Selling firewood in Oregon: cords, delivery tickets and labels
What the Oregon Department of Agriculture's Measurement Standards Division says about the cord and the firewood delivery ticket, and what ORS chapter 618 says about the method of sale and bulk invoices.
Checked against the sources at the bottom of this page on October 9, 2026. Rules, fees and pay change: the source has the last word.
This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. It follows a consumer brochure from the Measurement Standards Division of the Oregon Department of Agriculture, and Chapter 618 of the Oregon Revised Statutes, the weights and measures law, as published by the Oregon Legislature. No Oregon Administrative Rule on firewood was opened for this page, so none is reported.
What the Division says
The Division's brochure, titled Avoid getting burned when buying firewood, is marked as revised February 2006. It is written to buyers, and it says the following.
- Firewood is sold by a measurement called a cord, and a cord must equal 128 cubic feet.
- A cord is measured with the wood in a line or row, pieces touching and parallel, as compact as possible. The brochure gives 4 by 4 by 8 feet as the example.
- A seller may not legitimately use terms such as truckload, face cord, rack or pile, because they have no legally defined meaning. It adds that wood is sold only by the cord or part of one.
- The seller gives the buyer a delivery ticket. It must contain at least the name and address of the vendor and of the purchaser, the date delivered, the quantity delivered and the quantity the price is based on if different, the price of the amount delivered, and the identity of the wood in the most descriptive terms commercially practicable, including any quality statement made in the sale.
For a wood quality complaint the brochure points to the Oregon Department of Justice. For a measure complaint it points to the Measurement Standards Division. Its delivery ticket list matches the one in the national model text.
What the statute says
In the Oregon Revised Statutes, chapter 618 sets out the weights and measures law. Two sections bear on a firewood sale.
- Section 618.206, manner of selling commodities, says commodities not in liquid form are sold only by weight, measure of length or area, or count, except as otherwise provided in the law. Its exemptions include loose solid materials such as earth, soil and gravel sold by cubic measure. It lets the Oregon Department of Agriculture make reasonable rules so that the amounts for sale reflect accurate and fair practices. The section does not name firewood or the cord.
- Section 618.241 requires a printed or written delivery ticket or invoice for sales of commodities in bulk form worth more than US$10, for sales to or by retail outlets, with restaurants, hospitals and boarding houses among those named. The ticket gives the names and addresses of vendor and purchaser, the date and place of delivery, the product identity and net quantity delivered, and the quantity the charges are based on if different.
Section 618.991 makes a violation of sections 618.086, 618.096, 618.121 or 618.201 a Class B misdemeanor. Those sections cover orders restricting the distribution of weights and measures, prohibited acts with them, the licence requirement and the sampling of packages. They do not include sections 618.206 or 618.241, so this page reports no penalty for the sale rules.
The model rule for comparison
Section 2.4 of the uniform regulation for the method of sale in NIST Handbook 130, 2026 edition, covers fireplace and stove wood: sale by the cord, fractions of a cord or the cubic meter, no use of face cord, rack, pile or truckload, and a delivery ticket for non-packaged wood. The chapter 618 text read for this page does not say Oregon has adopted the handbook.
For the model rule and other places, see the firewood sale rules overview. Oregon movement rules for wood are on the Oregon moving firewood page.
Sources
- Oregon Department of Agriculture, Measurement Standards Division, Avoid getting burned when buying firewood brochure (revised February 2006), read October 9, 2026
- Oregon Legislature, Oregon Revised Statutes chapter 618 weights and measures, sections 618.206, 618.241 and 618.991, read October 9, 2026
- NIST, Handbook 130 (2026), Section IV.B uniform regulation for the method of sale of commodities, read October 9, 2026