Has the bubble burst?

[alanf]

...I do believe the over-pricing of equipment and supplies for the hobby beekeeper will have a detrimental effect once the eco-effect has started to wane...

Far be it for me to defend commercial organisations. However you do have to bear in mind what they are. Even the French and other continental suppliers can supply cheap because they're retailing international pattern hives made in Eastern Europe.

The larger bee supply companies (and I'll include what are probably the biggest 5 or 6 in the UK along with the leading bee suit makers) are still small businesses in relative terms. The largest employs around 100, the rest 10s if that. They are making, storing, retailing and shipping in the UK. Inflation adjusted the basic equipment is no more expensive than the kit our fathers and grandfathers paid for.

What has happened on the high street and in various other retail sectors is that we've become used to mass imports from the third world. Low labour costs and minimum wage retail staff. There is still enough profit for the largest retailers to hide offshore or pay in dividends to the business owners but those on the shop floor don't see a lot of it. OK, so now we get cheap clothes. We get cheap electronics for various manufacturing reasons. Cheap plastic bits and pieces but very little of it is made here. Has it improved your local high street? Probably looks much the same as mine and I wouldn't describe it as a great improvement over what was there 30 years ago.

There are some specific cases which I think are a rip off, for instance patent variations on thymol, oxalic and other basic ingredient treatments. They have prices inflated at every regulation and registration step because that's how the veterinary medication market has been set up for the protection of the existing players.

Nobody is forcing you to buy here, there are plenty of suppliers who will ship worldwide. If the bee supply companies are paying UK wages, UK taxes, UK business rates and complying with all the red tape then I don't begrudge them a fair price.

 

[madasafish]

The overwhelming reason for the high costs of British hives is the adoption of a unique standard which makes volume production impossible.

Move to Langstroth and you have lots of worldwide suppliers. Nationals have no inherent advantages (to put it kindly) and are a sign of the conservatism (with a small "c") of UK beekeeping.. and its past insularity.

If the BBKA lead the industry, they would be advocating a change...

 

[Winker]

I could be remembering wrongly, but aren't there entire counties not affiliated with the BBKA ?

Bedfordshire BKA is not affiliated with the BBKA in any way at all

 

[user 6228]

Beekeepers in the UK are exploited by the equipment suppliers, it's a big profitable business.
In truth you don't have to spend very much at all, make your own kit, even if it doesn't look very pretty. Bees will live quite happily in almost any container.

And don't get caught up in the " I must have this piece of kit to achieve this outcome".

As an analogy, when I was a kid I went fishing with an old split cane rod and a crappy old reel, caught loads of fish !
You see fishermen today with barrow loads of kit and they catch bugger all !!

almost any insulated container
of approx 40 litres ...
entrance at the bottom
5 m up
entrance no larger than 30 sq cm
facing approximately South

 

[Davelin]

At my secondary school we had three years of compulsory woodwork. In the first year we had to do four basic exercises to the satisfaction of the teacher. We could then undertake projects. By the end of the third year I had almost finished the third of the first year's projects. The teacher constantly showed me what to do,but when left to do it, I ended up with a result he had to reject.
If it requires accurate sawing, knocking nails in straight or likewise with screws then I mess it up. I can put IKEA furniture together, because everything is precut and pre drilled.
I have no manual dexterity, and I'm not alone in this. Those of you who find woodwork easy can't understand our problems. Believe me, they're very real, and cannot be overcome.
I suspect that in my case my clumsiness is because I'm mix handed, right handed in some things and left handed in others.

Back in the early sixties our woodwork teacher would not allow anyone to make anything until such time as they could plane a piece of wood square.
Hence many of us spent the first year making very expensive door wedges.
Those were the days

You can spend as much or as little as you like on beekeeping, the fishing analogy is quite accurate

 

[Black Comb]

IMO cycling is much cheaper. You can buy a good bike for the price of a WBC.

 

[psafloyd]

I wonder if the interest in beekeeping has waned as much in London and other wealthy Urban areas... Home Counties etc etc?????

Just remember that London has some of the poorest and most deprived citizens in the country. The streets really aren't paved with gold, you know.

 

[psafloyd]

Give it a rest Jenkins, you constant belittling of brossville is appalling....


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Hang on, I felt the same way about Brosville's comment. He's reintroduced a hobby horse which is tangential and does not directly address the subject matter of the OP.

 

[psafloyd]

You go to the association meeting and it's all just moans and groans. It wouldn't be so bad if it was constructive.
I originally joined to learn , but I have learnt far more on here and from discussions with other beekeepers.

If your association isn't any good, change it. That might mean giving up a little time, but you will then attract more like minded people and the moaners and groaners (usually a minority) will be drowned out.

However, most people prefer to complain that nothing is being done and fail to take any direct action themselves. This is my experience from both beekeeping and allotment associations plus many other groups I have belonged to.

 

[Firefly]

Beekeepers in the UK are exploited by the equipment suppliers, it's a big profitable business.
In truth you don't have to spend very much at all,

As an analogy, when I was a kid I went fishing with an old split cane rod and a crappy old reel, caught loads of fish !
You see fishermen today with barrow loads of kit and they catch bugger all !!

"You were never any good with money, you couldn't even hold a job,
Not steady enough for the office, not hard enough for the hod.
You'd rather be riding your Norton or going fishing with your split cane rod."

 

[Firefly]

Personally, I prefer the randomness of TBH

I thought I read somewhere that the standard TBH bar-with is one regular Coke bottle top?

That sounds like my kind of carpentry (one day - when I've got a colony through 2 winters on standard equipment!)

 

[m100]

Just remember that London has some of the poorest and most deprived citizens in the country. The streets really aren't paved with gold, you know.

They are usually paved with stone stolen from Yorkshire

 

[For want of a better word]

"You were never any good with money, you couldn't even hold a job,
Not steady enough for the office, not hard enough for the hod.
You'd rather be riding your Norton or going fishing with your split cane rod."

That'll be me then !..... how I LOVED that P11A !!!

 

[Firefly]

That'll be me then !..... how I LOVED that P11A !!!

It's a good song - well, if you like that sort of thing...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwqbi7mlYOg

 

[Dadnlad]

Bedfordshire BKA is not affiliated with the BBKA in any way at all

Now I remember, cheers

 

[For want of a better word]

It's a good song - well, if you like that sort of thing...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwqbi7mlYOg

thanks for the link.... know the song and singer now!

 

[CB008]

I find this a fascinating hobby but unfortunately I also have to work, have a family, pets galore, a garden et al. This meant making my own kit is too time consuming so I have shelled out on all of the expensive stuff. My hope is that the best cedar parts will last for years as I remain staggered how much I she'll out each year.

 

[thorn]

That'll be me then !..... how I LOVED that P11A !!!

It was an 88, then an ES400. That shows how my life gradually went downhill until the MSS saved me.
As she may read this, for MSS, read Mrs.

 

[Outlander]

Everyone can make there own kit if they put their mind and some dedication into it.

I could and it would be weather proof but it wouldn’t look as pretty as yours or the ones I have. I would be missing fingers and more than likely be more of a grump than I already am. No I'll keep buying it thank you very much.

 

[psafloyd]

They are usually paved with stone stolen from Yorkshire

Not stolen –*SOLD. No Yorkshireman sell out his birthright unless the price was right.