The first to know?

[oliver90owner]

I did as I was told over on the omlette forum and addressed my questions to the company rather than to the one particular poster who, frankly, didn't really seem to know what they were looking at. I believe, he did not even understand what a Dartington hive looked like or how it was operated.

Did that on the 18th and received a comprehensive reply from Robin Dartington on Friday (my email was passed to him by the original recipient).

Upshot of all this is that it is a plastic Dartington (by another name, of course).

Different materials of construction but the same basic dimensions and the same operational methods.

Regards, RAB

 

[Poly Hive]

Uh huh.

PH

 

[BKF Admin]

If thats true then what applies:

A. The Dartington hive is amazing,but Robin had very bad marketing skills.

B. Omlete have bought a pup.

c. Something else.

 

[JCBrum]

Possibly none of them. Allowing for the initial 'novelty' sales, we don't yet know whether the beehaus will sell in sufficient quantity next year to justify its existence.

No doubt the tooling was expensive, so I expect a strong marketing effort next spring to try and recover some of that cost, but if prospective beekeepers discover you can do a similar job for less than half the price, then price might become a stumbling block.

I think their timing was less than perfect. They should have held back till March. After all, who needs a new beehive at this time of year ?

 

[steve1958]

Maybeeee
They have overpriced their product on purpose.
So that they can reduce their prices in their Spring Sale.
Thus being more competitive.

After all. Everyone likes to think they have bought a bargain

 

[Bucks_Boy]

Maybeeee
They have overpriced their product on purpose.
So that they can reduce their prices in their Spring Sale.
Thus being more competitive.

After all. Everyone likes to think they have bought a bargain

Or they have timed it for Xmas when people at a loss for an ethical present ( not another "goat for africa" or "adopt a zoo animal" ) buy it for their partner !

 

[hedgerow pete]

dont knock robin and his hive design i have used several and have found them to be very easy to use and work with, i seriously considered using them in the bee shed because of there ease of use but since i wanted to do other things other than the shed i went back to nationals, the idea of starting to sell the hive this year is tyo get the market to know iits name before the spring rush they have all winter to log the guts out of it and to get it known before the spring sales
also dont forget that to make the tooling to make these from plastic has proberly cost £100,000 if not more as tooling for plastics evan from china is not cheap, aswell as petrol and diesel plastic is on a all time high as well dont you know

 

[JCBrum]

At the end of the day, after considering all the options, it usually settles at Langs or Nats.

Is it really going to be any different next spring ?

 

[Poly Hive]

Errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...................................................

Nope.

PH

Ps.. Each part of the poly hive, each mould costs I was told some 20k. so that is two for the brood, two for the super, (4) plus the floor and roof. 6. £120k guys and girls is a lot of investment for a very small scale enterprise. It's not as if it was clothes pegs and in millions is it?

PH