Haggling over prices

I talked to a fellow on friday about selling him a pig. He asked for a large pig, and I said I might have one, depending on the results of pregnancy testing. Most of the pigs I sell aren't "big pigs", they're either weaner pigs or porkers, slaughtered at 250-280lbs. He was clear that he wanted a big pig, 300lbs or bigger.

One of my gilts, the white faced pig, is a purebred berk gilt, but she's been here 20 months and hasn't gotten pregnant. In that time, her sister, shorty, has produced 2 litters. So the white faced pig is on the menu, and I asked that he come down to the farm to look at her to see if she'd fit the bill.

He came down friday afternoon and I showed him the white faced pig, and he agreed that it looked good, and asked what the price was. I said $1.25/lb live weight, which for her estimated size would have been $437.

He objected, and said that I'd said I'd sell pigs for $1/lb on the phone. I didn't recall saying that, but showed him smaller, younger pigs that I'd sell for that price. (I've got a couple of culls that aren't gaining weight like they should, and to get rid of them I'll make a deal. ) But he wanted the larger pig, and explained that he could drive 80 miles and get a large pig for $0.80 a pound, which would have valued the pig at $256.

I explained that the piglet costs me $75 at a minimum, and that it takes 1,000lbs of feed to produce a market-weight pig (250lbs), and that at current feed prices, that means that my hard cost to produce a smaller pig is $225, leaving me $31 to pay the mortgage, tractor diesel, labor, and all of the other assorted farm costs like fencing, bedding, and so on. I went on to explain that if I didn't sell her, I'd like to eat her, as she's my first purebred berk to come up for slaughter, and I like berkshire pork a lot.

But none of this swayed him, and he threatened at that point to walk away. At this point I thought that we wouldn't do the sale, and I said goodbye. He paused, and then offered $1.10 a lb. I thought about it; that would value the pig at $352; leaving me with a $125 or so profit, and agreed to his offer. I took a small deposit of $20, and we talked about the arrangements for the slaughter. Where it would happen, materials necessary, time, and I repeated a couple of times that I wanted him to call if he wasn't going to come, and that if he didn't come, the deposit would be forfeit.

Note: For this price we agreed he could kill it on the farm, leave whatever he didn't want to keep with me, and that I'd help him with my tractor and tools if he needed it. So it wasn't a we'll-put-the-pig-in-your-trailer sorta deal, it's a little more involved.

All of these conversations were through his 8 year old son, as he spoke mostly ukrainian, and I am only fluent in english.

So I cleaned and oiled the gun, and figured out which sheet of plywood I'd use, and make sure we had sawhorses that were serviceable, and put the knives in the truck on sunday, and got up early (for me, anyways) today to drive out to the farm to meet him. An hour before I'm supposed to meet him I get a call from the 8 year old son, "my dad is not coming. "

Ok, I said, would he like to reschedule? "no, he says that if you cannot sell for $1/lb he doesn't' want it". Ok, I said, I thought we had already settled this, and had agreed on a deal that I wasn't thrilled about, but thought was fair. "yes, but he wants $1/lb". No, i said, I'll eat the pig myself. "what about the deposit?"

I keep that. Thanks for calling though. Goodbye

Can I get a better price if I buy a dozen?

I was talking with a fellow today about weaner pigs, and he asked me if he'd get a better price if he bought a larger quantity -- in this case he wanted 2, but could go to 6 for the right price.

And I found myself instantly conflicted. Part of me wanted to make the larger sale -- more volume, little less profit, pretty standard business practice.

But the other part of me, which I took a while to figure out, said NO. Pretty strong no, as well.

I've run across this from several small producers; like when I was buying tuna from a fisherman on the Washington coast (you can get GREAT locally caught albacore tuna for $1.83/lb, bled and frozen on the boat, btw) and I asked the other side of this question -- can you make me a better price on the fish if I bought more. He surprised me by saying no.

The fisherman, like me, has a finite supply of fish to sell. He knew that he'd sell all of his fish at the price he set. If he sold the fish to me at a smaller price, he'd forgo the profits he'd eventually get. The cost of letting the fish stay in his freezer for a few more weeks or a month wasn't really an issue.

I'm at the same place with pigs. I've got a small supply of pretty good quality weaner pigs that are carefully hand raised. I guarantee their health -- I'll replace them or refund your money if they die -- and I'm pretty sure that I'll sell them all. So I set a price that I can make about $20 a pig, figuring that's a fair profit margin, and that's my price.

But if I don't sell a pig, there's a good chance I'll sell it as a barbeque pig this summer, for $80 profit. Or if I don't do that, I'll sell it as a whole pig for $120 profit. Or as cuts at the farmers market and make $200. So the cost of keeping a pig a few weeks or months longer isn't an issue. This is the first business I've been in where the output I can produce is very strictly constrained. It takes me 6 months to come up with a weaner pig; a year or so to come up with a baconer, 7 months for a laying hen, and so on. I pretty much have to lay out the quantities of what I'd like to have available for sale set 6 months to a year in advance.

So when this fellow asked for a better price for a larger quantity, my answer was "no".