Calling it a hobby shouldn't preclude one from trying to make some income from that hobby...hence the term "hobby farm", where it may not provide tangible income but may offer a small tax break. The notion that a hobby is just for fun is fine, but it's not necessarily a constant.....it is possible to have a hobby that pays some of its own way.
Don, those prices are perfect. I sell the 8 and 12 Oz. as well. The same leader oval with handle bottles. The bottles alone are almost a dollar a piece. Plus wood, evaporator, finisher, filters, and all other costs. I sell mine for the same amount. If it is selling slow, then consider dropping the price. But I think you'll be alright.
I wanted to thank everyone for their input into this thread, it has given me lots of information.
My daughter sold some at the PTA sponsored craft fair in November and we sold 1.7oz nips for $3 and 8oz bottles for $10. There were only about 30 little bottles and 20 1/2 pints but she sold it all in 2 hours.
1st year - 6 taps and a turkey fryer and 1 gallon of syrup
2nd year - 12 taps, turkey fryer and another gallon of syrup
3rd year - 45 taps, new propane setup and 5 gallons of syrup
Lol Don, back in my day (class of '72) an oz was 20 bucks!Originally Posted by DonMcJr
Edit: btw, a dollar an oz sounds very fair to me.
Last edited by saphound; 03-26-2015 at 04:58 PM.
A good example of that is the guy who buys up an old run-down classic car, spends some time fixing it up, then drives it until he sells it. Then, the process starts all over again.
Deserving more doesn't really play into it for me. We can charge more if buyers are willing to pay more for "artisan" than for "factory". There's no reason not to price at whatever sells the product. There's no reason to feel it's wrong to sell at whatever price they'll pay. It's not like they're being forced to buy. It's not like we're misrepresenting the product.
CE
44° 41′ 3″ N
2019 -- 44 Red Maples - My home and sugarbush are for sale.
2018 -- 48 Red Maples, 7 gallons
2017 -- 84 Red Maples, 1 Sugar Maple, and 1 Silver Maple , 13 gallons
2016 -- 55 Red Maples, 8 gallons
2015 -- 15 Red Maples, 6 Birches - 3+ gallons maple syrup
An awning over my deck is my sugar shack.
An electrified kitchen sink and an electrified steam table pan are my evaporators.
This has got to be the most ignorant comment I have ever heard from a guy with 40 taps. Go ahead and spend some time with a producer with hundreds or thousands of more taps then you, with 10's of thousands invested in equipment and yet the vast majority of us have full time jobs too.Default
Why lower your prices if it sells? The way I see it is us smaller guys and gals work alot harder cause we fit it in with our full time jobs. Also I've been doing this for 4 years now and the price never goes up with inflation?!
Last edited by RustyBuckets; 03-26-2015 at 05:32 PM.
This is your opinion and as a 2000 tap operation this offends me slightly. I have a RO, filter press, ss storage vessels, and everything possible to keep the sap/syrup as sanitary as possible, but because of the RO my stuff is in theory not as good. I personally think a fair syrup price is what the going market value in your area is. if you would like to charge more, then that is your choice, I hope you can sell at the higher price because that is the joy of free markets and sales strategy. What I disagree with is dumbing down another producers product. Maple believe it or not is a small community, and there's no need to throw a different process of making syrup under the bus just to make a sale.
I also respectfully disagree with this comment. Like stated before I have a 2000 tap operation, a full time job, a wife, 2 daughters (4 and 7) and I make 600+ gallons of syrup into value added confections each year. work is a relative term, what may be hard for you may not be for me, and vice versa.......the best statement here is Maple is hard work, and we should feel confident in what we charge for our products because we know how much work goes into creating them.
Jake Moser
Moser's Maple
2 beautiful little girls
1 wife that's become her mother
www.facebook.com/mosersmaple
wow did this thread go off into the fire! I never even consided who worked harder, I assume anyone making syrup is not returning a high value per hour for their labor. I would guess it's expodential and the bigger you are the more hours you spend annually and when you divide that against margin I bet no one is making any wages worth crowing about. I always assummed syrupers done it first because they like doing it. Heck I'm not worried about what I sell it for, but I'll get what the market will easily bear. The fact is I give away more value than I gain in sells. If I can pay for my supplies I'm happy, the rest is because I like doing it and making people happy.....that is why I am a hobby producer. I have been part of a bigger for profit operation and I'll tell you it has way more demands than running out for an hour or two collecting 100 or so gallons of sap and then spending a few hours boiling. I take maybe a couple or three darws a day. I remember watching my dad and his friends taking almost constant draws and trying to keep up with packing, head tanks firing etc. I remember those days and that is why I only do this as a hobby. A bad year means I lose a couple hundred or maybe four hundred dollars....a bad year for a large producer means thousands perhaps. I respect everyones work and am surprised this is even discusable.
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