AusBonsai

I have a business number, these are free to get and as my turnover is so small, the tax office doesn't want to care about it at all. So I can shop at wholesale nurseries, after all any plants I buy are for resale, or propagating stock, or to improve the display garden (ie anything else I want to buy). The ones I go to have no minimum order

There are different ways of organising nurseries. I will meet each customer personally before they buy anything, plenty of time to tell them quickly what the price structure is before they start looking.
For a nursery where there is no personal service, yep, customer should be aware of pricing, whether a general policy or individual tags, before they start choosing.
I will be selling at large fairs soon, and yep things will have individual prices or be separated into areas like ' this table $2 each'
I often use icecream sticks for markets, recyclable and you can take back the pricetag and double check sales figures at the end of the day!

Greth wrote:...................... and yep things will have individual prices or be separated into areas like ' this table $2 each'......

There is a general nursery in our area that does not mark individual pots, but the tables are marked. It does not wholesale, however, so it is a different situation to the original in this thread. It does save the problem of 'specials' it has from time to time, and the problem of 'not enough time'. Seems to work well.

Glenda

Well said Graeme. You took the words out of my mouth.

If one wants barcoding, they should stick to garden centres. Suggestions from customers should always be taken on board, however, there are many things being overlooked. To run a successful bonsai nursery, the establishment must provide stock for retail sales, stock for wholesale sales, stock for potting up and stock for growing on. Availability may change on a day to day basis. In a small premises, there may not be the space available to lump these trees into different blocks. In the past I have experienced nursery owners place a very small amount of stock out for sale and hide the rest around the back not letting any customers near it. I think you would find asking for prices a better alternative.

Joel wrote:

Jeff wrote:I'm not sure what's so hard about asking for a price. Not all nurseries want to run like a safeway. It seems you are trying to tell people how to run their establishments.

As a customer, it is our right to tell them any suggestions. And it is in their best interest that they respond. If they do not satisfy us then we find another place to shop. Simple as that.

Do you work in a nursery?

Joel

No, but I shop at nurseries regularly. Some of them are small backyard operations run by families. We have nice chat. I even get offered a cup of tea occasionally. If they were to change to a barcode system with 3" japanese maples all at $2.99 it would be disappointing. I'm sure you can understand that.

Jeff wrote:

Joel wrote:

Jeff wrote:I'm not sure what's so hard about asking for a price. Not all nurseries want to run like a safeway. It seems you are trying to tell people how to run their establishments.

As a customer, it is our right to tell them any suggestions. And it is in their best interest that they respond. If they do not satisfy us then we find another place to shop. Simple as that.

Do you work in a nursery?

Joel

No, but I shop at nurseries regularly. Some of them are small backyard operations run by families. We have nice chat. I even get offered a cup of tea occasionally. If they were to change to a barcode system with 3" japanese maples all at $2.99 it would be disappointing. I'm sure you can understand that.

Sounds like you would have personal assistance in such a nursery, so labeling would not be required.

Jester, If you came to my nursery you would be having nightmares for a month. I think you need to be able to distinguish between the big retailers whos primary objective is money and the smaller places that grow plants for the love of them. I tend to visit just a very few nurseries these days mostly small specialist nurseries and I can't think of one of them where the plants are priced, but they do have really good stock
Craigw