We're still not selling eggs but our small flock usually gives enough eggs for us plus an extra 2 dozen a week. We've been giving them to friends but haven't had much luck getting the cartons back. I went to the farm store and bought what they had. I paid .39 a piece for about a dozen cartons. I can buy them in bulk cheaper but don't need a lot right now.
I wanted our name on the new cartons but there wasn't a good spot for a business card so I printed out a little thing with our logo and contact info. I put quite a few on a page, cut them in strips, and glued them on the front of each carton.
They're not perfect but are a little more professional at least. I think I'd like the flat top cartons when we're actually selling eggs. I would like to charge a $0.25 or $0.50 "deposit" for cartons at that point. I'm not sure what our prices would be but for example, $2.50/dozen or $2/dozen with each carton you bring back. That way we would probably get lots of cartons back but wouldn't have to raise the prices to cover the costs.
Any thoughts on egg packaging? What do you like/dislike? What about prices, what is the going rate in your area for farm fresh eggs w/o antibiotics?
9 comments:
Jena ~ I don't need to buy eggs, but the gal I get my beef from has a large sign that asks for egg cartons. I took a huge stack to her (we save/recycle everything) and she was thrilled. I don't know if you have an active Craigslist in your area, but we do here and I see free ads for cartons often. Hope this helps!
We get fresh eggs for $2.00 a dozen. They just ask that we return the cartons...and we're "green", so we do. My mom also saves all the cartons from the store eggs that she buys so we have plenty extra to bring with us. I think a deposit is a good idea!! :) Good luck!
Melissa - Thanks for the ideas! I like the Craigslist idea especially.
Julie - I'm glad you like the deposit idea. I don't think people would mind the little extra at first. $2/dozen is what I would like to charge if that leaves me enough room for a small profit after expenses. I think $2.50 might seem a little high in our area. People here are slowly beginning to realize the importance of local, healthy food but many still look at price first.
Yes, I hear ya!
People are always bringing cartons back to our store. We don't raise chickens, but get them from a farm in the next town over. Since you can't recycle them around here (can you anywhere?) people always bring them back.
Eggs here are really expensive... 3.79 a dozen for local conventional eggs. Go for pastured, free range, organic and you can go over $5 a dozen.
Can you guess why we're getting chickens?!?!
We sell our eggs for $2/dozen. It's pretty high compared to the store eggs, but the people who want fresh eggs are willing to pay it.
As for cartons, just ask people to save them for you. We asked at church, work, and other friends, and now *everyone* is saving egg cartons for us, even if they don't buy eggs from us! We've never had to charge extra for them, because we always have TONS! :)
You can buy blank return-address-style labels that can be printed easily (Word has a setting to print them, I believe) and stuck right on your cartons if you want to skip the whole cutting-and-gluing process. The labels themselves are fairly cheap, and you can get them at WalMart or any office supply store.
In Chicago, farm fresh eggs are hard to come by -- and they are priced that way!
At the Farmer's Market, they are $4.25 and they almost always sell out.
I get them from a WISC farmer co-op thru my food co-op and we pay $3.50.
I pay $4 or $5 a dozen at the farmer's market, but the market is located in a rather wealthy section of town. They do a discount if you purchase a lot: $3/dozen if I buy 3 dozen at once time. And I take the cartons back just because they asked. No deposit needed... But a deposit does make sense if people don't respond to a request.
good luck!
FD - Yeah, it sounds like a good idea for you to get chickens with those prices!
Abutton - Thanks for the idea of getting address stickers. I had some of the small ones but never thought of getting bigger ones. That would be a lot easier!
Angie - Isn't is funny how prices change so much from place to place? Chicago isn't terribly far from us and yet eggs are almost twice as much.
GR - It's nice that they offer the discount on 3. Our eggs seem to last quite awhile so that might make sense even for small families. I'll keep that in mind if we ever have a surplus to get rid of.
Post a Comment