Price of honey

[Bob]

I only have one hive and give most of my honey to friends.  But I'm going to extract again today and want to sell my surplus to people in my neighborhood.  What do you think is a fair price for a pint of honey?

Bob

[Juli and Chris McGuire]

Dear All,

I posted here a few weeks ago about one of my two hives becoming
queenless and asking for suggestions.

I checked the hive last week on Wednesday and there was still no brood
(at least a week and a half after new queen emerged). I got worried and
contacted Gentle Breeze for a mated queen, but they did not have any at
that time. I looked around for mated queen bee source and found one in
Iowa. It would have cost me over $50.00 with shipping. So I decided to
wait longer.

I checked the hive again this Wednesday. I found capped brood and larva
in the bottom box (I use all medium boxes)!!! BIG sigh of relief! I
upset the bees quite a bit, so I'm leaving them alone for two weeks.

Happy Ending!

Thanks,
Juli McGuire
Belmont, WI

[lindhl tds.net]

Your cost fully figured including equipment, bees, labor probably will show 20 dollars a lb.

The full value of local honey for a pint in my opinion is 12 dollars a jar.  Remember that is 1 lb 6 oz by wt.

If you do not charge a price covering your costs plus hopefully a markup you might as well give your customer the honey and some cash to show what the honey cost you to produce and package.  Larry

On Fri, Aug 2, 2013 at 12:42 PM, Bob <robert...@gmail.com> wrote:

I only have one hive and give most of my honey to friends.  But I'm going to extract again today and want to sell my surplus to people in my neighborhood.  What do you think is a fair price for a pint of honey?

Bob

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Larry Lindokken

[jeanne hansen]

If I remember correctly, the honey at the State Fair last year was $8 per pound bottle, which is very similar to the price Larry quoted.

 

Thanks!

Jeanne Hansen

824 Jacobson Ave

Madison, WI 53714

608-244-5094

---

From: lindhl tds.net <lin...@tds.net>
To: mad...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Friday, August 2, 2013 3:12 PM
Subject: Re: [madbees] Price of honey

[WILLIAM PALMER]

Hi Group;  If you do not value your honey by charging a fair price, then your honey has no value.  Its not always what ever the market will pay.

            A customer that wants cheap honey get what they pay for.  I have some melter honey that is dark and looks terrible. That's cheap honey.   I have some basswood honey that is clear, light yellow, just beautiful.   It gets a premium price because its that good.

 

     You work hard, the bees work hard, this is not a cheap sport for old people.  Now I am one.

 

 

              GOOD luck at harvest time.       William Palmer    East Troy Honey.

[iND]

My price for honey is $62.50 per pint.  :)

[Betsy True]

It,s about a pound and a half. I think about 10 is right.

Sent from my iPad

On Aug 2, 2013, at 12:42 PM, Bob <robert...@gmail.com> wrote:

I only have one hive and give most of my honey to friends.  But I'm going to extract again today and want to sell my surplus to people in my neighborhood.  What do you think is a fair price for a pint of honey?

Bob

--

[Nate Vack]

On Fri, Aug 2, 2013 at 3:12 PM, lindhl tds.net <lin...@tds.net> wrote:
> Your cost fully figured including equipment, bees, labor probably will show
> 20 dollars a lb.
> The full value of local honey for a pint in my opinion is 12 dollars a jar.
> Remember that is 1 lb 6 oz by wt.

That's some awfully discouraging math... a net loss of $15.50/pound?

Maybe folks can make it up on volume :/

-n

[jeanne hansen]

The agricultural people say, if you can't make a profit on 20 cows, you can't make a profit on 200.  The same goes for honey.

The reason any of us sell honey and are happy with doing it is, we don't count our time or labor.  We only count actual cash we spend on packages and supplies and gas.  Other hobbies use up our time and don't return any income, while beekeeping is a great way to pass the time, and have extra cash to show for it.

William Palmer is correct in saying that if you sell you honey too cheaply, it shows you don't value it.  On the other hand, if I have honey for which I can't find buyers, it is better for me to sell the honey cheaply than have it build up in my basement and get old.  At the moment, my price is high, because if no one buys it, my family is able to eat up everything I have.  If any honey is left next year, my price will drop.

 

Thanks!

Jeanne Hansen

824 Jacobson Ave

Madison, WI 53714

608-244-5094

---

From: Nate Vack <njv...@freshforever.net>
To: "mad...@googlegroups.com" <mad...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Monday, August 5, 2013 10:45 AM

Subject: Re: [madbees] Price of honey

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[capitalbeesupply tds.net]

The link below is to the honey laundering article which most of you
have seen before, but of more interest is the comments that follow as
they relate to some consumer's perceptions as to the price of honey.

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/206463151.html

And then there was the ad I saw today in our copy of Wisconsin Energy
Cooperative news which comes from one of the electric coops serving
one of our farms and the ad reads

"Wanted: Honey Wholesalers Only: Less than market price. Guaranteed
best quality. Use your label." The number is for Delaney's surplus up
by Baraboo/Sauk. When I was there 5-6 weeks ago I saw they had honey,
but I guess I didn't pay much attention to it at the time since I
figured they had bought out a grocery store or warehouse that went out
of business, but now I'm more curious. I'll have to stop there again
and see what the story is/was on the honey and what the pricing is.

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--
Rich Schneider
Capital Bee Supply, LLC
Manufacturers and Purveyors of Fine Beekeeping Equipment
201 Acacia Ln
Madison, WI 53716-3233
608-444-1493
www.capitalbeesupply.com

[capitalbeesupply tds.net]

Link below is for the National Honey Report for July. You can visit
the same link to find the report each month. It is interesting to read
what is going on in different parts of the US in the" Colony, Honey
Plant and Market" section of the newsletter even if one isn't really
interested in the market pricing info.

http://www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/fvmhoney.pdf

[Dan Curran]

Rich--Delaney's is selling "5 lb jugs of real honey" on Craigslist right now for $10 apiece. On the label you can see it's a product of China.

Dan

[Nate Vack]

On Mon, Aug 5, 2013 at 10:44 PM, capitalbeesupply tds.net
<capitalb...@tds.net> wrote:

> http://www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/fvmhoney.pdf

Wait, if honey production costs $20/pound and domestic honey is
wholesaling at somewhere in the $2/pound neighborhood... how do
beekeepers ever make any money? Are pollination contracts really
lucrative? Or is the landscape really so dire?

-n

[Betsy True]

I believe that's what is known as "dumping".

Those beekeepers are probably living rough.

Betsy True

[lindhl tds.net]

Real live commercial beekeepers dump all money back into the business like most farmers.  Subsistence farming. They almost always have a cash flow problem and are asset rich.

Occasionally  a real hard working family beekeeping business does well. A commercial beekeeper with a spouse who brings home the health insurance is in a better position than other beekeepers.  Also beekeepers who do two things/sometimes three of the following do better than average Make nucs/splits, make honey, do pollination, distribute honey on a wholesale bottled basis and or retail;  or migrate south, If the bees can be kept alive over the winter that will solve many of the business problems of beekeeping.

Larry Lindokken

[jeanne hansen]

I had to smile at the people who responded to the newspaper article Rich posted - they want honey at only $2 a pound!  It's a good thing most consumers are willing to pay more.

I appreciated Larry's list of money making activities pursued by beekeepers.  There are also some who sell equipment, teach classes, write regular articles for bee journals, remove bees from walls.  

Here is a situation that troubles me.  A few of our members have good outlets for their honey, and then can't fill the demand!  On the other hand, many of us have more honey than we know what to do with, but not enough to open a stand at a farmer's market.  It is ironic that one hears of a shortage of honey, but many of us can't get our few pounds of excess honey into the hands of the customers.

What could be done?

Thanks!

Jeanne Hansen

824 Jacobson Ave

Madison, WI 53714

608-244-5094

From: lindhl tds.net <lin...@tds.net>
To: mad...@googlegroups.com

Sent: Tuesday, August 6, 2013 8:50 AM

[Dan Curran]

I found that article to be very ironic--it gave an accurate picture of the corruption in the honey marketing business along with the trade-offs--honey that is contaminated with chemicals or blended with other sweeteners, and then the commenters were basically deciding where the best place to buy this honey would be. In addition, the businesses that they named are packers/wholesalers and not honey producers.

I think Larry did a great job describing how most farmer's run their business. Unfortunately, I think that most farmers are better at farming than they are at business, and most compete to sell their commodity at the lowest possible price.

We live in a country that demands cheap food. Those in the club that wish to market their honey for a decent price need to work on a sales pitch that explains why their honey costs more--it's locally produced, you sell only your own product, it's actually raw and unfiltered (all honey claims this nowadays, so you actually need to explain your process vs. the competitors), you don't use hard chemicals or antibiotics (most large producers do), etc. Basically, we are selling honey to the counter-culture--those who value quality, uncontaminated food and not just the cheapest.

Dan

[Tom]

Here are some ideas for selling honey that I have used successfully:

- I always take a dozen jars to neighborhood gatherings, family gatherings, etc.  I generally sell all I bring and have some nice honey-related discussions.  

- Put a sign up in the lunchroom at work.

- Give some as gifts (Christmas, birthdays, etc).  You will soon have those same people asking to buy more.

Sent from my iPo