The impacts of additional log sorting on production and cost per ton for mechanized, tree-length southern pine harvesting systems were evaluated. The analysis included evaluation of extensive data sets of weekly production along with short-term field time studies to directly measure the impacts of sorting on production. For this study, a product separation, or sort, was defined as a separate pile generated by the loader operator. The data were used to create a model to evaluate log sorting impacts on production and costs. Tree-length harvesting systems encountered weekly production losses when sorting more than six products, while modified tree-length harvesting systems using roadside processors lost production after nine product sorts. Hourly production was significantly impacted by both operator technique and the type of product handled. Operators who processed wood in advance of truck arrivals and loaded trucks from processed piles loaded trucks in 60 percent less time than loader operators who processed stems while loading. Increasing the number of sorts often required more processing while loading since the room to store processed wood under stationary loaders is limited. Adding precut sorts significantly reduced production over that seen with an additional tree-length sort, due to the additional processing and loader movement with multiple stem pieces. With the current product price differentials typical to southern log markets, we did not find increased net revenue to the landowner from additional sorts. In fact, we found that at current prices additional sorts can reduce revenue by 6 to 15 percent.