When Natural Scratch is made, there are always some posts that don't meet requirements in terms of dimensions or appearance. These posts might be narrower than standard posts, slightly shorter, have more gray areas from the wood weathering, more voids, or other blemishes. They work just as well as regular Natural Scratch posts but might not look as good to human eyes. Cats of course could not possibly care less. 

Seconds come with a burned-in trademark (see below), not the laser-engraved disc but include all other Natural Scratch features such as the Training Booklet, Mouse Hole, and Antenna.  It's a shame to discard such posts so we offer them as Seconds; please help us use the resource efficiently and save yourself seven bucks, consider purchasing a Second or two...

It's important to understand that Natural Scratch is a natural product so none of the posts is perfect. Each is unique. In addition, we don't kiln-dry the white cedar so cracks sometimes develop, but they almost never affect the usability of the post.