Market price for a 1/2 peck of apples in your area

The man across the street has an honor system for his fruit stand and it is a “real” fruit stand- roof, slanted shelves for displaying produce, etc. Its on a trailer too so he can move it around. He said he has only had his money stolen once in 3-4 years which is amazing and encouraging for mankind.

As for mine…I put it together today and if I posted a photo you would all die laughing! haha. my “produce stand” consists of 2 sawhorses with a big sheet of plywood on top! hahaha. Doesn’t get much more simple than that. It sits in a small strip between the highway and my fence. There is a nice little gravel pull off right beside it if someone does want to stop. I don’t even have a sign up. Fortunately it is so close to the edge of the road that people driving by can see that there are bags of apples . I just put a little copy-paper sized sign on the table that says “All Varieties of apples are $8.00 per bag. Honor System- please leave money in the coffee can”/

Now that is the world’s most basic (and easy) produce stand and therefore I may not sell a single bag. But I still have so little interest in selling fruit that I just don’t have the heart to put any more work into it. Also, I don’t grow enough fruit to justify much more of a stand. All my apples are coming off of just =5 semi-dwarf trees this year! ha. Not exactly a big operation. We will see how it goes._

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Well folks, Im off to a very bad start, and my faith in humanity has taken another hit. I put out 12 bags of apples last nigh at 5 pm. 3 bags each of 4 different varieties and all were labled. I put a clear sign on the table with price and saying it was an honor sysytem and to please put the money in the coffee can provided. Today at luch time there are 8 bags of apples left and not a single penny!!! :frowning: so 4 bags and or $32 was stolen.

I dont know why it matters, but what i would really love to know is whether some or all the people who got apples paid for them and then someone else came along and stole the money or if one or more people simply stole the apples. The can had been moved so it appears someone either checked it or robbed it or something. If the problem is money theft after it is deposited, i can stop that i think. I can bury a steel box (a meter box maybe) with a locking lid and a steel pipe sticking up and people can drop the money into the steel pipe and it will fall into the burried steel box that only i can open. No, it wouldnt be impossible for a thief to dig it our, cut lock off etc but id bet it would be more than they would try in my front yatd. I also left the apples out at night which was dumb.

Of well…
Its not even 24 hrs so too soon to give up or condemn man kind- but still disappointing!

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The key is just a little deterrent- in law enforcement we like to call it target hardening. Burying a steel box is probably overkill, the thing is that emptying a coffee can takes only a moment, no tools/preparation, and they can pick up the coffee can and pretend to be putting money in until the moment they clean it out. If they need even a small pry bar or hammer, that requires them to engage in obvious, overt criminal behavior that few people would bother with for a few bucks.

There’s also the chance it was some kid that is more or less unaware and/or doesn’t care about any consequences.

I’d like to think that most/all of your neighbors put the cash in and some jerk cleaned it out. The sad reality is that the vast majority of the population is morally willing to steal if there’s no chance of getting caught. The good news is that with even a slight chance of getting caught, the potential legal/social costs dissuade most.

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Look…I’m RICH!!! hahahaha I last checked my little table at 7 am and it was empty. I put out a few bags of apples and came back at noon to find 4 bags gone. I figured they had been stolen until I opened my little coffee can and sure enough…$32!!! hahaha. I felt like it was $3200 I was so happy…not really sure why. Nice to see there are still a few honest people out there. And even factoring in my thefts from yesterday, I’m happy with my total. As I’ve said many times, my goal has never, ever been to make money or break even or even get a substantial income. But if I get enough to buy a little bug spray or fertilize AND, more importantly, keep my fruit from being wasted, then I’m happy.

@Uygi I completely agree with everything you said. I noticed yesterday that the honor stand across the street from me has just taken a bird house with a top that was on hinges to open and look inside, and he put a lock on that top, then he cut a little slot in the top (for money), and nailed the birdhouse to a post on his stand. So yes, a person could still get in it fairly easy with tools, but like you said it is a “hardened target” that would require some work most theives might not want to do right beside the road and in his front yard. Certainly harder than opening my coffee can. So I’m going to do something similar, just as you suggested.

Here is part of my big windfall! haha (Total was $32 but some isn’t shown because I needed change)
image

UPDATE: 4 hours after the above post when I came home for lunch, 4 more bags are gone and to my amazement: $32 more dollars were in my coffee can! :slight_smile: Seriously, it does my heart good to know there are still a lot of honest people out there. This is fun!!! :slight_smile:

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There are road side stands everywhere around me, almost all are on the honor system. Grabbed a 1/2 peck of galas from the small orchard (and large vineyard) I used to work at for $3, that is not employee pricing. Strangely, they charge almost double the standard price for wholesale HoneyCrisp orders but keep the 1/2 pecks at the same $3.

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YIKES!!! I’m getting $8 for a 1/2 peck!!! Sounds like I may be too high but as you see above, i think I am in line with others.

I didn’t know the honor system was that common! I’ve rarely seen it but it is nice to know others use it too so apparently it is a somewhat viable system.

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I’m sure closer to $8-9 is normal, the low price is in part high supply but also because portions of my area are very economically disadvantaged despite the high number of tourists in the summer.

Farm stands, the honor system, and farming in general are a cultural (read passed down gen to gen) thing. Maybe you’ll inspire others and change the prevailing culture of your region.

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Congrats Kevin. You’re now a commercial grower, with all the rights, privileges, and responsibilities, lol.

Seriously though, I think you’ll do well to harden your money collection container. The thieves will be back. That’s the way they think. Like Pavlov’s dogs, only the dogs were more noble.

Keep charging a fair price. As a good friend who’s also a peach grower told me, those that complain, are really saying they enjoyed taking advantage of your risk and hard work and feel you should keep selling them fruit at below a reasonable rate of return on your labors.

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I wish I lived near any of you so I could buy your fruit! I can’t complain since I live in the Hudson River Valley, which is rotten with farm stands, but I’d much prefer to buy from a home grower. So if any of you are out there in my neck of the woods, let me know! (I have apple trees but still pretty much always buy more apples, and have no peaches, plums, pears, etc.)

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I was comparing bags and despite saying “1/2 peck” it was definitely a 1/4 peck. Still cheap but not silly. Cornell Orchards had true 1/2 pecks for $9.

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I’m not sure how I feel about being called a “commercial grower” haha. But technically I guess it is true! :slight_smile: Also, I needed to hear that part about asking a fair price and appreciated your comments, Mark. I recently had one lady pull up while I was putting out new apples on my table/stand. I greeted her with great kindness and ask if she needed some apples today. She replied “well, I sure would like some but there is no way I’m going to pay $8 per bag that is way too high”. I don’t normally get the least bit offended when someone tries to bargain with me on anything- I sometimes like to bicker over flea market/yard sale items myself. But the way she said it just ran all over me and while I normally would have easily lowered the price for someone, I knew I wouldn’t do it for her! I consciously thought about what you said about how some bargain hunters are just saying your work and success just isn’t worth paying for. I wasn’t rude but I just said “well, I’m already cheaper than Walmart and Kroger (grocery store) so I’m not sure how much less you think I ought to be, but that’s the best I can do”. And btw, that was true. All my bags are heaping full and always weigh 6 -7 pounds. At $8 that is about $1.15 to $1.33 per pound and almost all the apples at our Walmart are more than that except one sale batch for 99 cents. She sort of looked the apples over as if she was looking for something bad to say about them, and then bought TWO BAGS!!! hahaha. I thought it was sort of funny and also a bit ugly for her to act like I was way too expensive when she knew all along I wasn’t. Some people take the fun out of retail!!!

But most people have been absolutely great. I have had a couple Thank-you notes wrapped up in the money they deposited. I had one IOU from someone who put $6 in the can and put a note saying they didn’t have change but they would put the $2 in the following day (and they did!) and I had one person buy 5 bags and put the whole $40 in. So overall its been a very fun experience.

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Congratulations. Growing and selling can grow into an addiction!

The next step is to buy some new equipment to feed your new addiction

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Glad to hear your venture is working out, Kevin.

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WEll, another year has gone by and I think I’m going to sell a few apples again this year. I’ve always said I wasn’t in this for money and I’m not- no way in the world could I ever even break even the way I do things, and I also don’t want it to ever feel like a business because then I’ll be stressed about loosing money. As it is, I’ve always looked at my fruit growing as just another hobby. Some people buy cars and fix them up, some people buy boats and go fishing, some search and buy expensive antiques, and so on. I just look at my expenditures as something I am doing for entertainment, and never thought about trying to make money. I get so much joy from growing fruit that I’m happy to spend a few hundred dollars (maybe a thousand total) a year on it.

But last year on a whim I tried the honor system…I bought some 1/2 peck bags, filled them with apples, set them on a little table beside the road, put a coffee can out for people to put money it, put prices on the bags ($8 for 1/2 peck). I did have a few bags stolen, but for the most part people were refreshingly honest. I would often have more than $50 in the coffee can when I’d get home. It did and still does blow my mind that people could see a can with that much money and not steal it- but for the most part they didn’t. Maybe the world and its people aren’t as bad we think.

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone else ever tries this system of selling fruit, and if so how has it worked out for you. I pretty much use or gift all my peaches, but I have so many apples that some would go to waste if I didn’t do this, so I figure what do I have to loose. Anyway, I’m in no way suggesting this as a business plan or fooling myself into thinking I will ever recover my input costs. But if I get enough to buy some spray ingredients or fuel for my tractor, why not! I’ll let you know how it goes.

Oh…the other reason I’m posting is to ask what the market price is in your area for apples? 1/2 peck price would be nice, or peck or per pound. Thanks

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In real life I work for a discount retailer. I have seen firsthand how the Public damages packaging and pilfers merchandise from the cheapest dreck to the most expensive items of prestige manufacturers. Retailers like the one I work for seem to calculate that shrink can be tolerated up to a point to avoid the added expense of preventing theft and vandalism, but this is a steady-state calculation. It doesn’t account for reinforcing this kind of anti-social behavior by encouraging it. If people get away with it, their impulse to try again is reinforced, and the costs of shrink quickly escalate without limit. We don’t have to theorize about why people do it: It may be for gain. It may be to get back at Big Business. It’s enough to realize that we’re putting temptation in the path of those who are powerless to resist.

You may be able to leave substantial sums of cash on roadside tables now as vendors have done in the past. That doesn’t mean you’ll be able to do it, going forward. I imagine you’d stop pretty quickly if the money disappeared just once. I’d encourage you not to do it anymore though to prevent reinforcing bad behavior in the General Public. I believe there’s a considerable risk that everyone — even those who’d never dare any such thing themselves — may generalize poor expectations like mine to all kinds of economic activity.

I myself have put money into a jar at an unattended orchard stand, so I understand the convenience of not keeping strict hours of operation, but, in the 24x7 pre-COVID society, those norms were waning. Furthermore I doubt that those norms were always in effect as far back as the Great Depression.

I live on a fairly busy road, and I’ve thought about putting up a sign that says “Boiled Peanuts.” (Not made from fresh peanuts, but dried Valencia peanuts I get from Hampton Farms in New Mexico.) I buy the peanuts by the case, usually, and oftentimes I am unable to eat them all before the best by date arrives…and my wife says she can taste the staleness in them after that date.

Anyway, I would not be doing it to make money, really, but more of a gag or novelty–something to make people wonder.:thinking: :Most people in Montana, at least those I have met, have never tried boiled peanuts–or even heard of them! So seeing a roadside stand with boiled peanuts would definitely be a thing to raise some eyebrows or put a smile on those passing by.:laughing:

People in Montana are generally very polite, and so whenever I have given some to people I know, they’ve all said “They’re not my favorite.” Except for my grandkids, that is. They were not sure about my boiled peanuts the first few times they tried them, but now they all eat 'em until they’re gone–and ask for more! They pretended to like them, at first, but now they genuinely like them. And I think that is how it might go if I put some out for people passing by. On top of the cooler that holds the peanuts, I’d make a sign that says: “ONE BAG–FREE!! Second bag, $3.” And with a note that says: “Please call 457-0077 if you would like more info about these nuts.”

Indeed, those boiled Virginia peanuts in the can at Walmart are nothing like those green boiled Valencias I used to buy years ago in the South. But these that I make are the closet you’ll find west of the Mississippi.:wink::grinning:

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I get everything you are saying, I really do. And I think you are probably right. But it just seems so pessimistic! ha The idea that people are just going to steal is one I can’t argue with, as sad as that as. But the more optimistic part of me wants to focus on all the people who have NOT stolen and fruit and who HAVE left the money. I have several very good stories about people who left notes saying “I didn’t have change so I left $10 and took $2 in apples out of another bag” or one who left an “IOU” note which I was sure would be the end of it and a few days later they did put the money in a can from the IOU along with a note saying thats what it was for. But yes, certainly some people are just predisposed to stealing and are going to do it under any circumstances they can. I have just been surprised that so few of them have stolen from me. I think all last year I had only 4 bags of apples stolen and only $8 in cash all season. (there was only $8 in the can that day or I’m sure they’d have taken more). I probably sold about 30 bags of apples total so theft of 4 didn’t seem excessive to me.
I get what you are saying about not rewarding theives by giving them an opportunity to steal and get away with it, but I have no choice. There is no way I could take off work for 2 weeks just to sit at my fruit stand and sell a few bags of apples a day. SO I do just what your employer does- look at it as a cost of doing business. I dont like it, but its either that or throw away all those extra apples.

if you’re not too concerned for the money, the local food pantries are always looking for fresh produce and with this pandemic there is a large need for any donations. here the local farmers are donating potatoes, cheddar cheese and egg product to the needy out of the back of semis. the catholic charities is distributing it. they’ve done this like a dozen times since april. .my inlaws gave us a 5lb. bag of ready made garlic mashed potatoes they had extra. it was delicious! made with red skinned potatoes.

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I’m ahead of you on this one! Here in my small town there is a large senior Citizens center. Not a residential facility, just a place where anyone 60 and over can go to participate in the MANY programs and activities they have, or just hang out and play cards, watch TV etc. Its a bigger and nicer senior center than towns 10 times as big as ours have- a real crown jewel. All because one little old lady donated $1 million to the city with the stipulation that it be used to create a senior center.

ANYWAY… there are a great many seniors (and their families who often take them/accompany them) who come and go from this place every day. I donate so many fruit and veggies that they actually have a table set up in the lobby that is 100% for me to put all my donated fruits and veggies on. I always take large boxes of fruit or squash or tomatoes or whatever, and I also take a bunch of plastic grocery bags I save. The the seniors can take a bag and get whatever they want from the table. Its honestly one of the most rewarding things I do with my fruit. And those people appreciate it sooooo much. No joke, I got 5 peach cobblers and 3 jars of preserves and a squash casserole given to me this year from the little old ladies who took fruit and vegetables and wanted to do something to thank me. How sweet is that? Its also a very convenient way to unload a lot of extra produce while knowing its going to good people for a good cause.

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Awesome! :wink: