Februakv, 1921. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



87 



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RETAIL HONEY CONTAINERS 



An Attractive Glass Package for Six and Twelve 

 Pounds of Honey 



It is five years since we have used tin 

 pails to supply retail trade. Instead we have 

 used and are still using a six-pound and a 

 twelve-pound glass jug. We have used sev- 

 eral thousands of these jugs and are so well 

 pleased with them that we would not con- 

 sider using tin pails again, unless it should 

 become impossible to buy the jugs. 



These jugs are a complete success in sell- 

 ing themselves. The white flint glass shows 

 the honey in its natural color. The jug be- 

 ing of convenient size and neatly labeled, 

 with the wood and wire handle, makes as 

 pretty and attractive container as any one 

 would wish to see. To see one is to want 

 one. 



We firmly believe that a display of these 

 jugs in several downtown store windows in 

 our cities and villages will sell more honey 

 than a four-by-four-inch advertisement in 

 the local daily paper of that town. We 

 have tried it a few times, and the results 

 were in favor of the window displays. 



As a return package it is a success; that 

 is, after people have more of these jugs 

 than they can use for household purpose? 

 they are anxious to return them to us. So 

 we buy them back at the same price that 

 we charged for the jug when sold with the 

 honey; that is, if we sell the honey at 30c a 

 pound, a six-pound jug would amount to 

 $1.80 and 15c for the jug; total $1.95. In 

 handling the jugs we take a double sheet of 

 newspaper, or other wrapping paper and 

 fold it around the jug, drawing it a little 

 tighter at the top; then the top edge of the 

 paper is folded down enough so that an 

 ordinary stickpin may be inserted. This 

 allows the jug to be carried by the handle 

 without the wrapper's slipping ofP. To re- 

 move the wrapper it is slipped up over the 

 top. In handling larger quantities, say half 

 a dozen or more, we use the wooden ship- 

 ping case that is made to hold two 60-pound 

 tin cans. This case will hold six 6-pound 

 jugs, with room to pack the corners with 

 wads of paper, to hold them firmly. We 

 use this same case to ship six 6-pound jugs 

 to retailers by packing the bottom and the 

 top with marsh hay or straw and the sides 

 and ends with paper. We have shipped in 

 this way by express for over 100 miles, usu- 

 ally successfully. 



In washing the jugs, or any other glass 

 in hot water, to prevent breaking, one-half 

 of the open end of the mouth of the jug 

 is dipped into the water first and the water 

 allowed to run down on the inside. At the 



same time the outside of the jug is laid 

 down into the water; then it is rolled over 

 to allow the opi^osite side to come in con- 

 tact with the hot water. This method of 

 handling glass in hot water allows the glass 

 to expand without breaking. If anything is 

 inside of the jugs that cannot be removed 

 by shaking with only hot water, a small 

 handful of lead shot is used to shake with 

 the water. 



If the National Honey Producers ' League 

 would see fit to adopt these jugs as stand- 

 ard retail honey containers, we believe it 



The glass honey jug, several thousand of whieh 

 Mr. Hassinger has usert in marketing honey. 



would be a move that would bring more 

 direct results in moving honey to the con- 

 sumer than any other means of advertis- 

 ing could bring at the present time, con- 

 sidering that this would cost practically 

 nothing, with the exception that extra care 

 must be exercised to have the honey and 

 the jugs clean. 



The one-half gallon jugs at the last quota- 

 tion were $25.25 per gross. The one-gallon 

 sizes sold at $35.50 per gross, f. o. b. Chi- 

 cago, or Alton, 111. This would be 17i/^c each 

 jug for the one-half gallon size, J|,nd 24 3-3(5 



