After 8 years at the same prices, I finally decided I needed to raise my prices.
While many costs have increased during the last 8 years while my prices remained unchanged, the biggest difference came in 2020 and again in 2021, mainly in jug and bottle prices. Just since the 2020 maple season jug prices have gone up 35-40%, after having gone up at least twice in the last 8 years, but much lower amounts. Other costs associated with making maple syrup have also climbed, such as the filter media used for filtering the syrup, the papers that trap the filter media, the defoamer used to control foaming in the evaporator pans, the filters for the raw sap, the soap to clean the reverse osmosis machine and a whole bunch of lesser items. Also any replacement equipment has risen big time. The jug manufacturers claim it’s mostly because the oil refineries (many have been shut down) and since plastic is a by-product of oil there is a major shortage of the beads used to make syrup jugs. Unfortunately this won’t likely be remedied in the short term. If the jug prices do come back down, I will revisit the price issue.
On a brighter note I will have Amber syrup back in stock in a few days, the maple season gets going in full swing this week. As soon as I have some packaged, I will put it back up on my available inventory in the store. I’m thinking likely by this weekend.
From here mother nature will be in charge. We need freeze/thaw cycles. When the temperatures drop to 27F or colder for a few hours the trees pull water from the ground, up into the tree. Then as the temperatures rise above 36-38F or more the sap flows for making maple syrup. It does work in temperatures between 32 and 27F but not as well, and sap can and does flow at 33-35, just not as much. The ideal season would be 25-27 every night and 42-45 every day, but again, mother nature is in the driver’s seat.