This section is from the book "How To Keep Bees And Sell Honey", by Walter T. Kelley. Also available from Amazon: How To Keep Bees And Sell Honey.
Price for 1 Case of 24-One pound Jars Honey 24 Pounds White Honey @10 1/2c
a pound ___________________________________$2. 52
1 Case 24 1 lb. Economy Glass Jars and Caps .......................... 1. 00
3. 52
Average Packing Costs run from 2 1/2c to 3c per pound .............72
Beekeepers or Packers cost with
no margin of profit ................ 4. 24
10% Profit which is a reasonable figure .................................43
4. 67
5% Brokers Fee or Selling Cost, most honey sold thru Brokers. 23
Price to Wholesale House or Distributor ____________________________________ 4. 90
12 1/2% to 20% is what average Wholesale House or Distributor works on ---------------------------98
Price to Grocer or Retail Store 5. 88
20% to 25% is what average Grocer or Retailer works on 1. 47
Price to Consumer, per case______ 7. 35
Price to Consumer, per 1 OnePound Jar-divide 7. 35 by 24 . 31
To be a good merchandiser you must be a good advertiser and while advertising in the local newspaper is expensive and may not be too effective you can secure some free publicity which will be far more effective. For example, make friends with the local newspaper reporter by giving him some honey now and then and tell him and also the police force to let you know when a swarm of bees lights in town and causes trouble. Offer to pick the bees up free of charge. Newspapers always like to print articles about a brave beekeeper who had the courage to come to the rescue of the police and fire department. In the course of time you can get your reporter friend to run a feature article on your hobby that pays off in cash, health, friends, etc.
If you have a truck have signs painted on it announcing that you are in the bee and honey business. Removable signs can be used on your automobile at appropriate times.
If you are ashamed of being a beekeeper or too timid to tell your friends or to advertise your product you are beat before you start merchandising your product. In this case you might as well give up the business or decide to stay small and give your crop to business friends and keep your losses as small as possible.
If you want to make your sales really easy produce comb or chunk honey and you will find your sales so much easier, also your profits much larger. There is nothing similar to comb honey and it is seldom found on the market yet is so desired by so many people.
The life history of the honey bee is a display case that will create much interest about bees in schools and other public places and will indirectly help to sell honey.
The advertisers in the daily papers and magazines have first one trick and then another to attract your attention, to get you to read their copy, therefore, you as a merchandiser of honey must figure out ways to attract new customers and to get your old customers to return again and again.
Small honey signs are a stock catalogue item and help to sell honey.
Hand painted bee neckties for the men and silver bee pins for the ladies are catalogue items as well as automobile advertising plates that attract attention and cause one beekeeper to recognize another. These same ideas can be carried much further and in many directions such as book matches, key and coin holders, etc. However, be sure that you have ample supplies of honey before doing too extensive advertising.
Why buy a regular necktie when you can buy a beautiful hand painted necktie for just a little more money. Rich but not gaudy; one that will cause favorable comment.
Straw skeps are often used as an emblem of beekeeping and are sold for use in fair exhibits and in store window displays but should not be used to keep bees in. In fact, there are many states that have laws against keeping bees in boxes, gums or skeps that do not have movable frames. In some cases the bee inspector is authorized to bum up such equipment, bees, combs, honey and all. Use the skeps only for exhibits and display in selling honey.
The straw skeps are similar to a log gum in that they have no frames and some are still used in Europe but in this country they are a novelty display item for use at fair exhibits, etc.
Everyone likes movement and a glimpse at dangerous acts from a safe distance. Nearly everyone is afraid of bees but when the bees are behind glass they show great interest in seeing how the bees work and in locating the queen and the drones. People also like to learn just how the bees work on the comb, lay eggs, how the young bees hatch and how they store honey.
Everybody likes movement so you will find an observation hive to be a big attraction at a fair. If you install one in a grocery window along with a honey display sales should zoom up.
An observation hive in a store display or at a fair will attract large crowds, no matter how often it is repeated, and is one of the very best sales stimulants ever used for selling honey. Everyone likes honey but it is not well advertised and many people who really love honey do not buy it for years on end because it is not brought to their attention in the grocery store.
Many people still have a vague idea that much of the honey offered in grocery stores is not pure honey but an adulteration because it does not taste like the honey they recall eating in childhood. With real live bees on display all fears of adulterated honey are dispelled and the sales will jump many fold. Some beekeepers use several observation hives so as to be able to display one every 30 to 60 days in each retail outlet.
Most factory made observation hives hold one brood frame and one super frame or 4 sections. Such a hive is weak and cannot maintain itself indefinitely even though it has an entrance outside and it is necessary to add additional bees and honey, also an additional frame of brood from time to time.
 
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