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G li K A N I N G S IN BEE C V I. T U R R 



S'ErTEMBER, 1921 



tlio hirgor cities, and inaiiy jxvoplo do not 

 oat honey for the simple reason that it is 

 seldom or never brought to their attention. 

 Then, again, if the producer ships to the 

 large buyer in a great commercial center, 

 the i)roduct passes thru many hands, each 

 handler exacting a toll, until the cost to 

 the consumer often is two or three times 

 the price paid the producer after he has de- 

 livered it to the wholesaler and i)aid the 

 freight. 



Transportation charges to and from the 

 large cities are an important item of ex- 

 ])ense which may be eliminated by local dis- 

 tribution. To illustrate: We sometimes 

 have orders for small lots of honey to be 

 shipped to Maine, Florida, the Dakotas, and 

 to many other distant points. Possibly the 

 next neighbor of some of these buyers has 

 a large quantity of honey which he would 

 be delighted to sell at less than the cost of 

 transportation. Honey is shipped to the far 

 East and back again. It is shipped north 

 and shipped south. I am wondering how 

 much of the (California honey in the New 

 York niarket gets back as far as the Roel^y 

 Mountains. Not long ago I happened to 

 come into possession of a case made to hold 

 two 60-pound cans. The name of the pro- 

 ducer was not on the box, nor was the 

 name of the retailer who sold the honey to 

 the "ultimate consumer." However, there 

 were cards and markings indicating that it 

 had passed thru the hands of at least five 

 dealers. Apparently it had been purchased 

 by a dealer in the West, shipped to Chi- 

 cago, thence to Michigan, thenee to another 

 point — Ohio, I think — thence back to Chi- 

 cago, thence to Hammond, Ind., where it 

 was distributed by a retail dealer. 



Much of this expense and waste can and 

 should be eliminated, and right here is an 

 opportunity for state and national associa- 

 tions to render great assistance to the in- 

 dustry by furnishing suitable information 

 to producers and to prospective buyers. Of 

 course, a system for getting this informa- 

 tion and for its distribution must first be 

 worked out. 



Grocer Does Not Create Demand. This 

 Should Be Done by Producer. 



There are many ways in which we may 

 work a given territory for the sale of honey, 

 say, a small city or a number of towns. 

 Many of us do not like canvassing or jjed- 

 dling; besides many of us could not make a 

 success of it if we were to try, but judicious 

 advertising and keeping retail grocers con- 

 stantly supplied will dispose of many tons 

 of honey at a fair profit. In order to suc- 

 ceed in selling honey in pails thru the retnil 

 stores one must "educate" both the grocer 

 and the buying public. The average grocer 

 is not a salesman. Instead of calling atten- 

 tion to his goods and convincing his cus- 

 tomer as to their merits he waits for the 

 customer to ask for what is wanted. In- 

 stead of creating a demand he merely tries 

 to supply a demand alrea<ly existing. If 



you leave a dozen i)ails of honey he usually 

 will put them out of sight, and on your next 

 trip calmly inform you that he "has no call 

 for it. ' ' How shall we proceed in such a 

 case? Well, to be successful it is important 

 to give him some instruction in the art of 

 selling honey. "See here, Mr. Storekeeper, 

 if you put that honey under the counter 

 you '11 not sell it in a thousand years. Peo- 

 ple know you have flour and potatoes, but 

 if you sell honey it must be where they can 

 see it. We must let them know that you 

 have for sale Miller's honey, best in the 

 market. Let me arrange a display and we'll 

 see how it looks. There, doesn 't that look 

 good enough to eat ? Here is a nice display 

 card that will help to sell it. Now, Mr. S'., 

 I am going to advertise this honey in the 

 daily papers. I'll make you a cash price 25 

 per cent less than the advertised retail j^rice, 

 and if it doesn't sell I'll take it and pay 

 your money back. Call me up as soon as 

 this is sold and I'll bring some more. Thank 

 you, sir. ' ' 



Of course, sonu' grocers, like some other 

 people, are grouches and some won't learn; 

 but, if you mean business and are doing- 

 business in a business way, they will not 

 be long in coming to recognize the fact. 

 They will no longer say, "I'll give you so 

 much for your stuff if you will take out in 

 trade." "They will ask, "What is the price, 

 Mr. Beeman, and at what price shall I sell 

 it?" There are some who are inclined to 

 make an undue profit, but this is easily con- 

 trolled by naming the retail price in your 

 advertisements. We usually run a local ad 

 of from three to five lines, three insertions 

 every week or ten days, aiming to give 

 sonu^ item of interest or information and 

 giving something diffeient each time. The 

 following are examples: 



Miller's Honey — Most healthful sweet. 

 5-pound pails only .$1.25. Your grocer or 

 ])hone 556R. 



Honey in pails is not expensive — and it "s 

 delicious. If your grocer doesn 't sell it, 

 phone Calumet Bee Farms. 



Did you ever try granulated honey? 

 Spreads like butter. Better than candy for 

 the children. You can get it at Bunn the 

 Baker 's. 



To Obtain Free Advertising. 



We have had some free adveitising. We 

 once succeeded in making friends with a 

 reporter of one of our local daily papers, 

 took him out to our yards, fed him up on 

 honey, showed him the bees, how queens are 

 reared, explained the ancestry of the drones, 

 the process of extracting, etc., etc. Well, 

 a two-column article on the front page, tell- 

 ing of the good things he saw and tasted 

 probably added sonu'what to our ])restige 

 as well as to our sales. 



The best advertisement is the hone_y it- 

 self. For a number of years we have en- 

 joyed a considerable mail-order trade in 

 which cash in advance is the rule. Shijt- 

 ments are made by p.-ircel ]Kist, express, and 



