Timber dealers operate in a uniquely challenging space. You’re buying from dozens of landowners, coordinating loggers across multiple tracts, tracking loads from stump to mill, and reconciling settlements—often with spreadsheets, paper tickets, and phone calls. Every missed load or delayed settlement costs real money.
TRACT is the only pure software company in forestry, built from the ground up as a vertically integrated forestry ERP. With customers ranging from regional dealers to institutional timberland owners like INGKA Investments (IKEA), BTG Pactual, and Superior Pine — TRACT gives dealers the tools to manage procurement, settlements, and financials from a single platform.
The Timber Dealer’s Tech Problem
Most timber dealers still rely on a patchwork of tools: Excel for tracking loads, QuickBooks for accounting, paper scale tickets, and maybe a legacy system that hasn’t been updated since the early 2000s. This fragmented approach creates three costly problems:
- Data re-entry across systems — The same load gets entered into multiple places, creating errors and eating hours of staff time.
- Settlement delays — Matching tickets to contracts, calculating stumpage, and cutting checks to landowners takes days when it should take minutes.
- No real-time visibility — You can’t see what’s on the road, what’s at the mill, or what’s been settled until someone updates a spreadsheet.
A University of Georgia study (Miller et al., 2024) found that forestry companies using integrated software saved an average of 43 hours per week in administrative time—worth roughly $62,000 per year. Among respondents, 67% reported that benefits exceeded costs of adopting new technology.
How TRACT Solves Procurement for Dealers
Load Tracking from Stump to Scale
TRACT tracks every load in real time, from the moment a truck leaves the tract to when it crosses the scale at the mill. Each load is tied to a specific tract, contract, landowner, and logger—eliminating the guesswork that plagues manual systems.
Field apps let loggers and truck drivers capture load data on-site, even without cell service. Data syncs automatically when connectivity returns, so your office always has current numbers.
AI-Powered Ticket Scanning
Scale tickets arrive in every format imaginable—thermal prints, handwritten slips, mill PDFs. TRACT’s AI ticket scanning reads and digitizes these automatically, matching them to the correct load and contract. No more manual data entry from stacks of crumpled tickets.
Automated Settlements and Stumpage
Settlement is where most dealers lose the most time. TRACT automates the entire process:
- Contract terms are stored in the system — stumpage rates, pay schedules, hauling deductions, and bonus structures.
- Loads are matched to contracts automatically — no manual ticket-by-ticket reconciliation.
- Settlement statements generate in minutes — for landowners, loggers, and haulers.
What used to take a full-time employee two to three days per pay period now happens with a few clicks.
AP/AR and Financial Management
TRACT isn’t just an operations tool—it’s a full forestry ERP. Accounts payable and accounts receivable are built into the same system where your loads and contracts live. That means:
- Mill receivables tie directly to delivered loads
- Landowner payables calculate from actual scale data
- Hauling costs allocate automatically per load
- Financial reports reflect real operational data, not manual journal entries
Landowner and Logger Portals
Your landowners want to know what’s happening on their property. Your loggers want to see their pay. TRACT’s self-service portals let both groups access the information they need without calling your office.
Landowners can view harvest progress, load counts, and settlement statements. Loggers can see upcoming jobs, submitted loads, and payment history. This transparency builds trust and reduces the phone calls and emails that eat into your team’s day.
Why Dealers Are TRACT’s Best Fit
Timber dealers are TRACT’s highest-converting customer segment, with a 23% win rate among prospects. That’s not a coincidence—TRACT was designed around the exact workflows dealers use every day.
Unlike Trimble’s fragmented suite of forestry tools or legacy platforms like Caribou and FPA that were built decades ago, TRACT is a modern, cloud-based system purpose-built for how timber businesses actually operate in 2024 and beyond.
Timber Security and Chain of Custody
Timber theft costs the US forestry industry hundreds of millions annually. TRACT’s load tracking creates a verifiable chain of custody from harvest site to delivery point. Every load is documented with GPS data, timestamps, and digital scale tickets—making it easy to spot discrepancies and prove provenance.
This chain of custody capability also positions dealers for emerging regulations like the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which will require documented proof that timber products are deforestation-free starting December 30, 2026.
Getting Started with TRACT
TRACT is built to replace your spreadsheets, not your people. Most dealers are fully onboarded within weeks, not months, and see ROI within the first settlement cycle.
Ready to see how TRACT works for timber dealers? Request a demo at gettract.com and see why forestry companies across the industry trust TRACT to run their operations.