OK, just to be clear, there will be NO organized final distribution for this lumber. There are no plans to haul the wood to a different location for distribution at a later date. I don't know of anyone that can haul away anywhere near this much lumber. People will need to show up on Saturday or have someone act on your behalf on Saturday. This means the person acting on your half will haul your wood away and make any lumber choices for you.
We are a very friendly group, so anyone that can't make it shouldn't have any issue getting someone to act on your behalf in a very honest way. I am already picking up and storing cyclopentadiene's share for him. That will max out my ability to transport, load and unload.
I have no issue accepting PayPal from people if that is route anyone wants to take. Many of you know me and likely feel comfortable with that, but I can understand why those that do not know me may not want to do that. Payment to the seller is the least of my concerns at this time. It seems the simplest approach is for each person to show up with the cash for however much lumber they plan to haul away. If you are hauling lumber for two people, then show up with the cash for two people. We have several avenues for handling payment issues that could arise. The only real risk here would be if we allow someone to leave with wood they did not pay for. Otherwise it seems the worst case scenario is someone just doesn't show up, a different person ends up putting up their cash, but they also leave with their wood, which they now own free and clear as far as I am concerned.
The literal way to think about this (but likely not practical) is buying shares of an somewhat unknown total. If someone has ordered 100 BF then they have really purchased a 1/17th share. If someone ordered 250 BF, they have purchased a 2.5/17th share, etc, etc. As the total grows and shrinks, so does the share. Without knowing what the total is, we don't really know how much each person should get. I am not trying to be nitpicky here, just trying to describe a practical issue. Nobody cares if another guy got 1% more wood than they were supposed to and you get 1.5% less than you were supposed to.
As I tried explaining earlier, I am worried that the last guy in line won't have enough or any wood left for him if our measurements are not good (and err on the side of measuring less than the actual) or if there is a bit less than 1700 BF there. By charging $1.25/BF, we should generate $2,125 if we measure 1700 BF. As Phil pointed out, that allows for a 100 BF shortage. That handles the financial side, the extra money can "buy out" the last guy who didn't get wood, but that still really sucks for the person that drove out there only to find out we ran out of wood. That is the only problem I don't know how to solve at this time. Any suggestions?