Self-Serve Hay A Good Marketing Option

Self-Serve Hay A Good Marketing Option LIVESTOCK Miscellaneous Jud Harward started selling self-serve hay a decade ago when he had an ample supply of small bales but not enough time to stand around and sell them It’s still a marketing method that makes sense for many operations he says The idea for Bales-R-Us Hay-4-U started when he was eager to sell the 250 000 small bales his farm produces each year along with large bales When people called about picking up hay and he was busy working in the fields or making deliveries he started telling callers to help themselves and leave money in the box As more customers purchased hay that way he started monitoring it and learned that he had a 5 to 10 percent loss People were taking more bales than they were paying for While that was significant it wasn’t enough to warrant paying someone to sell fulltime To make up for the losses he raised his prices Currently Harward sells hay for $7 to $9 a small square bale ranging from grass to alfalfa and mixes in between The kinds of hay are well marked and signs make suggestions for which hay to purchase – alfalfa for high-performance working horses and grass for pet horses for example He provides envelopes and slips for customers to fill in their names number of bales and amount paid by cash check or credit card information Customers drop the envelopes in a slot on a safe With the current economic situation Harward says he’s making some changes Like other businesses he wants to move away from checks to credit/debit cards He has always included some security measures to avoid serious losses First of all people have to drive past his home to get to the hay sheds Secondly he advertises that he has hay for sale but not that he has self-serve hay That’s been advertised only by word-of-mouth so that he doesn’t attract strangers who might take advantage “It works especially well in a small rural area where you know your customers ” he says “If you know how many bales are in your stack it’s easy to keep inventory ” Besides eliminating checks he’s also considering setting hours – four or five hours a day when someone will be around to monitor the self-serve sales Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Jud Harward 1988 W Center St Springville Utah 84663 ph 801 489-9412

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