Honorable Honey Box is Gone...

When COVID hit in 2020, the country went into survival mode. Small business was hit pretty hard. My bee business was majorly affected, and still is - to be perfectly honest. 2021 has been the worst year this business has seen in 5 years. Bee sales and honey sales plummeted.

All the retail stores I had honey in closed temporarily. I decided at that time to build an “honorable honey box.” I placed this box at my house on the street.

At first, it was successful. People were buying honey all the time and they were paying me the exact amount owed. Then, it started to change. People started putting $10 bills in for $14 or $20 bottles of honey. They either weren’t paying attention to the well-marked prices, or they just decided they shouldn’t have to pay full price?

Unfortunately it escalated to people stealing bottles of honey. In fact, I put a bag of seeds in there for someone who pre-paid and they were stolen before she was able to pick them up.  

This last Saturday, I went to check the honor box. As I was walking up to it, I knew something was wrong. The cash box was wide open. Someone had broken into it and stole an entire days’ worth of cash sales.

Imagine being a small business owner, having a rough year financially, and having a day’s worth of sales stolen. I was PISSED! I made a live video saying things I probably shouldn’t have, but to be honest with you, I don’t care.

That theft was my last straw. I have probably lost close to $200 in that “honor” box!!
I emptied it out and will no longer be using it. I’m not going to continue to be stolen from.

Since the box is gone, there is no longer any reason to pull into my driveway. I’m putting up 2 big “no trespassing” signs. Why??

​Because, on top of having theft, there is an issue of people coming up to my front door. This is my home; this isn’t a brick-and-mortar store with hours.

The people who ring my doorbell, want to discuss starting up beekeeping. While I am always supportive of anyone starting this amazing hobby, teaching people beekeeping in my front yard is not how this works. I have an online "introduction to beekeeping" class for that. 

Not only are people coming up to the door, but they are also walking the property looking for bees. The only time that anyone should ever be on my property is during bee pickups!

Running an online bee business out of my home is not an invitation for people to visit. Not only is it an issue of boundaries, it's also a liability issue.  

In closing, I have a business email and phone number you can use to contact me. [email protected] and 816-739-0726. This allows me to have a separation of my business and my personal life, which is a very important boundary to have. :) :)