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Am I nuts or what? Do I really want to sell in large quantities?
As most of you know, this is my first year doing a market. I'm testing the waters by offering things at my stand from "A" to "Z". I'm finding or feeling my way through all this to see what the customers want and don't want. It's a bit expensive doing it this way, because what I think will sell, sometimes doesn't and it ends up on the compost pile.
One of the things that people seem to want are "Large Quantities", but don't want to pay very much for them.
Here is an example of what I mean: I sell cucumbers for 80 cents each. (grocery store is .79 cents each) I grow "Straight Eight" cucumbers and so they are large. Now come the people who want to make "Pickles". Since pickling cucumbers are small, about 3" to 4", a lot more pickling cucumbers fit a basket than a full sized cucumber. If I charge 80 cents each, and fill a half bushel basket, it costs a fortune. If I sell by the pound, people say it's too much. (some people do, not everybody. I sold 40 pounds this week and 80 pounds last week and in both cases I sold out.)
I charge $1.70 a pound for Pickling Cucumbers and 10 pounds cost $17.00. If I were to sell by the each's, I would be getting around $76.80. When I sell full sized cucumbers, that is what I'd get, if I sold by the each's.
I'm sort of feeling, "you would have to be nuts to sell large amounts to people. they don't appreciate it and always try to get you to lower your price. they don't take the time to listen to you when you try to explain to them that those same cucumbers, if picked at maturity, would have cost them a LOT more than $17.00.
I have been selling 10 lb. containers of beets, green tomatoes, and 5lb. & 10lb. containers of pickling cucumbers. It's a lot of work and it takes me a minimum of 2 days to pick everything and get it cleaned and ready for Wednesday when I re-open the stand. (I'm closed Sun. Mon. & Tues)
Does anyone here sell by quantity? If you do, how do you handle it? If you don't, why?
Thanks
Darrell
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