TOPIC: Repeat of 2007?

5 is absolutely right imo. If you are not getting at least $700 per pound this year, you're getting hosed big time. I'm not saying it's your buyer, maybe it's the guy he's selling to, but someones making a ton of money on you at $4-500lb for sure!

Diggers have got to get together.

Maya, I really wasn't implying that people were getting hosed. if a person is happy and willing to sell at a certain price, then its ok IMO. If everyone did as good a job of digging and handling there ginseng as what you do then I would absolutely agree with that statement. The reality is that most guys don't. This varies by degree, but it is the reality of it. Yesterday I had a guy bring me a bag of around 2 pounds of ginseng that had nearly 90% of the necks broken off. Hypothetically, if 700 is a fair price for well dug and handled ginseng, then what would be a fair price for 90% of them being damaged?

That is just a subjective question, and ten people will give you ten different answers. I did not buy it as we could not agree upon a price, and I honestly believe that I offered him too much. I also told him that a larger dealer could probably offer him a little better as they would have more volume to mix it in with. I am new on the buying scene, and am not at the point where I'm dealing with nearly as much volume as some of the dealers that have been around for forty years. I have been lucky enough to make some connections that have helped me to keep my prices competitive with them though. My profit levels aren't nearly as high as theirs, but at this point I'm not as concerned with that as I am building relationships with the surrounding diggers.

I understand what you are saying but I also know i have heard a buyer very sincere about guys taking it on the chin. I'm sure you and many others are affering a fair deal percentage wise, but somewhere along the line, someone is making too much, and it's not the digger!

Last year I sold some roots for a friend. They where pretty beat up and not much left for hair roots. My buyer still paid a lot more than what I was seeing from most other buyers. Apples to apples he pays better, much better! Why?

Don't disagree with you at all my friend. I'll. shoot you an e-mail. sometime soon.

I grant you that there are fair and unfair Ginseng Buyers as well as a few that border on being right out crooks! No matter where you go in areas where Ginseng is dug, bought and sold, the prices that Buyers are paying will vary as much as $100 or more. Even in East Tennessee within a 60 mile radius, Buyers are all over the place with their prices for good clean and quality Ginseng! One is paying $525 while most others are probably in the $425 to $475 range but I was told that there is one that won't pay over $325! The wide range of prices that they pay may be attributed to several factors. 1) A few Buyers don't have the resources to keep up with the ever changing prices. 2) Many Buyers are trying to stay close to or in-line with what of Buyers are paying. 3) And there are the Buyers that border on being crooks and will do anything they can to increase their' profits. While there are a few bad eggs everywhere Ginseng is dug and sold, all Ginseng Buyers should not be included and tagged as crooks! Besides, like I stated before, the local Ginseng Buyers are not the real problem when it comes to getting fairly paid for our' Ginseng! It is the larger volume Buyers with direct connections to Exporters, most if not all of the Exporters themselves and the Importers in Asia and elsewhere. Therefore, if the Ginseng diggers, local Buyers and if any large volume Buyers or Exporters would be willing to join us in an alliance, then we could slow or strangle the supply to the overseas Importers and force them to pay and guarantee higher prices to us on this end. Sure, they could just raise prices in their' Country to maintain their' profit margin which would eventually slow the demand because some folks would not be able to pay the higher prices and the price of Ginseng on the market would suffer. However, the Importers would only be able to keep this scenario going for so long as eventually the customers in their' Country would eventually decry their tactics and demand more Ginseng at lower prices. As an alliance, we would be in a better position to force a change that most would think and especially than what the Importers think!

We don't have to be in this alone as with numbers in an alliance, we can garner support from our Congressmen and women, our Senators, Representatives, State Legislatures and the U.S. Department of Commerce itself. With the Ginseng season already diminishing or coming to and end for most areas due to the drought and early cold spells for some locations, it is far too late to organize and see any changes this year. However, we could organize during the off-season and hopefully by the time September 1st of 2013 rolls around, we will have the tools, resources and numbers to make a difference!


Frank

P.S. If this idea was to ever get off the ground per see, I have a recommendation on an acronym for the alliance's name. It reminds me what my ex-wife use to do to me all of the time and that acronym and name is NAGA for North American Ginseng Alliance. My ex-wife used to NAGA me all of the time, so when she said she wanted a divorce, I said good riddance!

5prong wrote:

Don't disagree with you at all my friend. I'll. shoot you an e-mail. sometime soon.

Please do!

Huntsman, I was in agreement right up til you said we could garner support from congress. The last thing in the world I would want is to get the worthless fools in the middle of my negotiations! Good God, look at the job they've done with this once great country of ours! NO THANK YOU!!!

maya wrote:

Huntsman, I was in agreement right up til you said we could garner support from congress. The last thing in the world I would want is to get the worthless fools in the middle of my negotiations! Good God, look at the job they've done with this once great country of ours! NO THANK YOU!!!

maya, I understand where you are coming from when it comes to Congress! I don't mean get Congress involved because we know where that will go and what will happen. I mean our local Congressmen and/or Congresswomen that we trust not the ones we don't! In any case, we could possibly get support from the U.S. Department of Commerce. They are the parent Department of the Agency in which I worked for almost 33 years. I know they have their flaws but their main task is to promote commerce within the United States and Ginseng sales is commerce!


Frank

P.S. The concepts of Ginseng Coops and a Ginseng Alliance could be one and the same or somewhat separate entities working together for our benefit. The Coops could remain local or regional within each State, while the Ginseng Alliance would be for all of North American Ginseng interests with representatives from each Coop. There are a lot of different ways the structures of either could be formed and operate. Just some things to consider in the Ginseng off-season and possibly have established, operating and working before the next!

AMEN

5prong stated that one person is very well satisfied with $500 and another person wants $700 or even a thousand a lb. So I guess it boils down to what a person actually wants to sell theirs for. What is it really worth to us and what is it worth to the Asians?
I was always glad to sell my ginseng at what I thought was a fair price and the buyers always commented how nice and well cared for were my roots.
Now as a buyer for 5 years I see the ups and downs of buying and selling. what to pay, when to sell, don't hold too long and get stuck with it and lose money. Sometimes it's a nightmare. But that's the game.

rootman

rootman wrote:

5prong stated that one person is very well satisfied with $500 and another person wants $700 or even a thousand a lb. So I guess it boils down to what a person actually wants to sell theirs for. What is it really worth to us and what is it worth to the Asians?
I was always glad to sell my ginseng at what I thought was a fair price and the buyers always commented how nice and well cared for were my roots.
Now as a buyer for 5 years I see the ups and downs of buying and selling. what to pay, when to sell, don't hold too long and get stuck with it and lose money. Sometimes it's a nightmare. But that's the game.

rootman

5prong is right in what he wrote but it doesn't have to be that way and shouldn't! Many of the Ginseng diggers live in very rural and depressed economy locations...especially in the Appalachians. Many of these folks live from paycheck to paycheck and for some, from dug Ginseng sell to dug Ginseng sell. They may neither have the resources electronically (computers, Internet access or high-tech cell phones) nor the knowledge and awareness that they could and should get more for their' Ginseng. Even if they did, they may not have th means (financially) to hold out for more!

As a Buyer, your situation is completely different than the diggers from whom you purchase Ginseng! You have a better understanding of how the system or game works and you can sometimes use strategy to increase your profits but sometimes the strategy does not work and you lose. Most Ginseng diggers don't have that advantage and very little in the way to manipulate the system to get a better price! So, if you along with the backing and help of many others, could not only increase the profit margin for all local Buyers and at the same time, pay a more fair price to the Ginseng diggers who sell to you, would you not want to do so or at least try??!! The Asian Importers and some Exporters have long profited very well from the labor and misfortunes of the local Ginseng Buyers and diggers and it is well past the time for change! As old and longtime Ginseng diggers and local Buyers we are and should be the Stewards for the future of our descendants that follow us in digging Ginseng and also the Stewards to insuring that Wild Ginseng survives and makes a come back in North America!

Since I have \"beat the dead horse too many times\" per see when it comes to these topics (better prices, Cooperatives and an Alliance), there is not much more that I can state in writing. Either folks want to pursue these or they do not! Until the time that there is more and real interest in pursueing these, I will gracefully bow out of posting on these topics and pursue them on my own as much as I can


Frank