It pays to know how your hardwood is measured

By Gage McKinney

CINCE some suppliers are now t)shipping hardwoods based on "block tally" while others are using the conventional "piece tally," it's more imporlant than ever for you to understand exactly how the lumber you buy is being measured.

A piece tally, the industry standard, measur€s each individual board. Lumber clerks use a special yardJong ruler (called a tally stick) to calculate the board footage in each board as they put a shipment together. This tally is usually given to the customer with the bill of lading so that he can see exactly how many boards were shipped and how many feet are in each one.

A block tally approximates the results of a piece tally. In making a block tally a clerk estimates the average length and width of a bundle of lumber. He calculates the average footage in a tier, and multiplies that number by the number of tiers in the bundle.

The high labor costs associated with hardwoods, and a very competitive market, have caused some suppliers to ship bundles or containers using block tallies. Often they include copies of their calculations with the shipment. A friend of mine, an experienced hardwood lumberman, told me that when he block tallies bundles with uniform lengths, he expects to come within3Vo to 5Vo of a piece ally. (He uses block tallies for inventory puposes only, and always delivers lumber to his customers based on a piece tally.)

Several years ago a prominent manufacturer of alder and western maple advertised that their block tallies were within lEa accnracy of a stock tally. The claim was based on several years of testing at their mill. It was also limited to two species-alder and westem maple-which are manufactured in relatively uniform widths and packaged in bundles of a single length.

Tallying other species of hardwood is more complicated. A variety of widths and lengths makes it more difficult for a clerk to estimate the footage of lumber in an average tier. When block tallying random length bundles, a deviation of 1Vo to l0Vo is likely. If a clerk misjudges the lengths, then a block tally could be off by even more. At the price of hardwoods that could translate into a sizable difference in dollars.

Whether you are buying hardwoods by block tally or piece tally, good busi. ness practice requires that you inspect every load of hardwood you receive. The first step is to block tally the load yourself, and you might ny a method that I have found useful. Using a tally stick, calculate the footage in four or five tiers of lumber, and then multiply the average by the number of tiers in the load. If your results don't approximate the supplier's figures, make a note on the supplier's copy of the bill of lading.

Next, piece tally the load yourself. It's the only sure way of knowing that no errors have been made and that you're getting all that hardwood that you ordered.

If you don't have a tally stick, you can order one from Frank R. Buck & Company of Fairfield, Il., for less than $30. (See New Literatare pageforfree catalog.) In recent years several hardwood suppliers have given tally sticls to their customers. If you don't know how to use a tally stick, any hardwood salesperson can teach you in a few minutes. When I was on the road selling hardwoods, I used to love the chance to loosen my tie, roll up my sleeves, and help a customer tally some hardwood.

Every tally will vary because there is always an element of judgement involved, but your piece tally should be within a small percentage of the supplier's. If it isn't, an error has been made and you may be entitled to an adjusunent.

If you're tallying lumber that has been snaight-lined or surfaced on four sides, you'll have to make allowances. The waste involved in milling can be surprising. But by regularly tallying the lumber you receive and keeping records, you will know exactly what to expect in a milled shipment.

If you don't think you have the time to tally incoming shipments, then you might consider tallying every third shipment or random shipments. Unless you have a piece tally, though, you can't be sure how much hardwood you've received. I have tallied every piece of hardwood ['ve ever bought, and ['m convinced it's worth the time and effort.

If you discover a discrepancy in a tally, keep in mind that mistakes happen. From my own experience managing hardwood operations, I know how easy it is to mistakenly leave a bundle off a shipment, or even a few tiers off a bundle. If you've been shorted, your hardwood supplier will be anxious to make things right. tf your supplier isn't responsive, however, and you can't get satisfaction any other way, contact the state agency responsible for weights and measures.

SlorvataGlane

Advant-ages and disadvantages of piece tally and block tally ways to verify accuracy . . . how to handle discrcpancies.

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