I remember the first time we raised prices – it felt very uncomfortable. We had collapsed our margins without knowing it. Slowly – and this was just at the beginning of this recent, years long, span of crushing inflation we’ve experienced, it had crept in, seeping through each crevice and crack on the Ranch.
There seemed to be no immunity – nothing was untouched, and Ranching can touch a lot. Everything in fact – from the rubber gloves we use to check our Cows to feed mixture machine parts. New batteries for the tractor, the fancy scissors we use to cut bales of hay.
From the most absurd do obvious – it was everywhere.
The big stuff – fuel, boxes for shipping meat, packaging and labels for the label printer, the waterproof kind that allow you to read that this was a Ribeye steak after the writing had been frosted over from the freezer running at -11 degrees.
Oh, of course there is that thing too – running at -11 degrees, all day, every day, each year.
I went to my family and told them we had to do it – we had to raise prices. They were stunned; we had not done that in… forever. That was in the beginning. I don’t even go to them anymore; they just expect me to do it.
We had a talk with our accountant, they explain, I debate, they cajole, I reply. Then after some more agony, I finally settle on a number.
Most of our people buy beef every year or two from us. Sometimes when they call, we’ve raised prices twice or three times between their long-spaced out orders. They are shocked. “Wow, these were like $1000 less last time, and you delivered for free!”
“Sorry” is all I can reply.
My new MO is to issue a warning – it usually goes unheeded. “Hey, everyone, prices are going up in the next week – order now, before they do”
Now, everyone just accepts it – my gut tells me to get used to that feeling. Buying a Cow for the year or two is a big purchase. It’s a lot of meat, for a long time, so usually when our people circle back around, they are shocked, no, rather they are dismayed by the jump in price. I just tell them it is like the gas station you fill up at every day – you don’t notice, but if you only filled up, say, every other year, you might see the price and think – “Hey wait a second, the last time I filled up the price was a whole dollar less!”
So, here is your annual, man I don’t know anymore, “simi-annual”, “quarterly” – who knows, warning that we must raise our prices – again!
My answer “Sorry”
Get a cow now and we will have it processed, packed, delivered at the “old” price – not sure how “old” that will be in this environment!
Thanks for your loyalty and care for our Ranch
We appreciate you.
Doug
There seemed to be no immunity – nothing was untouched, and Ranching can touch a lot. Everything in fact – from the rubber gloves we use to check our Cows to feed mixture machine parts. New batteries for the tractor, the fancy scissors we use to cut bales of hay.
From the most absurd do obvious – it was everywhere.
The big stuff – fuel, boxes for shipping meat, packaging and labels for the label printer, the waterproof kind that allow you to read that this was a Ribeye steak after the writing had been frosted over from the freezer running at -11 degrees.
Oh, of course there is that thing too – running at -11 degrees, all day, every day, each year.
I went to my family and told them we had to do it – we had to raise prices. They were stunned; we had not done that in… forever. That was in the beginning. I don’t even go to them anymore; they just expect me to do it.
We had a talk with our accountant, they explain, I debate, they cajole, I reply. Then after some more agony, I finally settle on a number.
Most of our people buy beef every year or two from us. Sometimes when they call, we’ve raised prices twice or three times between their long-spaced out orders. They are shocked. “Wow, these were like $1000 less last time, and you delivered for free!”
“Sorry” is all I can reply.
My new MO is to issue a warning – it usually goes unheeded. “Hey, everyone, prices are going up in the next week – order now, before they do”
Now, everyone just accepts it – my gut tells me to get used to that feeling. Buying a Cow for the year or two is a big purchase. It’s a lot of meat, for a long time, so usually when our people circle back around, they are shocked, no, rather they are dismayed by the jump in price. I just tell them it is like the gas station you fill up at every day – you don’t notice, but if you only filled up, say, every other year, you might see the price and think – “Hey wait a second, the last time I filled up the price was a whole dollar less!”
So, here is your annual, man I don’t know anymore, “simi-annual”, “quarterly” – who knows, warning that we must raise our prices – again!
My answer “Sorry”
Get a cow now and we will have it processed, packed, delivered at the “old” price – not sure how “old” that will be in this environment!
Thanks for your loyalty and care for our Ranch
We appreciate you.
Doug
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