It is now almost two years since I first started to buy bulk honey from Pete, and resell it under my own branding. I'm guessing that I have purchased a 30 lb bucket every six weeks, apart from the five or six months when I was selling the 125 lb crop I took at the end of May 2025.
I suppose that I could search through previous Journal entries to come to a precise number of buckets, but that sounds like far too much trouble. Suffice to say, I am certain that I have bought a lot of honey from Pete over the past couple of years.
Now I am aware that Pete likes to hold a full year's harvest in reserve, in case he has a bad year. He does, after all, have his own customers and outlets to support. I therefore came as no surprise that he was less keen than usual to sell me another bucket, when I contacted him this morning.
It seems that he has exhausted his 2024 stocks, and would need to supply me from his 2025 reserve. We had a long chat and I made certain that he understood that I was a) very grateful for his support, and b) very aware that his bulk rate was well below market pricing.* Pete suggested that I should explore alternative suppliers, and consider raising my prices in an attempt to slow down sales a little.
The net result of this conversation is that I have increased my pricing by 25%,** changed my sign accordingly, used chat GPT to produce a customer friendly explanation for the price hike, and 30% has posted on the village FaceBook page to make our clientele aware.
I was a little concerned about increasing the price, but I do consistently forget to take account of the time I expend in caring for the colonies and bottling the honey. After all, why shouldn't I get some recompense for my labours? It was rewarding to see that one individual responded to 30%'s post by saying that £5 was still good value for local honey and "objectors" should buy the "sugar syrup of European origin sold as honey in the supermarkets"
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* Current bulk rate is around £3.50 per pound
** to £5 per 8oz jar
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