*■* J>-»^Jt- 



■ X'^Vis 



210 



T'BISPTH ANNUAL, REPORT OF THE 



METHODS OF RETAILING HONEY. 



The different ways of retailing 

 honey depend upon the kind of honey 

 and the style of package. If we are 

 going to sell honey from' our own 

 house, or from the wagon on the street, 

 we can use tin pails or cans for ex- 

 tracted, and sell bulk comb honey or 

 comb honey in sections without put- 

 ting in a glassed shipping case. The 

 most economically produced honey is 

 that which costs us the least, in time 

 for the quantity and quality, and ex- 

 tracted honey and bulk comb honey 

 come within this class. Extracted 

 honey costs less for packages in the 

 larger sizes of tin, and this is the 

 most convenient way to retail it from 

 one's own house, some families using 

 two 60-pound cans a year. There is 

 hardly a family that would not buy a 

 gallon pail once in a while if taught 

 to eat honey. 



Where bulk and broken comb honey 

 is sold from the house or store, oyster 

 pails are very convenient to put it in 

 and these packages are very inexpen- 

 sive. 



These methods of retailing honey 

 are very economical; the consumer 

 gets a tin pail that can be used again, 

 and in case of the bulk comb honey in 

 oyster pails, the cost of the package 

 is almost nothing. But though this 

 is the most economical way to sell 

 honey it does not work so well with 

 the grocers. An extracted honey 

 sells better in glass jars of tasteful de- 

 sign and attractive labels in a gro- 

 cery than in tin where the customer 

 cannot see the color and thickness of 

 the goods. Comb honey must be well 

 displayed in glass shipping- cases that 

 will keep out dust and flies, to take 

 well in the stores. The demand for 

 looks in all store goods is now so in- 

 sistent that an uninteresting package 

 will not go at all well. Looks cost 

 money, so that the customer gets far 

 less for his money than he would if 

 the large tin packages or bulk comb 

 honey were bought. Although the 

 more costly we i^ust recognize the 

 condition and foll<>w the methods that 

 will dispose of the most honey at the 

 best price, and the grocers are now, 

 and will be for a long time, the 

 means to dispose of the bulk of our 

 crop. By making arrangements with 

 a grocer in advance, one can make a 

 house-to-house canvass with samples, 



and take orders for honey to be de- 

 livered through the grocer. 



Then another plan that works quite 

 well, and is as effective as far as it 

 goes, is in demonstrating in the gro- 

 cery stores to the customers. This 

 plan is good, and if one can sell 

 enough honey for the grocer to pay 

 the expenses of the demonstration the 

 method is a good one, for then the ad- 

 vertising pays its own way. The coffee, 

 tea, cocoa, breakfast food manufac- 

 turers, etc., generally sell enough this 

 way to pay the expenses, and some- 

 times a profit is made on the business 

 done. The future business always 

 justifies the expenditure where the 

 plan is worked at all intelligently. 



I have felt for some time that we 

 should adopt the progressive methods 

 of the firms selling their goods nation- 

 ally. We have had articles in the 

 bee-papers about the one-horse wag- 

 ons fixed up for peddling from house 

 to house, and while this way is not to 

 be frowned upon it is time we were 

 adopting more wholesale and up-to- 

 date means. I believe the only way 

 to get a better price is to put up an 

 article in a small but attractive jar, 

 with distinctive labels bearing a regu- 

 lar brand name. Then we can ad- 

 vertise and do some pushing of the 

 honey. 



The retailing of honey through the 

 grocer, then, to sum it up, is the only 

 method that will do much to spread 

 the use of honey throughout the coun- 

 try. We can build up a local demand 

 in our own town by calling from 

 house to house, but the fact that most 

 of the food of the people is bought 

 through the groceries will always be 

 against the success of home-made 

 ways. We must recognize the direc- 

 tion of the wind and go according- 

 ly, and the wind in the sails is going 

 to carry the craft of bee-culture 

 through the regular channels of dis- 

 tribution. 



I will continue to stimulate the 

 the sale of extracted and comb honey 

 in bulk and large packages around 

 home, because it is a saving for those 

 who have hdney and can hardly get 

 all they would like, but the fact is 

 that a small ID-, 15 or 25 cent jar of 

 fancy white extracted honey, put up 

 with a distinctive label and a sugges- 

 tive brand name, will sell more honey 

 in more markets through the whole 



a' 



