You don't need all those bodies and probably don't need all those lenses. Sell some of them, then you can give the firewood away for free to people who can't afford the alternatives. Of course, you will need to see a financial statement or tax return before you give it to them; otherwise you might be giving it to someone who can afford the alternatives but is just too cheap to pay for them. My neighbor spends all summer stockpiling firewood to heat his house over the winter. He has a nice, modern house with central propane heat but is just too cheap to pay for the butane. He would rather turn his time and sweat equity into heat than do something else with his time and pay for the propane. I would venture to say that much of your product goes to exactly those sorts of people except that they lack the resources to cut their own.

Two more points and then I am done with this:
- it's bout, not bought
- I don't care if you have 5 camera bodies or 500, it is irrelevant to this discussion, as is what you pay for them.

Your father-in-law is fortunate. Most people who sell firewood are not in his (or your) position; they are trying to feed their families. Don't lump them in with you. They are doing it to make a buck to meet expenses. I did NOT claim it has to be counted on for the everyday living expenses for everyone. I specifically said "most."

Go back a re-read what I said. I did NOT say "you have a very small window to get the wood cut once it's down." What I said was, "Those downed trees need to be harvested within a certain period of time or they are useless." With your vast experience surely you have seen a rotten tree or two. Seasoning is not the same as rot. Cut wood needs to be kept dry while it seasons for a reason.

So. since it is your position that folks selling firewood are greedy and in it for whatever they can gouge out of a gullible customer, it is nice to know that you sell wood for ½ or less of what others charge. Is that correct? If not, how do you (or your father-in-law) determine the price? By your standard you should be giving it away. You don't, because you have a need for the revenue. Given that the prices of cameras and tractors are going up, aren't you going to need more money for those? Based on your previous remarks I am guessing that you are charging very, very little for firewood. Where do you get the rest of the money for your habit?

Lastly, you don't know me or anything about me so you have no idea how many cords of wood I have "under my belt." Please don't be so arrogant.

That's an excellent way to avoid my point. Cost of living has everything to do with a business like this. Do you think the guy selling firewood by the side of the road or hauling it to your house in a pickup is thinking about EBITDA, gross profit or ROI? Give me a break. The reason cost of living is germane is because that is exactly what the seller is trying to cover. When the cost of clothes, food and utilities goes up he needs to earn more to pay for that. Walmart is not exactly his business model.

I live on two acres that I personally cleared from virgin forest by hand by myself. I am well aware of the labor required to limb and buck a downed tree. Are you? So how much is that labor worth? That's the real question.

And yes, I know about seasoning wood before burning it. I have lived in the same house for 40+ years with a wood-burning fireplace and have only had to have the chimney cleaned one time. What does that have to do with this discussion? Is the guy's labor worth more or less depending on whether his wood is seasoned or not? Your question is completely irrelevant to this discussion.

From YouTube last night - TheTechieGuy - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAlz59koSnY

PortableApps - This lets you install apps (programs) onto a flash drive, so you can use them on whatever computer you choose. I installed the program itself, but I haven't added any programs to the flash drive.
https://portableapps.com/

Hirens Boot CD PE - utility programs on a flash drive - I couldn't find a way to download it. It's at 2:15 in the video above.
https://www.hirensbootcd.org/download/

Tails for incognito browsing. https://tails.boum.org/ 2:50 in video above.

I don't care if the trees are free. Most wood cutters/sellers harvest downed trees as cheaply as they can get them, from whatever source. Those downed trees need to be harvested within a certain period of time or they are useless. So the cutter/seller may actually get paid to remove the trees that he then sells as firewood. So what? Does that mean he should charge less than market price for his product? And who are you to decide what his labor is worth? If you want to source and harvest your own firewood, fine and dandy. But don't disparage others for getting as much as they can for what they are selling to people who cannot or will not do that.

If you paid attention in Economics 101 (I'm beginning to doubt that you did) you learned that the value of a product is only determined when the seller and the buyer agree on the price. If the wood cutter offers his product for $X and the buyer agrees to pay $X then that is the value of the product. It's not up to you to decide that charging $X is avarice.

Even if the wood cutter is paid to remove the trees and then sells them as firewood, you cannot deny that his other costs are going up. Gas, food, utilities are all increasing at an exponential rate. Those are part of his costs as well.

We could get into a much longer discussion about this but I don't think it would do any good.

I respectfully disagree. Their operating costs are not decreasing. Most of it, of course, is in gasoline for the truck and chainsaw and, if they have one, a gas-powered splitter. Where is the price of gas going down? Which of their "operation expenses" is declining? And how, exactly, do you know they have the funds to live on? And what, pray tell, do you feel is their rightful standard of living? Who, exactly, are you to dictate what that standard of living should be? Their living expenses are going up just like everyone else's and they have to cover that. The people I see out trying to sell firewood are not living in fancy houses and are not driving nice, top-of-the-line trucks. They are out selling the result of their hard work to people who either cannot or will not put in that hard work and I say they have a right to charge whatever the market will bear.

As for me being "one of those who feel like you are entitled to a bigger piece of the pie just because you want to have more" you should do some research and ask a few questions before shooting your mouth off. I am retired and on a fixed income. My "piece of the pie" is fixed. Would I like to have a bigger income? You bet. It would be nice to be able to have and do some things that I cannot now afford, but I certainly do not feel like I am entitled to it. So please tell me: when was the last time you turned down a raise in pay?