Selling firewood in California: cords, kindling percentages and delivery tickets

This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. It follows the California Department of Food and Agriculture firewood page, its list of adopted regulations, the proposed text of the Fireplace and Stove Wood rulemaking and the Final Statement of Reasons. The Final Statement says the proposed text was adopted without modification, so the proposed text is the one read here.

The rulemaking

According to the department's regulations list, the Office of Administrative Law approved the amendments to the Fireplace and Stove Wood rules, Title 4 sections 4530 through 4536.2, on May 4, 2020. The 45-day comment period ran from December 27, 2019 to February 11, 2020. The Final Statement of Reasons dated April 2, 2020 names section 12024.11 of the Business and Professions Code as the authority, which it says tells the secretary to adopt rules on the sale and advertisement of firewood products. It says the department adopts the 2019 edition of NIST Handbook 130 by reference.

Cord and banned unit words

In the proposed text of the rule, the sections set out the following.

Section 4530 defines the cord as the standard measure for bulk firewood, containing 128 cubic feet of wood, ranked and well-stowed. Ranked and well-stowed means placed in a row or rows, with pieces touching and parallel and stacked compactly.
Bulk firewood means all firewood that is not packaged, and packaged firewood of more than four cubic feet.
The terms face cord, rack, rick, tier, pile and truckload, or any other term for a unit different from those in the article, are prohibited.
Section 4531 says wood for fuel purposes is sold by the cord, a fraction of the cord or a percentage of the cord. Wood other than manufactured products, in quantities under one eighth of a cord, is sold by the cubic foot or a fraction of it.
Manufactured products are sold by weight and count when compressed with a dimension over six inches, by weight when compressed and six inches or under, and by the cubic foot when not compressed and six inches or under.
When kindling is ten percent or more by volume of the quantity represented, the percentage of kindling, within five percent by volume, is stated on the label, delivery ticket or sales invoice.

Sales invoice or delivery ticket

Section 4532 says a sales invoice or delivery ticket is presented by the seller to the purchaser whenever non-packaged wood for fuel purposes is sold. It carries at least the name and address of the seller, the date purchased or delivered, the quantity purchased and the price. The same section adopts the NIST Handbook 133 test procedure for checking the net contents of packaged and stacked firewood. The detailed stacking and measuring sections that used to follow, 4533 through 4536.2, appear in the text as repealed.

What the consumer page adds

On the department's firewood page for buyers, the department repeats that a cord must equal 128 cubic feet and that wood can only be sold by the cord or fractions of a cord. It says that if a seller cannot or will not correct a shortage, the buyer can contact the weights and measures office, and that a photo of the stacked wood helps to document it.

For cords, legal units and other places, see the firewood sale rules overview. Minnesota words the same units differently: see selling firewood in Minnesota.