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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 2 Nov 2000 21:29:28 EST
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James,
I will reply, only because I have watched your discussions and you have a
good head on your shoulders; plus, even though I live in the "colonies", I am
100% Scot and have visited Scotland 6 times in the last 50 years exploring
most of the isle.  Now, I am disabled by strokes, so my visiting days are
over, I reckon.

MOST people think that ALL honey is the same, an amber, golden sweet liquid,
and unfortunately, that seems to be the limit of their knowledge now in this
URBANIZED country where only 2% of the people live on farms.  The shocking
thing is that 98% of all people know nothing about the importance of honey
bee pollination for our human food supply.  Most people under 50 years old
have no idea what comb honey is, and ask questions like: How do you eat it?
How do you get the honey out of the wax? Do you eat the wax?  Further, few
people have ever seen creamed honey or honey spread, and simply DON'T BELIEVE
that it is 100% honey.  Hence, I try to move my bees from one bloom to
another to get different honeys, particularly different colors from water
white locust to pitch black buckwheat.  I also buy or swap honeys from other
parts of the U. S. to provide "one-stop shopping" or  enjoy a "tasting" party
among customers.

Allen Dick said 10 different things.  I haven't counted, but at FAIRS, I sell
extracted
honeys in bears and jars, cut comb honey, square section honey Ross-Rounds,
creamed honey, honey sticks (to attract the kids who attract the parent's
wallets),
wax candles, wax bars, National Honey Board Cook Books, and MOST IMPORTANT
(and
profitable), assorted GIFT PACKS.  I have numerous Gift Packs; d taste which
sells for $8 ($16 per pound of honey), a wooden crate containing 2 three
ounce mugs of two different colored honeys + a 12 ounce bear of a third
different honey, which totals 18 ounces of honey and sells for $6, equaling
$5.33 per pound of honey. I have plain creamed honey, cinnamon creamed honey,
and straw-
berry creamed honey, which sells for $4 for 12 ounces = $5.33 per pound.  I
sell comb honey for $1.00 + 25¢ per ounce which equals $5.00/pound.  I also
sell Chunk
Honey which is $4.50 per pound.  The extracted honeys are in 1, 2, or 5 pound
jars and they sell for $4.00 for 1 pound, $7.00 for 2 pounds, & $15 for 5
pounds.

Most beekeepers are not sales inclined and say my prices are too high; but
when we are at the same FAIR, I sell much more than they do even at my high
prices, because I attract people to the booth and then SELL, not take orders.
 If I don't sell
an average of $100 per hour, either the weather was bad, or the crowd was
poor, so I don't go back to that site.  In august, we have our 9 day long
county FAIR that has
almost 1 million paying attendees. Our total Fair sales were almost $10,000
for 9 days.

Maybe that is what Allen Dick meant by having 10 things.  Having multiple
things is important, but I think diversity, attractiveness, "come-ons" like
an observation hive, and SALESMANSHIP are more important.  Of course, I have
had 68 years of
experience doing this which helps.

I forgot to mention that the average grocery store price of honey in the
states is
about $2.50 per pound in 1 LB jars.

Ending: I have NEVER sold a single jar of honey in my life - I sell the
DESIRE of
people to have some of George Imirie's honey.

James, I hoped I have helped.

George Imirie

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