THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



339 



being- 8 cts. per pound, he often ad- 

 vertises it at 9 cts. He expects that 

 margin will net him a profit, but finds at 

 the close of the year that the more he 

 has handled the poorer he has become. 

 Second, the bee keeper handling only his 

 own crop, or only a few thousand pounds, 

 places his honey on the market at much 

 greater expense than the larger dealer. 

 His cans are more expensive: liquefying 

 costs more; advertising- is less effective in 

 results; thus 1 find that the expense of 

 putting my honey on the market now to 

 be less than one-half it was three, or 

 four years ago. 



When I first commenced building up 

 my trade in honey, I felt called upon to 

 conform my price to that of others offer- 

 ing honey in a like way. People always 

 gladly accepted the drop, but would hold 

 back for the lower price whenever there 

 was a raioe. Finally, one of my adver- 

 tising competitors dropped his m.ail order 

 price to about the wholesale rate and I 

 saw it was time lor me to call a halt on 

 any further meeting of prices. Since 

 then. I have advanced my honey two 

 cents per pound and held it uniform, as 

 above stated. Although the amount of 

 sales was checked when 1 first made 

 the advance, my profits from the first 

 were largely increased, and it was not a 

 great while until my sales exceded any 

 former amount. Since then my growth 

 has been even and continuous. Many 

 bee keepers who are selling their stock 

 directly to consumers, are doing it at a 

 sacrifice; sometimes even delivering No. 

 1 white honey to customers at eight 

 cents per pound, in cans, freight paid to 

 destination; but such competition very 

 quickly falls out of the field. Mail 

 buyers of honey are rather cautious; as 

 between two parties advertising in the 

 same field th=y are very apt to select 

 the highest priced honey under the 

 natural presumption that it is the best. 

 People frequently ask for a cut in price, 

 quoting the offerings of some one else as 

 a reason, but it is generally better to 

 let them go rather than cut the price. 



It remains a fact, however, that were it 

 not for the multitude of bee keepers who 

 have been selling and trying to sell honey 

 by mail orders at cut prices, honey 

 would be a cent or more per pound 

 higher than it is. 



An advantage the dealer has over the 

 bee keeper in a mail order trade is that 

 the bee keeper's honey may be No. 1 

 white, or amber, or a mixture of the 

 two, according to the flow of his locality, 

 while the dealer buys such honey as he 

 wants for his trade. He must always 

 be careful to buy the best stock obtain- 

 able, and should understand honey thor- 

 oughly, and know exactly the effects of 

 blending, as many people like a blended 

 honey best; say of basswood and alfalfa, 

 or basswood and clover, or other blends, 

 and he should put up each person's honey 

 as if his whole trade depended upon it. 

 As soon as the buyer learns that such 

 care is being practised with his orders, 

 you can depend upon both his trade and 

 his influence. If you have to "turn a 

 person down" do it gently and indirectly 

 and as nearly as possible in such a way 

 that he will hardly realize he is refused 

 his request; you will then have that 

 person for your friend and quite likely 

 for your customer. 



A great many people use the National 

 association label. I want to protest 

 against this custom. If you are selling 

 the honey by wholesale, you do not need 

 a label, as the buyer will look after that 

 end, but. if you are building a trade of 

 your own you ought to have your own 

 label, and it should stand before your 

 customer as of more value than any 

 association label. The association label 

 is a guarantee of purity, it is true, and to 

 a certain degree for quality, but is hardly 

 personal and direct like an individual 

 label. A man's trade is not worth much 

 until the public believes in him, and 

 would rather have his individual word 

 and guarantee than that of any other 

 person or body. His own trade, his 

 own label, his own guarantee, are all of 

 them of the greatest value to himself 



