On 30 Nov 2004 10:54:47 -0800, (Larry Bud)
wrote:

Went to a new lumber yard (for me) that quoted me $6.20/bd ft over the
phone for Cherry. I picked out 4 boards, the guy meausured them,
wrote down the sizes which I handed to the clerks. After he gave me
the total, I questioned the total because it didn't quite seem right
to me. He again said $6.20/bd ft. Not having my calculator handy, I
accepted it...

Well, it turned out I was robbed of about $14 on what should have been
$103 order (I paid $117 + tax).

When I got back to work I looked more closely at the receipt, and he
charged me per linear foot, where he rounded the 5.5" widths to 6" and
the 6.75" width to 7", which commanded an even higher price / LF than
the 6" boards. Total turned out to be $3.38/LF for the 6" and
$3.94/LF for the 7".

It's not worth it to me to drive back there for $14 or for a couple of
extra board feet, but is this typical practice or did they just see a
wood novice/sucker?

These guys were still 1/2 price of other ripoff lumber yards in the
Detroit Area (I went to Public Lumber Co on 7-Mile and I-75, FWIW) so
I would probably go back there, unless of course, this was a total con
job.

What would you do and what's typical practice?

Couple of thoughts here- first, it's always possible that the guy who
did the pricing was a newer employee that didn't know what in the heck
he was doing yet- it could have been a perfectly honest mistake.
Second thought is that sometimes it's better to keep quiet about it-
at least once. When I first started buying lumber from my local
hardwood dealer, I was a little suspicious of the measurements and
pricing, but after buying there for a couple of months and getting to
know the employees a little (and helped one of them build his shop) I
started to get some really nice deals- a couple of free bf here and
there, a friendly eye pealed for nicely figured wood at the bottom of
the stack, etc. I don't know that it's a "common" practice for lumber
yards to skew the prices, but if they'll skew them one way, odds are
you can get them to skew them the other way with a little patience.
Obviously, it's not worth it if they're severely overcharging you on a
regular basis, but it's worth a shot- especially since you said
they're 1/2 the price of the other yards.


Aut inveniam viam aut faciam