46 



SELLING LUMBER 



Persuading 

 Dealers to 

 Handle Short 

 Lengths 



Educating 

 Architects 

 and Con- 

 tractors 



he knows it is going to cost him twice as much for carpenters as 

 if he used 14 and 16. 



Mr. Woodhead : I gave my particular attention on one occa- 

 sion to siding, and induced a great many short lengths being used 

 for construction of houses 1, 2, 4 and 6 feet long. I wrote to 

 architects, asking them if they couldn't arrange to handle that. 

 I suggested to them that they go to a little trouble, go over their 

 plans and find out how much of each length could be used in 

 short length, and we furnished it to them in those lengths, with- 

 out reducing the price, because the contractor saved money in 

 not cutting the lengths. I have assumed that something could be 

 done along that line, but we didn't have a convenient or econom- 

 ical way of storing it and handling it ; and I suggested that we 

 make a place to handle it, and they tried it with two of the yards, 

 and are making quite a success by that method. It imposes some 

 considerable trouble on the yard manager or owner of the yard, 

 but nothing is ever done without trouble, and profit is the result 

 of work ; and I pointed that out to them ; and two of the yards 

 made quite a success of it, and the only objection made was as 

 to the lack of facilities for handling short lengths economically, 

 which was overcome, to a measureable extent, by boarding one 

 end of the shed and piling the stuff up properly. 



Mr. Lovitt: When I go in to a yard man he gives me a list 

 of stuff that has no 10-foot in it. I say, "Here, I want to put 

 some 10-foot in this." "Well, I can't take it, because my man has 

 not called for it." He says, "I have to buy what they want." 



Mr. Nelson: The salesman can educate the carpenter and 

 the architect to use that stuff, if they will do it. Educate them 

 that trees don't grow all 16-foot, and that they can get 10-foot for 

 less money, or shorter lengths for a little less money. There is no 

 question but what the short drop-siding and short ceiling can be 

 used just as well as the long lengths, but the average carpenter 

 orders 16-foot because that is about the only length that he 

 recognizes. 



Mr. Austin: The reason I advocated talking about 10-foot 

 pieces, we give a man a fair assortment of 10 to 20-foot. We 

 know it will be satisfactory. And we instruct them not to ex- 

 ceed 5 per cent of 6 and 8-foot. That 5 per cent cleans up our 

 surplus of flooring. One very good method of disposing of 

 shorts, and something I think the mill man overlooks, is by dis- 





