My price gouging

Although I know stuff like this shouldn't bother me, but this has gotten under my skin a bit and I just want to vent. Today is January 30, 2019, last week, I believe Friday, Jason Chrisman at JC's Bees did a video featuring the grafting tray. I appreciate the video, thank you very much. Today I got a note from someone asking if I'd read the comments. Hadn't been there since I first saw the video so thought maybe I'd check them out. For the most part positive comments, some on the tray, some on Jason's truck. There was one that kind of set me off, that my price gouging is ridiculous. I wanted to immediately respond but thought better of it. Drove home and since it still bothered me I thought I just might write a blog. Some history on the products. The frame fingers were first. Made a bunch from scrap, sent out a LOT of samples all over the country with some response but nothing great. Then the queen disk came about 1 year later. The first responses were that it was a dumb idea. I'd like to have a few more ideas just as dumb. Again the first disks were made from scrap on some free machine time. Sold them very cheap, in fact I set a price before finding out what postage would cost. It's fifty cents for the bubble mailer and $3.38 for postage up to 8 ounces. (That's why I charge $3.95 for shipping, a few cents for tape). When I started receiving more orders and it became apparent that this item would sell, I spoke with a financial advisor. I needed to set up manufacturing and incorporate as a company. We figured out what the material cost, the fact that the owner of the shop where I work didn't mind me making a few items but if I'm running an actual business on his machines I needed to pay for them. And while I think my profits and losses are no-ones business but mine, the state and federal governments both think differently. When one adds up the material, the machine costs, state corporate, sales and income taxes, then the federal taxes too it's amazing how much our silent partners take away. Then there was the question of what I wanted to pay myself, something that a lot of small business owners don't think about. I told him that I wanted to keep prices down to where the average tinkerer, like me, won't go make his/her own, but I could still make some profit. So we came up with the current prices. It's still possible for someone with the tools and skills to copy my stuff for less than my selling price but that assumes their time has no value. The tray was a real tough one for me. I fought pretty hard to get that price lower. My initial desire was $50 to include shipping but there was just no way. A part of the issue is that my stuff is all American made. American metal and fasteners. Foregin material has been cheaper but I set on American made. I was approached by someone who could have all of my stuff made overseas, I could have the disks machined and assembled and fingers cut for less than I am currently paying. And I wouldn't need to assemble anything. But that's not what I want. I still have a pretty strong sense of national pride. I can't guarantee where some of the hardware is made, I do know the source for the aluminum though and the fasteners. 

I also want to address the sending of products to You-tubers. I made some strategic gifts one might say. Never specifically asked anyone to do videos or endorsements. But I will admit that I hoped for some. Ian and Jason are the only two who've done any videos and I am sincerely grateful for their endorsement. I sent out a lot of stuff to a lot of channels. Some said thanks, some said nothing and some said, how much will you pay for me to sell this?
As I said, strategic gifts. 

I've not had any specific complaints, some feedback on possible improvements, but as far as I know my customers have been satisfied and that means a lot to me. 

So if you've purchased I want to say thank you very much. 

Mid January thoughts

The title speaks for the blog today, just some random thoughts. It's January 13th and I'm still getting queens mated. Not grafting a lot or trying that many, just running four mating nucs. Last Wednesday the temp dropped down to mid 40's. I lost seven grafts. I'm blaming it on the cold, they should have emerged Friday or Saturday. I candled them and saw the pupae just flopping around as I turned the cell. Cut open and it was obvious the development had stopped.  I've since build an incubator, I'll do a video of it soon. It operates on 12 volts so I can plug it in the truck. Currently I have it connected to an old car battery with a battery maintainer in the garage. The thermostat reads 93.5, it runs from 91.5 to 94.  Don't know how accurate it is. I have five cells in now which should emerge on Wednesday. Bee Culture magazine came out yesterday, they did a thing on my gadgets, pretty cool. I anticipate an increase in sales. Certainly hope for one. If you read this and came here because of the article, leave me a note.  I've upgraded the spindle on my engraver, makes a big difference, still not at full speed, a new power supply coming next week should solve that. My Youtube channel is n_spect_r.
Today much of the country is under a severe winter storm warning, it's near 60 here with a forecast of sun and 80. We're having another club build day, trying to make some wooden-ware and stay ahead of the spring buildup.  Around here Valentine's day sort of marks the kick off, drone populations rise and swarms start. Although we had some swarms in December, been a strange winter.  Maple is already starting to bloom, I see my bees bring in white and yellow pollen every day and all of my boxes have some honey and nectar. I re-queened three boxes last fall, as a necessity since the original queens were lost. In all of those boxes they are totally packed with bees and the queens are laying brood on three or four frames. Something I plan to try again this fall. I think as soon as the Brazilian pepper starts to flow, I'll introduce new queens in half of my colonies and see how they winter (yeah right winter in Florida). Met some new people at the monthly club meeting this month. We had more than 40 attend. Been a club now for two years and we've had at least 30 people at each meeting. One new member said he found us from Ian Steppler's video on my gadget. On the subject of the gadgets. When I made the first one there were a few people who said it was a dumb idea, sold over 300 since then. I need some more dumb ideas. I've had some thoughts on this lately and been watching some Youtube videos on queen rearing. In most videos I see two specific items, Chinese grafting tools and JZ-BZ cups. They're almost the standard. Personally I don't like the Chinese tool but it's still the most popular. So I have an objective that five years from now, new videos on grafting will also include my disk. With that in mind I'm looking for places and people who regularly hold queen rearing classes. I'll make a deal with you for bulk disks for each student.  The tray has been and continues to be a frustration for me. I should have had some inventory two months ago but constant delays. I will have limited inventory in a day or so. And I mean really limited, like less than 10.  It's still a bit early, I know most people won't start the queen rearing for another two months so I'm hopeful to have some decent numbers by mid February.  Stay tuned to the blog and watch the gadgets page.