I used to go crazy trying to figure out how to calculate prices per thousand and then convert them to per piece. It was so tedious and after a while, just annoying. So I designed a quick little spreadsheet in Excel that would calculate the answer for me and I have to use it at least a dozen times a day, if not more.
Now that I have a good clientele, they always ask me to convert prices to them, so I decided to do two things. Put an interactive calculator on our website so they can do it themselves AND write an article helping others in the same boat.
So let’s give an example and then how to convert it.
You need a 2x4x8 ‘truck. You phone and get quotes on the material. The best quote is $ 250 / M for 20 packages (294 pieces per package). What is that per piece? So how much is it for the entire load EXACTLY?
Here is the formula for how it is calculated per piece.
Step 1: Get the board feet per piece. (See my other article – “Table feet? How to calculate”)
Thickness X Width X Length / 144 (Be sure to change the 8 feet to 96 inches (8×12))
2 X 4 X 96/144 = 5.33333
Step 2: Take the price per thousand (or per M) and divide it by 1000.
250/1000 = 0.25
Step 3: Multiply the feet of the table in step 1 by the answer in step 2.
5.33333 X 0.25 = 1.33333
Your answer is $ 1.33 per piece (rounded down, of course).
Ok, are you still with me? Well! Now, how much is the total load of the truck? Well, there are two ways to do it. You can take the long way or the shortcut (which is more accurate). I will explain both.
Long Road – 20 packs are now taken and multiplied by 294 pieces, which will give you 5880 pieces. Now take $ 1.33 and multiply 5880 and you have your answer of $ 7820.40
GOLD
Shortcut: In step one, simply include the number of packages and pieces in your calculation.
2 x 4 x 96 x20 x294 / 144 = 31.360 and multiply by step 2 (0.25). You have your answer of $ 7840.00
NOW, will you notice that there is a difference of almost $ 20? That’s because in the first calculation we round all those decimals to just two. That adds up to over 5880 boards (for $ 19.60 to be exact!) So you’ll definitely want to use the shortcut now that you know how.
So one last question. Why do logging companies trade per thousand? Simply because of the volume and the multiple sizes. It is much easier to quote in 2x4x8, 2x4x10, 2x4x12, 2x4x16 at $ 250 / M and then have to calculate all the different sizes and put them together or quote each size individually (there may be ten different sizes on the truck!). Also, if the truck is heavy and a package has to be dislodged, the logging company would have to re-quote again when it was already painful to do so the first time.
There you go. Hopefully this now gives you a clear understanding of how to calculate and convert per thousand to per piece. Oh one last thing, if you are really stuck and still can’t get the calculations, just visit our website and you can find a free calculator program there.
