104 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Feb. 15 



General 

 Correspondence 



SOME OBSERVATIONS ON MARKETING 

 HONLY. 



Unequal Distribution; the Uninformed 

 Bee-lt.eeper and the Devious Methods 

 of Some Honey-buyers the Source of 

 Low Prices. 



BY OREL L. HERSHISER. 



Wilhin the past fifteen or twenty years 

 there has been a constant and markt d ad- 

 vance in the price of nearly every thing the 

 bee keeper has to purchase, including rood 

 stuffs and bee keepers' supplies. In many 

 instances the advance has been upward of 

 50 per cent, as in the case of meats, dairy 

 products, and lumber. On the other hand, 

 there has been comparatively little advance 

 in the price of honey. As long as the ex- 

 pense of consumption and the proceeds of 

 production remain out of equitable propor- 

 tion, and untd the product of the apiarist 

 has an exchange value for a just equivalent 

 in other goods, so long ought the conditions 

 and influences that control and make the 

 prices of honey remain the subject of pro- 

 found and earnest study and discussion by 

 the bee. keeper. 



In the marketing of honey, three general 

 classes of prices are recognized: viz , the 

 jobbers, the wholesale, and the retail. When 

 the dealer purchases from the producer the 

 jobber's price is paid. The dealer or packer 

 sells at wholesale, and the grocer or other 

 distributor sells at retail. 



Sales made by the commission merchant 

 are made on the jobbing basis if of consider- 

 able volume, in wiiich case the pn ducer re- 

 ceives the jobber's price less commissi- m. It 

 is almost needless to say that the producer 

 who sells through the commission merchant 

 nearly alwajs receives the lowest of all 

 prices. If the producer jobs his honey by 

 direct sale to the dealer there is opportunity 

 for a clear understanding as to the price, and 

 he is in position to know just what he is to 

 receive. 



By reference to some recent market quo- 

 tations it is noted that "No. 1 and fancy 

 comb honey would bring from 14 to 16 cts. 

 delivered, such honey going to the retail 

 grocery trade at an advance of from 2 to 2>^ 

 cts. on the prices quoted." It may be infer- 

 red 'hat this advance, amounting to approx- 

 imately 15 per cent, is the usual gross profit 

 when selling at wholesale. Lastly comes 

 the retailer's profit of from 25 to 75 per cent 

 on his purchase price when sold to the con- 

 sumer. 



The retail trade does the greater part in 

 distributing, and the dealer and manufactur- 

 er furnish a market for the larger part of the 

 product. It is recognized that the wholesale 

 merchant, purchasing in the jobbing way, 

 and the retailer, axe valuable factors in trade, 



and that they present avenues through 

 which a large portion of the world's produc- 

 tion, of all kinds, can readily reach the con- 

 sumer. 



It is also recognized that prices of most 

 commodities are fixed by the inexorable law 

 of "supply and demand," which, like the 

 laws of the Medes and the Persians, "alter- 

 eth not." However, there are some excep- 

 tions, which, when closely studied, are found 

 to prove the rule. Supply and demand, in 

 these later years, have come so much under 

 artificial inrluenres, such as trusts and com- 

 binations in restraint of trade, either under 

 contract or by tacit agreement, that th» re 

 may be scarcity because of goods withheld 

 from market to create a corner and oversup- 

 ply because of artificially glutting the mar- 

 ket to "freeze out" a rival. Sometimes, 

 when there is a normal supply on the whole, 

 markets in one quarter are glutted while in 

 another locality they are bare, due to un- 

 equal distribution. 



The honey market is often adversely in- 

 fluenced by merchants purchasing from the 

 unwary producer his crop of honey at a 

 ruinously low price and selling the same at 

 retail, as a leader, at a small profit. Thus, 

 recently one of the leading stores in Buffalo 

 was retailing a fancy grade of co i b noney 

 at 17 cts. which, no well informed b'-e keep- 

 er will dispute, is far too low for this season 

 of scarcity of fancy honey. A leading store, 

 by one or two purchasps of considerable vol- 

 ume from uninformed bee keepers can thus 

 exert a powerful adverse influence on the 

 market. 



The devious methods of somp honey buy- 

 ers are fruitful of market depression. The 

 aim seems to be to create an artificial com 

 petition of the producers rather than to work 

 the other end of the market by establishing 

 prices at the normal level. The dealer 

 writes to his list of honey-producers asking 

 the amount of his crop and for a quotation 

 of his price. After a few 1 )ts have been 

 purchased of the producers making the low- 

 est quotations, the scheme is to trv to estab- 

 lish the low price by reporting large sup- 

 plies and an easy market in consequence. 

 If every producer would seek reliable infor- 

 mation 01 the editors of bee journals or crop 

 committees, and not make a price until well 

 informed, and then, in answer to all such 

 queries, quote the price that is advised; and, 

 instead of disclosing the amount of his crop, 

 ask " How much do you wish at that price?" 

 and stick to his price, I think it would have a 

 salutary effect on market conditions. 



Another ruse, recently noted, was to make 

 as low an offer as possible, and yet have 

 hope of getting some shipments, with the 

 luring and innr)cent looking offer that "if I 

 can do better than this, or if market justifies 

 it, or, in other words, if I have to pay others 

 more, I will pay you more likewise," mak- 

 ing final settlement afterward. Of course, 

 out of a large list of bee-keepers enough, 

 shipments are likely to be made to relieve 

 the dealer of any obligation to pay a higher 

 price, even if the crop and conditions were 



