Waxberries Are Expensive Because They Are Delicate and Spoil Quickly

@五五五五五5个五：Waxberries are sold at a high price because they are delicate and spoil quickly. As woody plants, if it rains during the ripening period, they spoil even faster.

For some people, the solution is to pile on logistics.

Take Xianju, for example.

Every year, the Xianju municipal government takes the lead in connecting fruit farmers, cold storage, and logistics.

First is the packaging for waxberries. For large varieties like Dongkui, individual boxes are custom-made for each berry.

For smaller varieties like Biqi, they are arranged in rectangular baskets, weighed, and vacuum-sealed.

Even so, if you cannot accept that the waxberries might leak a little juice upon arrival, it's not suitable for you to buy them directly from the origin.

Then they are shipped out. Success relies on two things: speed and cold.

There is a science to keeping them cold. They must be kept cold, otherwise they will all rot.

Insufficient cooling measures won't work; you need plenty.

But they can't be too cold either. Large ice blocks will produce condensation along the way, soaking the boxes and freezing the waxberries.

The solution is custom-made large bottles. The liquid inside can't be pure water; it must be a mixture of gel and water. This ensures the cooling temperature along the journey is neither too cold nor unable to last.

Next, the government takes the lead in testing the ripe waxberries; unqualified products are not allowed to be sold.

In orchards that pass the test, farmers go to the orchards in the early morning, picking the waxberries while it's cool at night. They then sort and pack them according to quality grades, racing against time to get them into cold storage.

SF Express has refrigerated trucks waiting early in the morning, keeping the waxberries cold as they are loaded onto planes. Internal delivery priority is set to the highest, rushing them all the way to the buyers' hands.

But the downside of this solution is that it's very expensive.

First, the packaging needs to be customized, and issuing inspection reports also costs money.

Second, pre-freezing the cooling bottles with gel consumes electricity, and they are very heavy. Their shipping cost matches the value of the waxberries themselves.

Hairy crabs can be packed in mesh bags without ropes, but waxberries must use this extremely space- and weight-consuming cooling method, otherwise they will spoil.

Third, logistics costs are exorbitant. Every year, SF Express's waxberry专线 has a separate price quote, which is even more expensive than their usual air express for fresh food. If you don't want to use it, you don't have to; if you can manage to buy waxberries using other logistics, SF Express will admit defeat.

JD.com, you're just not competitive enough. Many times, you're only half a day slower than SF Express, but that half-day determines life or death.

Xianju waxberries have no time to be soaked in chemicals. Any time saved is used to figure out how to deliver them as fast as possible.

With the oil crisis this year, I expect this logistics环节 to see another price hike.

Alright, now some bad actors will start racking their brains: waxberries spoil quickly, so why not just find a way to delay it?

Deliver them slower, save a huge sum of money from racing against time, and just add some preservatives; if they aren't sweet enough, soak them in sweeteners.

Outside the origin, the further away, the more expensive they are. People pay over 300 for a box, which is dozens or over a hundred per half-kilo. Isn't that foolish? Here are cheap waxberries, they are still waxberries, only 30 per half-kilo.

.........Right?

Waxberries are not a daily necessity. Even many people in the north never grew up eating them. Spending a lot of money and effort just to eat some waxberries seems truly unnecessary—just don't buy them.

Support.

Because the mass market in the north simply cannot accept the price of chemical-free waxberries.

If the public stops consuming the cheap ones, fewer people will be harmed.

Serves the chemical-soaked ones right for not selling.

Northern friends who can accept it can go eat at the origin's orchards—treat it as a trip—or find a seller to ship directly from the orchard.

Like me, that's what I do.

The Yangtze River Delta region has a consumption habit; waxberries are an essential part of social etiquette every year. Being close by, there's always a way to buy chemical-free ones.

Letting the chemical-soaked ones die out is exactly the right thing.