, I'll stand back and leave them to their fun. 


YellowHammerisms:

Take steps to save steps.

If it won't roll, its not a log; it's still a tree.  Sawmills cut logs, not trees.

Kiln drying wood: When the cookies are burned, they're burned, and you can't fix them.

Sawing is fun for the first couple million boards.

Be smarter than the sawdust

red

Honor the Fallen Thank the Living

Magicman

 

 
Yup, that will be $15.00!!    :-X
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

SlowJoeCrow

For loading low deck trailers that have wheels and fenders above the deck, why don't you strap the bundle of lumber, set some 4x4's on the deck (or not) and slowly tip the forks to slide the bundle on the the 4x4's?  A lot of customers don't have a deck over trailer and I would think that would make for happier customers.

Magicman

Quote from: POSTONLT40HD on May 08, 2017, 09:05:23 PMNOW......if you leave your trailer, I can back it beside the mill and load it by hand as the lumber comes off the mill.......but you have to leave your trailer.
NOW......if they leave their trailer you can then charge them a parking fee......but they have to leave their trailer.   :D
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

POSTON WIDEHEAD

Quote from: SlowJoeCrow on May 09, 2017, 08:14:03 AM
For loading low deck trailers that have wheels and fenders above the deck, why don't you strap the bundle of lumber, set some 4x4's on the deck (or not) and slowly tip the forks to slide the bundle on the the 4x4's?  A lot of customers don't have a deck over trailer and I would think that would make for happier customers.

I have a saw price. Other than that when man power is used and the backhoe is running, that also cost $$$.
I don't just charge when the hammer hits the nail.  ;D
The older I get I wish my body could Re-Gen.

red

You even charge when you hit your thumb/hoof
Honor the Fallen Thank the Living

Sixacresand

$15 is cheap for having to stop milling, operate equipment and probably 45 minutes of fellowship.   :D
"Sometimes you can make more hay with less equipment if you just use your head."  Tom, Forestry Forum.  Tenth year with a LT40 Woodmizer,

petefrom bearswamp

Pretty much the way the goat does it but I dont charge for unloading unless it is a lot of logs.
I find I can carefully dump a sizeable whack of lumber from the forks if I am careful without damaging anything, especially if stickered, which I dont charge for either.
As I have told folks I am pretty darned good at sawing but a soft touch as a business man.
Kubota 8540 tractor, FEL bucket and forks, Farmi winch
Kubota 900 RTV
Polaris 570 Sportsman ATV
3 Huskies 1 gas Echo 1 cordless Echo vintage Homelite super xl12
57 acres of woodland

WV Sawmiller

   Back the trailer beside the loading arms of the mill, tie one end of a cable to the logs and the other to a tree and let the customer drive out from under them.

   Actually it makes sense to charge for unloading - or let the customer unload his own -when loaded in an awkward fashion since this is taking up your time.

   Peter wins the customer service award for the best idea on his idea to sling the load on straps and lift the suspended load on to the trailer.

   I always like the idea of the customer leaving the trailer. Then he has more skin in the game to pay for his order promptly and you can just move his load out of the way and not get hung up with a delay waiting for him to come get them.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

paul case

I have forklift, skid steer loader and tractor with loader. I unload and load trucks and trailers all the time. I will not load slabs into a pickup bed. I have loaded a lot of lumber into a pickup bed. Some over the side but most slid in from the back. I set one end in their truck and the other on the ground or on a sawhorse and then get a fork under the bundle and pick it up and push it in. I judge what I can do by how nice/new the pickup is.

I have a new trick to load lumber into a trailer with short angle iron sides. I put dunnage on the floor stacked so that the bundle will set on top of it and then set the bundle of lumber over on it. I  only do this for big bundles of lumber and the dunnage is free. Small bundles get slid off the forklift into the trailer or loaded with the skid steer real gentle like.

So do I get a silver star for creativity?

PC
life is too short to be too serious. (some idiot)
2013 LT40SHE25 and Riehl edger,  WM 94 LT40 hd E15. Cut my sawing ''teeth'' on an EZ Boardwalk
sawing oak.hickory,ERC,walnut and almost anything else that shows up.
Don't get phylosophical with me. you will loose me for sure.
pc

SlowJoeCrow

Yep, leave the trailer, that would be best.  Paul, that is what I was talking about, it works good for me too.

rjwoelk

For my firewood business we process our wood into large tote bags approx 1/3 cord.  We charge 15 for the bag they get 10 back on returning it. They have 4 loops pick up with the loader set on the truck and away they go . Had a fellow who said  I dont need the bag. I said help your self you can unload into your truck. Which he did but we still charged him 5 for the use of the bag. Next time he liked the bag idea.
Lt15 palax wood processor,3020 JD 7120 CIH 36x72 hay shed for workshop coop tractor with a duetz for power plant

Dave Shepard

I had a small job last summer. Two and a half hours sawing, threes hours unloading, discussing the sawing, and reloading.
Wood-Mizer LT40HDD51-WR Wireless, Kubota L48, Honda Rincon 650, TJ208 G-S, and a 60"LogRite!

caveman

JMoore and I hauled some 3" thick live oak slabs up to Ellmoe on Veteran's day last year for him to put into his kiln. We hauled it on my homemade equipment trailer.  We cut some dunnage out of an old live oak log which was past its prime.  The dunnage was cut so that, just like PC's, it would hold the slabs above the fenders so that they could quickly be unloaded with loader forks.

On our flatbed trailer, we just use 4"x4" 's to stack on.  I would like to get a set of log tongs for extracting logs from certain places (pond, piles left from dump trailers, etc.)

We have not charged anyone to load or unload but we are also not very good capitalists...yet.  But we are taking notes.
Caveman

4x4American

I get alot of people come in with those pesky trailers with the sides.  I loaded a few mbf of 14-20' timbers a post and beam barn into one a few weeks ago it took awhile but I pretty much picked them up and put my forks over and in and then tipped and they slid in.  It wasn't awful.  A few days ago I had a guy come in with a pickup truck loaded with logs inbetween the bed rails that about gave me a heart attack unloading that getting close to his taillights but he had loaded it with a log loader and bent in the bed rails so I wasn't too terribly worried.  No damage was done.  If I didnt have the backhoe it woulda been miserable
Boy, back in my day..

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