[Sickdog5]

I got a message the other day a person interested in 60 pounds of honey. I asked for five dollars a pound they said they could get it much cheaper. They said they get it for $185 which works out to about three dollars a pound. Am I asking too much for that amount of honey?

 

[Gray Goose]

60 lbs is that like a 5 gal pail?
hmm unless you have a lot of honey to move tell the person they should go buy the better deal then.

I am at 18 a quart, not sure on the weight. I did a google of "average price of honey in New York"
I see 2.50 to 20 bucks, it depends on the product and size..

Unless I had lots I would not do the bigger amounts due to the expectation of a price break.

every deal needs 2 willing parties. Up to you it seems.

GG

 

[Sickdog5]

Yes I think that is rite around a 5 gallon bucket. Yeah I don’t know it seems strange to me this guy wanting that amount of honey. I checked his Facebook profile and it’s in another language. He Went like two days without responding. Seems sketchy

 

[Gray Goose]

I have bought 5 gal pail, once when I was all dead out i got one from the Amish. The flavor and such made me just get bees the next year.
Maybe a restaurant guy who is either making a sauce with it or dolling it out on tables. Just tell you do not typically sell in Bulk. you believe the quality of your product makes your price ok for you.

 

[Akademee]

Bulk pricing will always be lower than if you were to sell individual jars. But $3/# for local honey seems a bit low to me. I would say $5/# is reasonable for local, non commercial honey. Of course he can get it cheaper from a lot of other places, but those bulk wholesalers make average honey at best.

 

[clyderoad]

Sickdog5> From the National Honey Report May 2020:
".....Honey sales have plummeted with restaurant and store sales at low levels and people out of work;
honey is not on the list of essentials now. Farmer markets have also had low foot traffic and consequently lower honey sales. Most local honey is
selling at nearly $7.00 per pound, with varietals nearly $9.00 per pound. These are good prices if they hold up under a weak consumer dollar."

Big producers that sell tanker loads to packers get much less than $2/lb. Many big to medium honey producers sell to hobbyist beekeepers in the $3 range for them to bottle and call it their own (local ) honey, that's the $185 a bucket price.
If you don't produce 10's of thousands of pounds you are a small producer and can expect a premium in the local market place for a local, most times raw specialty honey.
Your price is not to steep- see above report. How much does it cost you to produce a pound of honey?

Those that say big producers produce a inferior product don't know what the heck they are talking about and have never been anywhere near a commercial honey producers operation. They should cease from spreading disparaging remarks and rumors about people and things they know nothing of. What causes people to say such things- how about an explanation.

 

[dryflies]

This year I harvested six 5 gallon buckets. About 2/3 of what I did last year. A lady that always buys in quantity from me wanted to buy bulk this year. I really did not want to sell bulk knowing I wouldn't get full retail. I told her 500 bucks for a bucket, thinking she would pass or buy less. She ended up buying 2 of them. In the end I couldn't pass that up

 

[[email protected]]

I am located near SickDog5 with our honey house in Schenectady NY. I run 150-200 hives and last year I harvested just over 10,000 lbs. I gave up retail sales about 8 years ago. Got too old...I am 80 now.
I only sell in 60 lb buckets, mostly to other beekeepers, but I will sell to anyone. My 2019 crop went from $180-$210 a bucket. I wish I could get $300 ($5 a pound) but there's no way.
There is another beekeeper just north of here that largely does the same, but I think he has a few less hives.

 

[JWPalmer]

Honeyhouseholder recently posted this thread in the For Sale sub forum.

https://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?362829-Ohio-honey-for-sale

$185 would appear to be the going commercial rate. It is what it is. I will continue to sell pint and quart jars at $15 and $25 respectively as I do not need to compete with the guys trying to move tanker loads.

 

[Sickdog5]

Just trying to establish a name get my product out there. Thanks everyone great info as always

 

[The Honey Householder]

Last year I produced 55 tons and the best price I got was $190 a bucket. Most of my honey gets sold to the beekeepers by the skid (24 bucket per skid) for $4200 which is is $175 a bucket. Been in the business for 40 years and that price sure beats what the packers are paying. The beekeepers know the worth of the honey better then the packers.

I buy my buckets by the truck load any more. If I don't use them this year, they are still good for next year. The other local beekeeper know where to buy there empty buckets at. Yep. If I use it, I sell it.

 

[Fivej]

I am not saying that it is the case here, but my brother lives in Western NY and he is able to buy honey cheap from the Amish. I will have him check what a 5 gal bucket would cost but they are selling small jars retail at $3.40 lb. Tough competition. J

 

[rbaillar]

I got a message the other day a person interested in 60 pounds of honey. I asked for five dollars a pound they said they could get it much cheaper. They said they get it for $185 which works out to about three dollars a pound. Am I asking too much for that amount of honey?

I'm on Long Island and get $8 - $10/lb for 60 pound buckets of honey. From what I have found, the cheaper honey is NOT local but sourced from all over NY state and/or the almond crop. These large scale buyers label their honey as, " Bottled in________", Long Island, NY. Different product and we have to educate the consumer. There is a TV show called, "Rotten" and series 1, episode 1 is an hour long show on the adulteration of honey in and coming into the U.S.

 

[davemal]

Comments focusing on cost. How about taste? I purchased a 5 gal bucket from a commercial guy in mid-MD two years ago. $160 I think. He called it clover honey. I wanted to donate the honey to a local community college whose apiary did not do well that year. I suppose it was clover honey. It did not taste at all like our local, early spring wildflower (primarily black locust) honey, though. Our local honey is much better tasting that that clover stuff. Thankfully, subsequent seasons have been good for the CC apiary and we have not had a need to supplement the stock other than that one time. I wonder where all that clover honey comes from? There are no fields of clover in our part of the state. I suppose it is brought in from elsewhere. He did not pass it off as local, btw.

 

[clyderoad]

Our local honey is much better tasting that that clover stuff. Thankfully, subsequent seasons have been good for the CC apiary and we have not had a need to supplement the stock other than that one time. I wonder where all that clover honey comes from? There are no fields of clover in our part of the state. I suppose it is brought in from elsewhere. He did not pass it off as local, btw.

Some beekeepers chase the flows.
Maybe they were reselling honey THEY bought if they don't travel and chase.
I'm curious, what did you pass it off as?

 

[clyderoad]

I'm on Long Island and get $8 - $10/lb for 60 pound buckets of honey.

Don't they have price gouging laws there? :lpf:

 

[DTD350]

I did a similar thing last fall with my honey. I produced about 55 pounds last year out of my 2 hives I had. I sold a case of 24 - 1 pound jars to the local hardware store. I only charged $7/pound jar. They sold it for $12.00 per pound jar. I sell my jars at $12.00/ pound jar as well. I didn't make much on the hardware store sale, but what I did get out of it was name recognition. People come to me for honey now all the time with their jar they got at the store. I even got friends of customers that had my honey at their friends house, wrote the address down and then came to me for honey. The name recognition thing worked well for me. It also got me in at the local orchard where I am now running 6 hives over there for pollination services. I probably wouldn't have gotten that if they didn't get my honey at the store. So the money I lost on the wholesale price of the honey I would say has paid off. Just my opinion.

 

[Sickdog5]

I did a similar thing last fall with my honey. I produced about 55 pounds last year out of my 2 hives I had. I sold a case of 24 - 1 pound jars to the local hardware store. I only charged $7/pound jar. They sold it for $12.00 per pound jar. I sell my jars at $12.00/ pound jar as well. I didn't make much on the hardware store sale, but what I did get out of it was name recognition. People come to me for honey now all the time with their jar they got at the store. I even got friends of customers that had my honey at their friends house, wrote the address down and then came to me for honey. The name recognition thing worked well for me. It also got me in at the local orchard where I am now running 6 hives over there for pollination services. I probably wouldn't have gotten that if they didn't get my honey at the store. So the money I lost on the wholesale price of the honey I would say has paid off. Just my opinion.

I would sell for that price to but i cant put it next to a 32oz. jar for $16. The lady who ran the store said she gets them in a case of 12 for $8 a piece. So she is selling them for $16. Mine are 24oz. and i am getting $15. If i am not mistaken isn't it 10.7 oz. for 1 lb. of honey? This guy who has his honey is all over the place in my area. Every hardware store local farm stand. But i did find one place were his was there along with other peoples honey.

 

[wildbranch2007]

I would sell for that price to but i cant put it next to a 32oz. jar for $16.

having moved from Mass. there is a big difference and what you can get for honey between upstate and new england. that's why I sold my honey back in new england.

 

[psm1212]

This year I harvested six 5 gallon buckets. About 2/3 of what I did last year. A lady that always buys in quantity from me wanted to buy bulk this year. I really did not want to sell bulk knowing I wouldn't get full retail. I told her 500 bucks for a bucket, thinking she would pass or buy less. She ended up buying 2 of them. In the end I couldn't pass that up

Wow. You would have been a fool to let that walk. Good score. Congrats. Back out the cost of jars, time and clean up bottling that bucket and I think you are near $10 a pound.