Selling firewood in Pennsylvania: 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 the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture consumer brochure on weights and measures, the weights and measures chapter of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes as published by the General Assembly, and the NIST model rule the statute points to.

What the department says

The department's consumer brochure has a firewood section. It says firewood is sold by a measurement called the cord and that a cord is 128 cubic feet of firewood. It gives two stacks as examples: 4 feet wide, 4 feet high and 8 feet long, and 2 feet wide, 4 feet high and 16 feet long. It adds that other arrangements work as long as width times height times length, all in feet, equals 128 cubic feet.

The brochure lists advice to buyers. It is advice from the department, not a rule for sellers.

It suggests buyers avoid sellers who use terms like truckload, face cord, rack or pile.
It suggests a receipt showing the seller's name, address and phone number, the price, and the amount and kind of wood, and a note of the delivery vehicle's license number.
It suggests measuring the pile before any wood is used, and photographing it if it seems less than a cord.
It suggests contacting the seller before any wood is burned if there is a problem, and the weights and measures office if it is not resolved.

The cord and the method of sale in the statute

In 3 Pa.C.S. Chapter 41, section 4102 defines a cord, when used for wood intended for fuel, as the amount of wood held in 128 cubic feet of space, racked and well stowed.

Section 4127 is the method of sale section. It says commodities not in liquid form are sold only by weight, measure of length or area, or by count, and that sale by count is allowed only if it gives accurate information about the quantity sold. It lists exceptions, among them loose solid materials such as earth, soil, gravel and crushed stone when sold by cubic measure. Firewood is not in the list of exceptions. The same section lets the department issue regulations so that amounts sold are accurate and informative to all parties, and says that in doing so the department shall recognize the method of sale stated in NIST Handbook 130, except as it modifies, amends or rejects it by regulation.

What the model rule says

Section 2.4 of the uniform regulation for the method of sale in NIST Handbook 130, 2026 edition, is the part for fireplace and stove wood. In our own words: it is sold only by measure, using the cord and fractions of a cord or the cubic meter; natural wood in packages under one eighth of a cord (16 cubic feet) shows its quantity in liters, and may add cubic feet; the terms face cord, rack, pile and truckload, or terms of similar import, are not used; and a species claim is accurate within 10 percent. For non-packaged wood the seller presents a delivery ticket or sales invoice with the vendor's and purchaser's names and addresses, the date delivered, the quantity delivered, the price, and the identity of the wood. This page does not report whether the department has modified that text by regulation, because no regulation was opened for it.

Quantity, price and penalties

Section 4133 says that when a commodity is sold or advertised by weight, measure or count, the price shall not be misrepresented or represented in a way calculated or tending to mislead or deceive. Section 4142 makes it unlawful to sell, offer or expose for sale less than the represented quantity of any commodity. Section 4117 lets the department inspect amounts of commodities offered or sold and order them off sale if they do not contain the amounts represented.

Section 4191 sets the penalties. A violation of the chapter or a rule under it is a summary offense for a first or second offense, and a misdemeanor of the third degree for a third or later offense within two years of the previous one. The department may also assess a civil penalty not to exceed US$10,000 for each offense, after notice and an opportunity for a hearing. It may issue a warning instead where the violation did not cause harm to the public interest.

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