> I realize this is regional in many respects, > but I'd like a bit of advice on pricing my crops this year. No matter what prices you arrive at, try this: Pick a small size (let's say the pint) Get two different containers for that size (for example, a plastic squeeze bear and the plastic "BuzzyBee" container, claimed to look like a bee, but I think it looks more like Casper the Ghost...) Price one at a dollar more than the other. Try to make both look exactly as nice, use similar labels, etc. Now, track your sales. Watch the more expensive honey fly off the shelf for NO APPARENT REASON. This will convince you that you are selling a boutique product, one where higher price alone implies higher quality, higher value, and thereby desirability. Repeat the process with a price delta of $1.50, $2.00, $3.00... there's no telling what your local market will tolerate. Once you have found the highest price at which honey still flies off the shelf, use the extra money to buy some really fancy glass. Hexagons are a good bet to start, and Crabtree and Evelyn have sold overpriced jam and marmalade in them for decades. There's a gazillion different containers out there if you look around and order lots of catalogs. Once you are bottling in fancy glass, you have a package that can be re-priced in the same experimental manner as before, leaving your original retail price on a plastic container looking like a real bargain. Now you are done. You are serving both the "snob" market and the "families with kids" market, and you are making more money than you thought you would on the same net harvest. Congratulations, you just skipped 2 years and about $70K getting an MBA from Harvard, and now know more about pricing than all the other beekeepers that sell honey at retail. Tell your family that your degree is in "Microeconomic Pricing Theory and Arbitrage". jim (The proof that intelligent life exists on other planets is that they have never tried to contact us.) :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: -- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and other info --- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::