REGARDING           RE> 5 gallon pails
 
Al Needham wrote:
>Have picked them up here and there-town dump-local store, etc. What can
be a good source for them are job sites where they are doing dry-wall
work and plastering up the seams. Maybe getting to know some local
dry-wall type might be a good source.
 
Maybe some others have some good ideas on getting these pails. It
doesn't seem to me you should have to pay for them.<
 
The price for new pails is around US$4.00 apiece, which is a considerable
outlay of money if you need a lot of them.  However, if you sell to
individuals or to grocery stores in bulk new pails might be required.  And it
sometimes is difficult to sell if the price is increased enough to cover these
container costs.
 
When selling to a packer, there is no problem with used pails.  I do it all
the time, exchanging pails for whatever they have on hand.  In obtaining used
pails in the first place, though, I think it is important to get pails that
have been used for food products, and non-odorous food products at that.  I
wouldn't use drywall mud pails, even though they are the easiest for me to
obtain.  I have gotten pails that had garlic and pickles in them, and the odor
stays in the plastic.  I won't use them, except to sell back to the hot sauce
manufacturer who traded them to me in the first place.  Another thing to
avoid, in my opinion, are pails used for medication such as Terrapatties, etc.
 One never knows how much of that stays in the plastic only to be slowly
released into one's good honey.
 
By the way - one of my pet peeves regarding used containers is that there are
a variety of manufacturers and the (specific) sizes are not standardized.
That means that covers must be of the same brand as the pail in order to be
sure that they fit.  It is frustrating to fill up a 5 gallon pail, then be
unable to find a corresponding cover to fit it!  Also, the empties must be
stacked by brand, or one might not get them apart again because of different
side slopes!  I have had to throw out so many perfectly good used containers
because of this.  Am I alone?
 
Ted Fischer
Dexter, Michigan USA