2012 syrup prices

[RustyBuckets]

just curious, if you don't see how we can cover costs at the prices we are running....what are your prices that are so amazing and cover your costs. I'm pretty sure there was an "misunderstanding" like this in this thread about 2 pages ago. It all depends on your situation and what you are spending.

The big price breaks I see you guys posting makes no sense to me is all Im saying. It takes the same amount of energy and labor to make every ounce of syrup. Why do such a hard discount for a gallon quantity? For example you are selling half pints for 6 dollars which is 96 dollars a gallon but yet you sell your gallons for almost half that price at 56 dollars. I sell at 68 dollars a gallon and it is broken down equally by other sizes. I sell every drop and never had it questioned.

[sugaringman85]

i think it all depends on what you believe is a fair price, and what your costs are. I have run the numbers time and time again based on buying syrup at a bulk price and making sure there is money made after all expenses and time. that is how i figure out my numbers. it works for me and if you can sell syrup at that price. more power to ya. there is a lot less work involved with making gallons that half pints or 50ml glass containers. thats why the prices are different.

[sirsapsalot]

The big price breaks I see you guys posting makes no sense to me is all Im saying. It takes the same amount of energy and labor to make every ounce of syrup. Why do such a hard discount for a gallon quantity? For example you are selling half pints for 6 dollars which is 96 dollars a gallon but yet you sell your gallons for almost half that price at 56 dollars. I sell at 68 dollars a gallon and it is broken down equally by other sizes. I sell every drop and never had it questioned.

I have been wondering that myself to me bottling is the easiest part of the whole process so why discount it at the last stage, did we already forget how much work we did to get that far ?

[farmall h]

Michiganfarmer2, my prices are exact to yours. Rusty Buckets...how much syrup are you selling anyway? If you price too high you'll never get rid of it!

[jmayerl]

Ok I get it now. What many of your are failing to see is that everyone who sells smaller containers for a higher per ounce price than say a gallon jug are following very simple yet well established marketing tactics. There are many reasons for this, the biggest being that most people would rather spend a few dollars to try something out or to have a short term(weeks-months supply) rather than spend say $60 for a few years supply of syrup. Look at it this way, 95% of people will buy a pound or 2 of ground burger for a meal or 2 of hamburgers at 4.49 a pound. 5% will buy 1/4 beef because it is $2 a pound and will last them for the whole year.

If all of this is still to complicated for anyone to figure out then just go to the grocery store and look at anything that is sold in multiple size containers and then figure out the price per ounce and it will always be more the smaller the container gets.

I don't remember my exact breakdown off the top of my head but i had a business marketing friend figure it out for me and it works great. PM me and I will remember to look it up.

[RustyBuckets]

Michiganfarmer2, my prices are exact to yours. Rusty Buckets...how much syrup are you selling anyway? If you price too high you'll never get rid of it!

Like I said I sell out every year well over 100 gallons of syrup and by fall Im taking new orders for spring I cant fill. Hamburger is not a specialty item or luxury item. Thinking any other way is leaving money on the table. Like I said before as well why offer gallons so cheap if you can sell quarts and pints and hit your profit margins faster. Marketing a luxury item by price seems awful silly to me. Market it by your product not pricing. Theres a huge mentality that lingers with all people and Im sure you heard people say it a thousand times. You pay or what you get. Not saying my product is better but in a consumer mentality it might seem that way to them.

[jmayerl]

Hey rusty, I searched all your posts and cant seem to find what you charge for your syrup........

I sell about 8% of my retail syrup in gallons for $49, and like many other people I have a very comfortable profit at that price. If you can't make money at that then perhaps you are very inefficient in your production.

Maple syrup is not a specialty or luxury item anywhere around here. At any grocery store in Wisconsin you can find 3-5 different syrup makers on the shelves selling for 15-18 per quart. You could also stop at any dairy farm(i can think of 20) within 15 mins of my house and buy a quart in a mason jar for $10(i wouldnt do that thou).

[sirsapsalot]

You guys must all do this for fun and have REAL jobs to cover the REAL expenses. I wouldn't sell a drop of syrup for less than 60.00 a gallon. I used to be dairy farmer i sold the cows when milk went to 9.00 and my corn was worth 4.00 a bu. It was stupid to feed 4.00 corn to cows and loose REAL money on the milk. I make syrup for fun and money, its WAY too much work to use REAL money to cover the cost of equipment, insurance, taxes and labor so if i had to sell it for less that 60.00 i think i would find something better to do with my time.

[RustyBuckets]

Syrup is a specialty and luxury item, it is not a necessity to have or own. Just because you see it all over the local grocery does not make it anything but. I posted my price in this very thread. I am not in-efficient by any means. I just refuse to take a loss on my hard work. I am willing to bet you that if you actually broke down every penny you spent on equipment, wood or oil, the time money and materials to get your wood, filters, jugs, cleaning supplies, electricity, your time, labor, taxes,insurance and the dozen other things Im missing of the top of my head you will see there is few making any decent profit if any at all at the prices Im am seeing unless you are selling in mass quantities and have thousands of taps. Now if you are just a hobby guy trying to break even thats a different story but then again why would you not want to make a couple extra bucks because your syrup is worth it.