Exiting the industy...

[Dennis Crowley]

That is gracefully exiting the industry.

Mine might not be so graceful, more like, wake up one day and go 'truck it' I'll give my hives to the first beek I bump into that morn and sell the trucks and non-beekeeping hardware on TradeMe that arvo and back home enjoying a whiskey in the spa by t time.
Next morn, I might go, oh hell, what the truck did I just do?

 

[James]

Ah Pluck it…. What happens if there is no demand for all your precious woodware…
All those nicely painted boxes, tidy pallets, fixed up feeders and expensive extractors…. Collateral damage?

 

[Alastair]

 

[frazzledfozzle]

It’s a strange time, for us it feels like we are treading water just doing what we have always done, rinse and repeat every season.
There must be people out there selling honey and doing OK but I don’t know who they are or what they are doing that’s different to those of us who aren’t selling honey.
Its hard to know what to do, sell up for whatever you can get ?
keep going and hope things come right ?

Most of the beekeepers we know have not sold much if any honey for three years how long can that go on ?

 

[Dennis Crowley]

Ah Pluck it…. What happens if there is no demand for all your precious woodware…
All those nicely painted boxes, tidy pallets, fixed up feeders and expensive extractors…. Collateral damage?

I guess it comes down to what you expect to get. If the bee business doesn't owe you anything, then you can be more open to lower prices, but if you got debt, then Id hang in there if you can until the pendulum swings more in your favour. Also, your mental health comes into it as well, if you having issues and need to de-stress yourself, sometimes walking away is the best option, if you feel you need to, find someone to take over or help you dispose of the business.

 

[NZDan]

Hi all, hobbyist beek. I really feel for you guys after all the years some of you have put into the industry and I can appreciate there are a lot of money grabbers that have screwed the market up (and probably a couple of politicians).
So is everyone holding onto their honey waiting for the price to come right- surely that when it does everyone will be trying to dump years worth of stockpiling on the market - supply and demand, price drops again.
Then you have those that are selling at a low price, turning over little to no profit, and forcing those that are in a position where they have to sell joining them with no profit and 'exiting the industry' not so gracefully.
Like I said at the start I feel for you guys, you're damned if you do and damned if you don't at the moment.

 

[tristan]

So is everyone holding onto their honey waiting for the price to come right- surely that when it does everyone will be trying to dump years worth of stockpiling on the market - supply and demand, price drops again.

basically thats whats been happening.
some held off selling off cheap, now they are stuck with product they can't sell. trouble is you can only hang on to stock for so long before it becomes to old and markets start rejecting it.

there is a lot of gear and hives up for sale at the moment, but i fear they have waited way to long. interesting that some are not pricing to sell.

 

[Alastair]

interesting that some are not pricing to sell.

Certainly some dreamers out there.

Occasionally they may meet an ill informed buyer and get lucky.