K»iis:s^ 



■■;1Wf^^* 



128 



THIRD ANNUAL REPORT 



ones, and it all comes to 22 pounds, .and it is a light-weight 

 case, but they are not all alike. The customer comes in and 

 the grocer says, "Take your choice at 15 cents," for instance, 

 and the lady will pick out the best section, as you or I would, 

 and as anybody else would, and the last six to eight are culls. 

 He can't sell them at hardly any price. He doesn't want to 

 handle honey after that. You give him 24 sections of honey 

 that weigh exactly a pound apiece, every one, and he puts it 

 there at 15 cents, the last will sell as well as the first one; 

 but put another case right opposite which weighs 54 of a 

 pound each, and sell them at 12 cents, and the other at 15, 

 the i2-cent will go first. That is human nature. We cater 

 to that idea, and had all our sections to hold 54 of a pound 

 each, and they would retail at 15 cents in those days. The 

 pound sections had to retail at 20, which was the same price 

 per pound, yet it was almost impossible to sell the pound sec- 

 tions while it was easy to sell the others. Another class of 

 trade, we sold No. 2's, 10 ounces each, and they sold two for 

 -a quarter, and they went more rapidly than fancy honey be- 

 cause the lady will buy two for a quarter rather than pay 15 

 cents each. It would go faster than the other for that reason. 

 It is the culls on the last end that is the reason he wants 

 honey all alike, and while he doesn't want a large, heavy 

 case — . 



Dr. Miller — How much would those culls weigh? 



Mr. Niver — About 10 ounces. We sold by count always, 

 and not figures. It is the most practical way, and it gets rid 

 of this talk. Grade your honey correctly. Sell by count, and 

 the grocery man is better satisfied, and it is easier work to 

 sell it. 



Dr. Miller — Suppose a section weighs 10 or 12 ounces? 



Mr. Niver — I say that is No. 2 



Dr. Miller — How would that sell? 



Mr. Niver — Per pound the same as the other. 



Dr. Miller — How to the customer? 



Mr. Niver — Same price for it. 



Dr. Miller — No trouble to sell it? 



Mr. Niver — No, reasonably more popular honey. 



Dr. Miller — How wouldn't it be profitable at the tail end? 



Mr. Niver — Because he has to sell it for the same price 

 as the good. Has to pack it good, and put it in the same 

 case. They want to work off their No. steens; they will try 

 to work them off with the good honey, and make the good 

 honey sell the other, and then the grocery man "gets it where 

 the baby wore the beads," when they sell it that way. 



Dr. Miller — I notice by the report in the American Bee 

 Journal that the heavy-weights bring about 2 to 3 cents a 

 pound less than the others, and some people have hinted to 

 me sometimes that that was because the grocers want to buy 

 by weight and sell by the piece; with the inference to the 

 customer that each one weighs about a pound, and I couldn't 

 make myself believe that that was entirely honest. They 

 were deceived about it, and they thought they were getting a 

 pound in each section. ^ 





