# Current Financial Situation and Buying Honey



## riverrat (Jun 3, 2006)

My sales have been the same or better at all the shows I have been to this year. There has been a lot of crafters saying they havent done as well. My idea is people will still spend money on food before they will on craft items in tough finacial times.


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## brooksbeefarm (Apr 13, 2008)

*Buying Situation*

I agree with riverrat,at our Fair Grove, mo. festival (forty to fifty thousand attendance) our famers market people sold out of most of their food products,while the arts and crafts people barely payed their setup fee.This was the last weekend of Oct,I sold out of all the honey I had bottled and the boxed comb honey went first, witch was unusal,I usually have to take half of it back home.People were like our bees this year,they brought the nectar home and left the flowers in the field.


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## Swobee (May 18, 2007)

My wife and a friend used to do stained glass tiems at craft shows. They always did well, but it was mostly special & custom orders, rather than the ready-made knick knack items that sold. Several years have passed and she no longers does the craft 'thing'. Even back then, the craft 'thing' was dwindling each season. 

On the other hand, our honey sales have blossomed. While our participation in farmer's markets is fairly new to us, but we are expanding the number of markets. My personal opinion is that there's been considerable press about the plight of our honey industry coupled with concerns of a healthy diet & allergies that honey will do well for some time to come. It also may have helped that a local bee keeper sold out a couple of years ago and I do so many talks at schools & service clubs that have developed new routine customers. 

As for crafters, they need to come up with the next new & unusual item, then run with it. But be prepared to have the next craft 'best thing since sliced bread' ready in the back of their minds. In other words, so many craft items have just run their course and the public wants something new and different- they're bored with the majority of products found at craft shows.


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## Dan Williamson (Apr 6, 2004)

I harvested almost exactly 5 drums of honey. I'm down to less than 1 drum. My honey has sold faster this year than any other year. All honey was retailed. I've seen absolutely ZERO negative impact from the economy on sales. In fact, my sales are up.


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## cow pollinater (Dec 5, 2007)

I have a freind who is a liquer salesman. He told me he sells more top shelf stuff in bad times than when things look rosy. He said that when people are stressed, they see food and drink that they really can't afford as affordable comfort since food is a necessity but non-food items are a luxury instead of a necessity and get passed up. 
I started to tell him he was full of it but then he asked me if my wife eats chocolate when she's stressed... He may be on to something and I can see how fresh honey would fit into the same catagory.


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## alpha6 (May 12, 2008)

All those honey mead guys should start making extra. :thumbsup:


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## Swobee (May 18, 2007)

alpha6 said:


> All those honey mead guys should start making extra. :thumbsup:



If you insist- just started two 5-gal. in the last couple of days, but if that's not enough, well who am I to argue


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## Chef Isaac (Jul 26, 2004)

mmmm, maybe I need to revisit my marketing stratagies. We did this event in my home town..... farm town and to be honest, businesses are not doing well there. One of the big factories there are going to close down, which happens to be where my dad works. The town is being affected. 

Maybe I will try an event in Seattle.


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## Ruben (Feb 11, 2006)

The economy has been so bad my bees could not afford to make honey  Jokes aside we had a major drought this summer and I only had about 350lbs down from 750lbs last year. I had it all sold before I got it off the hives. I could sell a couple more hundred lbs now if I had it.


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## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

I made 33 or 34T this year, and the extracted sold for $1.50-$1.75. The comb sold for $4/cut. Everything I produced is gone, and I'm working on the bought honey. Doesn't seem to be any problems in the salad dressing industry...my main customer...and the small packers seem to be selling the same as before.


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## tecumseh (Apr 26, 2005)

cow pollinator writes:
I have a freind who is a liquer salesman.

tecumeh:
the jargon in eco speak is 'inferior goods' and 'superior good'. with declining incomes the sale of inferior good should increase.... with increasing income the sale of superior goods should increase.

there are a number of good that have been documented to follow these general patterns. liquor and wine sales usually falls during bad economic times and beer sales will increase. used auto parts (junk yard sales) will increase significantly with declining income levels and the sale of new automobile will fall.


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