Bless you Ken. May your journey down this road be worth it. May your desire to help NOT give you a heart attack. May you keep the remaining hair on your head..... :lau:
Let me tell you a story....a story in the not so distant past....a story that still makes my blood boil.....
I had a beekeeper call for a queen one Friday night. Asked if I could help him out with a queen. Said he would pick it up around 9 the next morning. I said ok, and told him very clearly to come to the home address and not the farm. Next morning, 9:00 comes and goes. I get a phone call from my mom that someone is at the farm and I speak to him. He apologizes and acknowledges his mistake. Said he would be on his way over to the house. This was at 9:30. Keep in mind it was a 25 minute drive.
At noon, I tell my wife I've wasted enough time and I needed to get out to one of the yards. And as I'm loading up the truck, in the driveway comes this car. Out pops this young cocky guy. I was not happy, and this is usually something easily "read" on my face. I asked what took him so long, and he commented that he "popped over to York on the way to do some shopping". I took a moment to let him know that I had waited over two hours since his phone call and three hours all together on a Saturday morning, all to provide him a queen for a whooping 15 dollars. He hands me a 20, and smirks and says "Here, keep the change for your troubles" and walks back to the car with his queen. In my younger years, I would of popped him in the mouth.
I've thought about having a stocked store at the farm. Then I ask myself how much time am I going to waste for that hobbyist beekeeper who wants to meet me in the middle of the afternoon for a ten dollar inner cover with a profit of two dollars. And I just can't seem to see the benefit beyond the aggravation and hassle.
If you got nothing else to do, I say go for it. If you got better things to do, I say the heck with all that inconvenience and hassle. And I got better things to do... ;)