Selling firewood in Idaho: cords, delivery tickets and labels

This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. It follows sections of Title 71, weights and measures, of the Idaho Code as published by the Idaho Legislature. The statute is the main source, with the NIST model rule beside it.

The cord defined

In Title 71, section 71-230 defines the barrel, the ton and the cord. It says the cord, when used for wood intended for fuel, means the amount of wood contained in a space of 128 cubic feet when the wood is ranked and well stowed. The wording matches the model text. The section adds no list of banned unit words and does not mention a delivery ticket for wood.

Method of sale

In the same chapter, section 71-232 says commodities not in liquid form are sold only by weight, by measure of length or area, or by count, except as the act otherwise provides. Counting is allowed only if it gives accurate information about the quantity. The exemptions are as follows.

Commodities sold for immediate consumption on the premises.
Vegetables sold by the head or bunch.
Commodities in containers standardized by state or federal law.
Commodities in package form where there is a general consumer usage to state the quantity another way.
Concrete aggregates and loose solid materials such as earth, soil and gravel, sold by cubic measure.
Unprocessed vegetable and animal fertilizer sold by cubic measure.

The section lets the director issue reasonable regulations so that amounts sold are determined in accordance with good commercial practice and are accurate and informative to all parties. Firewood is not on the exemption list and is not named in the section.

Section 71-240 covers a bulk delivery by vehicle to an individual purchaser when the commodity is sold in terms of weight units. It asks for a duplicate delivery ticket with the vendor's name and address, the purchaser's name and address and the net weight in pounds. Its text limits it to commodities sold in weight units, and this page does not read it as a firewood rule.

Penalties

In Title 71, section 71-305 lists acts that are misdemeanors. Among them are selling or offering less than the quantity represented of any commodity, thing or service, and selling any commodity in a condition or manner contrary to law or regulation. A first conviction carries a fine of not less than US$20 and not more than US$200, or imprisonment for not more than three months, or both. A second or later conviction carries a fine of not less than US$50 and not more than US$500, or imprisonment for not more than one year, or both.

In the same title, section 71-111, the director issues regulations to enforce the act, and those regulations have the force of law. The section says the director considers the technical requirements for weighing and measuring devices published by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and that the regulations conform as nearly as possible to them. It speaks of device specifications and tolerances, so it does not by itself adopt the method-of-sale handbook.

The model rule for comparison

Section 2.4 of the uniform regulation for the method of sale in NIST Handbook 130, 2026 edition, lets wood be sold by the cord, fractions of a cord or the cubic meter, bars face cord, rack, pile and truckload, and asks for a delivery ticket for non-packaged wood. The Idaho sections read for this page do not repeat those parts.

For the model rule and other places, see the firewood sale rules overview. The movement rules for wood across states are on the moving wood and firewood page.