I just got my first quote back and they have suggested a reship service… Which I don’t plan on using because of cost.
They also have concern about shipping to Australia, but the only issue will be the timber will likely need irradiation (this may damage the cartridges).
I have gone back and asked for a quote regardless.
It may be worth investigating adapting the cartridges for local woodware? Even if we order the cart refill kits and sets of springs then get follower boards cut locally.
It’s unfortunate they don’t pack down flat, would make the shipping much more agreeable.
Last resort… We order to @cowgirl 's place and then forward ship from there
-edit- The closest Australian sized box is a ‘half’ which you may be able to find a supplier for (pretty sure Burnett supply half sized supers). A half depth box is 124mm (4 7/8), Hogg super 120mm (4 3/4).
Not sure how keen Flow are with us organising commercial group buy for another product on their forum… If there are any issues, happy to move the discussion
I have faith that Flow are open-minded folks who want to encourage a general interest in beekeeping. Boxed comb honey really doesn’t compete with their product, as the Flow super can only make extracted jar honey. In California, those are two completely separate markets. The average buyer goes for the jars of honey, which are cheap and tasty. However, the boutique, high-end, organic types want the comb honey and are willing to pay double for it. They would never buy the jar Flow honey - ewww!
So… this morning I was doing some unrelated research on Warre and I found reference to ‘section honey’ supers from his ‘Beekeeping For All’ book from 1948.
They look strangely familiar.
I got my shipping quote back… ~$250USD for a single box and single set of refills… that’s just the shipping price
Yeah the tape is shown in the videos. The idea is you just load them up without much fiddling around… but unfortunately this makes them expensive to ship. Someone needs to build a flat pack version!
I asked the question of the US supplier of these.
Here is my question and their response:
Message:
Do you have an Australian Distributor of these systems?
Freight costs from USA to Australia are exorbitant.
If you do not have an Australian distributor, is it possible to have my order supplied direct from your (Chinese?) manufacturer of these items?
Date: 2017-01-24 8:57am
Name: Dr. Jack Rath
Printer friendly version
Message:
Greetings,
The Hogg system is US made, not Chinese made. We are looking for an Australian distributor for the product. We would supply unwaxed casettes because Australia does not allow the importation of beeswax. I hope we will have a distributor in place in the near future. If you are interested in pallet quantities we can talk. Freight is expensive to AU but by the pallet it should be managable.
Best,
Jack
Which supplier was this? Did you go direct to Herman’s?
Pallet quantity isn’t too much of a concern, but you’d need a decent discount to make it viable as you still need to add local taxes and reshipping fees within Australia.
Also need to calculate pallet quantities and producing the woodware locally as you don’t want to have to irradiate.
I’d really want to see a sample first to measure up in local supers and confirm quality and wax coating process… just need a supplier that’s genuinely willing to work with someone in Aus. I don’t feel a shipping quote of 250USD to get a sample out is worth the initial investment, I may go back direct to Herman’s and see if they are willing to assist.
I went to http://www.betterbee.com/ and used the [contact us] link to ask the question.
Please feel free to follow up personally.
I also asked the question of the Flow Hive people to see if they were interested in being an agent. They are not interested.
I am retired and do not want to start working again, so someone else may wish to pick this up. Depending on price, I am interested in a super and cassettes to suit, plus a spare set of cassettes.
I have just asked for pallet quantities ( number of sets of 80 cassettes & 5 springs) and a quote for freight to Sydney.
I will post their response when it arrives.
Can you please provide me with the package dimensions and weight, for
a consignment of 80 unwaxed cassettes and the 5 spring clips.
Just to clarify you are looking for 2 of the complete Hogg “superpacks” each consisting of 40 casettes. This is the size unit used in the US with our 10 frame equipment. External dimensions of the super are 16.25 x 20 inches.x 4.5 inches tall. Note that the casette pack or superpack dimensions are smaller, These need to be placed in a bigger box for protection during shipping, A complete superpack or a complete super goes into a box that is 24 x 21 x 9 inches. The complete super weighs 12 pounds in the outer box. The superpack weighs 9 pounds.
We can also ship an economy pack consisting of 4 of the superpacks in a box that is 22x 18 x 16 and weighs 50 pounds.
There is another way of getting freight from USA to AU that I would
like to explore.
We have shipped items to Australia via Shopmate where we ship to the western Pacific coast of the US and then Shopmate ships to AU. It seems to work well.
I will need to obtain suitable super and packing timbers, as import
of timber may require irradiation to comply with Import rules.
We can ship supers to AU> Finished kiln dried timber seems to go through just fine. I would suggest perhaps getting one super to use as a pattern, and then have supers made in country. Alternately we can send plans but there are some little things that are critical and you may want a sample.
A friend asked how many sets of 80 cassettes and 5 springs would fit
on a pallet and what price discount would apply for that size
consignment?
We can fit 16 economy packs meaning 64 superpacks each consisting of 40 casettes on a pallet. I cansend costs to anyone who is interested. Please contact me if you need to know.
Can you also obtain a price for freight of the pallet to Sydney.
We need to consider Insurance, Import Duty and Taxes for the
consignment arriving in Australia.
I can work up a pallet quote if your friend wants to pursue this.
If you would like to contact them direct I can SMS you the email address.
I purchased a bee Congress demo box of ceracell rounds and ordered the packaging from NZ. Shipping costs are very high, but there are now new suppliers in Australia. Forgot the name of the guy in Brisbane, he works for flow too as a presenter. Will let you know, he will come visit our apiary next week.
That pic is 2 weeks after putting on the box.
