Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss New venture

You can only absorb so much if the mileage cost is put in the price of the fish. Here most fish sellers have a certain radius from "home" where fish are "X" price for fish with no delivery charge, AND they have a minimum order or a delivery charge applies. Locally now that minimum order is between $400 and $500 per order. Typically delivery fees for deliveries in excess of 50-75 miles from "home" run $3-$4/loaded mile, or that same mileage fee if the minimum order is not met. Live delivery is usually guaranteed up to "X" days after stocking if we deliver, guarantee is the property boundary if fish are picked up. I delivered fish with another re-seller to his customer. The customer wasn't home. Started stocking the fish in the pond, by the time they were all in the pond they were piping at the surface. ???? He called the customer. Turns out the owner killed ALL the algae & weeds in the pond a few days prior and the aeration system failed after that. I took an O2 reading and there was 2.0 mg/l at the surface, less the deeper I moved the probe. The young daughter was at home and she let us in the garage where the compressor was for the aeration system. Luckily we were able to get the system running. Some fish croaked, but not all.

You HAVE TO make money at it or the business won't be around for very long. There are a lot of hidden costs in moving fish. O2, chemicals, and the related air supply system. Air stones don't last forever. A good O2 meter isn't cheap either. Just think how many fish have to be sold to recoup a $20,000.00 investment and that is just for the hauling tanks/trailer. Cost of state permits, time spent in the office doing paperwork related to those permits, etc. Here we have to furnish the state a list of how many fish, of what species, went where. Roughly 20% of the time is spent not getting any income but just doing paperwork.

Typically when I pick up fish it's a 2 day, 1,500 - 1,800 mile round trip before any are delivered.