A recent audit of retailers who sell firewood turned up some disturbing results, according to the Arizona Department of Weights and Measures. It says about a quarter of them failed to comply with state laws that outline the way bulk wood is to be sold.
The department’s Compliance Director, Shawn Marquez, says they plan to levy $4,500 in civil fines for failing to comply with signage, or labeling products short of their stated quantity.
“I know that these locations are the ones that we’ve visited in the past and if we have hit them before and gotten them for the same things, then ignorance is not an excuse and the civil penalties really pay tribute to that,” Marquez said.
He says firewood can’t be sold by weight. It has to be sold by the chord or a fraction of a chord. He says it’s unacceptable that consumer’s pocketbooks are being affected by this type of action on the part of retailers.