70 replies to this topic

[r82230]

That’s the way I approach the matter.....if someone is buying one, the price is say $50....if they buy more the price MAY drop, but I have to feel and read each customer.

 

Big Dawg, you're the man. I'm going to run with your idea.     

 

More along the line of  "My hay price is $50 a bale, but I offer quantity discounts.  Which most customers take advantage of when buying my hay.  This allows them to purchase at hay at over a 80% discount (savings ).  Wouldn't you like to take advantage of those savings?  How many bales do you need?"

 

Maybe, I should even think along the lines of Kohl's cash.  The more they spend, the more they can spend, the next load.  With a limited time offer naturally. 

 

No Big Dawg, I can't afford to give you any royalties for your idea, without raising my prices more, sorry. 

 

Larry

[Hayman1]

Big Dawg, you're the man. I'm going to run with your idea.     

 

More along the line of  "My hay price is $50 a bale, but I offer quantity discounts.  Which most customers take advantage of when buying my hay.  This allows them to purchase at hay at over a 80% discount (savings ).  Wouldn't you like to take advantage of those savings?  How many bales do you need?"

 

Maybe, I should even think along the lines of Kohl's cash.  The more they spend, the more they can spend, the next load.  With a limited time offer naturally. 

 

No Big Dawg, I can't afford to give you any royalties for your idea, without raising my prices more, sorry. 

 

Larry

Well Larry, you could set yours at $60, send Dawg 10$ for the idea and still make out.  No one can pay Dawg's price and ship to your neighborhood.  Of course, the quantity discount math gets complicated but everything being case by case, no one is likely to figure it out and beat the system.      (just one uppin your  )  

[somedevildawg]

Damn it man....I always miss out on the gravy train

I had a guy today that was waffling on me....needed 100 round bales. He bought em’ for 10% less than he could have by buying say 20.....but he was probably gonna buy some from me, some from someone else ifn he needed some (and he knew he was) but he saw a way to save, I saw a way to get a commitment and the rest is history and his check is in my pocketbook

[Farmineer95]

“Some people better off being other people’s customers”.

It’s a game to them to get what they want and be right. Game or pride-arrogance complex. Just ask them, they’ll tell you.

[JD3430]

I wouldn’t do Pup’s way.....
Hay don’t sell for enough as it is. 
Gotta get em “trained” first, then maybe give em a break IF they are well trained. 

[Edd in KY]

There are a lot of "I am smarter than you" 70 year olds. It is not generational.

[Ox76]

lol - what about the guys who think if you're younger than them it makes them better than you somehow?  As if age is the thing that makes a man a better man?  Had one here yesterday like that.  Irks me every time.  And he was really a dumbass in every other aspect, in addition to being offensive several times, but was oblivious.  People always seem to amaze me.

[gosh]

lol - what about the guys who think if you're younger than them it makes them better than you somehow?  As if age is the thing that makes a man a better man?  Had one here yesterday like that.  Irks me every time.  And he was really a dumbass in every other aspect, in addition to being offensive several times, but was oblivious.  People always seem to amaze me.

Right on. One of the main reasons I enjoy hanging out with my 83 year old neighbor so much is that he’s 83. He’s learned a lot during those many trips around the sun. When he offers his opinion on something, I listen. He’s changed my mind on stuff on many occasions.

[broadriverhay]

I don't give discounts. It cost the same to make the hay whether they buy 1 or 1000. The inputs are the same. When you buy fuel ,fertilizer , or equipment you don't get a discount. Walk in the store and tell the clerk you want a discount for buying 100 gallons of fuel or you are going to only buy 10 and go down the road and buy the other 90. They will laugh at you. If they buy 100 bales at a time ,does that hay have any less inputs , NO. The money has already been spent long time ago on fertilizer, lime, fuel, equipment and time . Don't forget all of this just because it was a few months ago. When you were working your ass off they were out trail riding and having a good time saying " That old dumb farmer down the road will have my hay for me this Winter".

[Ox76]

Right on. One of the main reasons I enjoy hanging out with my 83 year old neighbor so much is that he’s 83. He’s learned a lot during those many trips around the sun. When he offers his opinion on something, I listen. He’s changed my mind on stuff on many occasions.

I love the old timers.  The respectable ones, which thankfully most of them are.  I've always liked folks older than me.  Never fit in too good with folks my own age.  Guess that makes me a loser.  OK!  lol

[JD3430]

I don't give discounts. It cost the same to make the hay whether they buy 1 or 1000. The inputs are the same. When you buy fuel ,fertilizer , or equipment you don't get a discount. Walk in the store and tell the clerk you want a discount for buying 100 gallons of fuel or you are going to only buy 10 and go down the road and buy the other 90. They will laugh at you. If they buy 100 bales at a time ,does that hay have any less inputs , NO. The money has already been spent long time ago on fertilizer, lime, fuel, equipment and time . Don't forget all of this just because it was a few months ago. When you were working your ass off they were out trail riding and having a good time saying " That old dumb farmer down the road will have my hay for me this Winter".

speak the truth!! 
nobodys giving me no damn “discount”. 
I start em higher than I need to make and if they come back for more, don’t bug me, don’t ask for anything, I might give them a small discount. 

[somedevildawg]

I don't give discounts. It cost the same to make the hay whether they buy 1 or 1000. The inputs are the same. When you buy fuel ,fertilizer , or equipment you don't get a discount. Walk in the store and tell the clerk you want a discount for buying 100 gallons of fuel or you are going to only buy 10 and go down the road and buy the other 90. They will laugh at you. If they buy 100 bales at a time ,does that hay have any less inputs , NO. The money has already been spent long time ago on fertilizer, lime, fuel, equipment and time . Don't forget all of this just because it was a few months ago. When you were working your ass off they were out trail riding and having a good time saying " That old dumb farmer down the road will have my hay for me this Winter".

Not exactly.....I do get discounts for quantity buying regularly. When I buy net, I buy by the pallets. Twine by the pallets. When I buy chemicals and NPK i always get a discount for pre-pay. So yes, I do receive discounts by the way I do business. So I offer discounts to people that buy in quantity all day long. It’s just smart business....it’s also smart to not discount hay if you don’t have to, but there is a point in which you will have to “discount” hay. My very best premium hay, barn stored in bundles and rounds are subject to the same rules. I have a customer that buys 8k small squares a year....do you really think he would buy from me year after year if I didn’t offer him a discount for his hard earned money when buying hay for the last 5 years? Moreover, why would you not want to give that guy a discount? Do you not appreciate him? He expects quality, on time delivery and he gets that....I expect payment on delivery and I get that....both parties are happy and I’m on my way with a check.
Now a lot has to do with your starting price...if you’re in the high “average” or in the low “average” price to start with....I happen to start high and then I have some wiggle room. Now if you were making something like ditch hay or mushroom hay, there’s no room to work....
Another example, I have a guy that I have to stop what I’m doing and load him one round bale at a time....he pays $60 for that bale of hay. I just delivered 640 bales to a customer, do you think he should pay the same? He didn’t, he paid $50......but I got a check and he was happy and I was happy.
So, while it may seem the best thing to do is never discount anything, that would be the perfect scenario....in most situations, it only prudent to offer discounts to loyal volume customers.

[JOR Farm]

I receive discounts on net twine grease just about everything I can buy in volume I thought that was how everyone did it like the other day I ordered off road and the guy said he would tell me the final price when the tank was full. Ticket he left said $1.20 per gallon took almost 3000 gallons to fill the tank station down the road has $2.03 by the gallon. I do agree with and give quantity discounts but since I have 6 different barns with different quality
Hay, rather than arguing over price I just figure out how much they are going to pay then open that barn door. Most never know the difference.

[JD3430]

There’s no room to work or discount mushroom hay because the farmer doesn’t dictate the price, the buyer does, but it sure as heck is a nice place to get rid of substandard hay, rather than try to hide it in the the middle of a load of feed hay.   
Anyhow, no way on the discount. I sold hundreds of round bales for feed at the price I want already this year and nobody seems to balk. They just call back for more. Seem to all be driving fancier cars, wearing fancier clothes and living in fancier homes, so I don’t lose sleep over it. 

[carcajou]

You might get away with that attitude, but here you would be out of business.  We deal in volume and volume sales earns discounts.  Much rather load out 10 semi loads to a customer then start a loader constantly to load out a few bales. Plus we have winter to deal with, and moving snow over and over to load out sucks.  Some years we set our hay prices, some years the market does it for us. This year it's damn hard to move hay at any price atm..

[somedevildawg]

What do you think is causing slow sales? Warmer than normal?

[carcajou]

What do you think is causing slow sales? Warmer than normal?

Most years we ship hay through brokers to Eastern Canada and the Eastern US all the way to Florida.  This year the brokers tell me their customers are buying "just in time deliveries", not willing to gamble on what may or may not happen via Covid.  Time will tell  Locally we just had a bumper crop of high quality hay that needs to go through the system before we will see decent pricing.

[JD3430]

You might get away with that attitude, but here you would be out of business.  We deal in volume and volume sales earns discounts.  Much rather load out 10 semi loads to a customer then start a loader constantly to load out a few bales. Plus we have winter to deal with, and moving snow over and over to load out sucks.  Some years we set our hay prices, some years the market does it for us. This year it's damn hard to move hay at any price atm..

I sure am glad not to be in that area. 
Here, I sell 5-25 round bales at a time for a nice profit. Delivery of the hay adds even more to the price and pays for the truck I would need for other work anyway   I sure as heck am not going backwards on my price, nobody else around here does, either.
All the > 16% or low quality stuff I make goes to mushroom @ ~$50/bale. 

As has been said many times, farming is the only profession where you pay retail for your inputs and sell your products for wholesale. Screw that! I’m starting a new trend to make us all a little wealthier.   
Like I’ve said and others too, hay is a regional thing. 
I hope things get better for you, Ray!

[broadriverhay]

I don't have to discount 2020 hay when I am already taking orders for 2021 hay. I sell out every year at normal prices to the same customers so why discount. If I have hay get rained on it goes straight to cow people and not in my barn . Yes it is discounted but there are no volume discounts to horse people. I just don't have to do it in my area.  

[broadriverhay]

speak the truth!! 
nobodys giving me no damn “discount”. 
I start em higher than I need to make and if they come back for more, don’t bug me, don’t ask for anything, I might give them a small discount. 

I like the way you think!!