Why Is CBD So Expensive?
Whether you’re a CBD novice or long-time believer, there’s one question that most CBD shoppers still ponder from time to time - why the heck is CBD so expensive? Many people on the hunt for quality hemp extracts have encountered seemingly regular CBD products with astronomical price tags. It’s easy to get sticker shock, and these exorbitant costs often turn people off from something that could really benefit their lives.
Today, we’re going to explore the reasons why CBD products are expensive and how you can go about finding quality CBD that fits into your budget.
Heavy investments for hemp production
Hemp can be a relatively cheap crop to grow from a resources standpoint, in that it doesn’t require as much water, fertilizer, or pest repellent as many other crops do. However, when it comes to manufacturing extracts, companies need to invest in heavy machinery with majorly steep price tags. Hemp goes through many different rounds of processing before it becomes its final CBD product, and all those different rounds of processing require different highly-calibrated equipment. For example, many CBD companies use supercritical CO2 as their extraction method. However, this process is significantly more expensive than other extraction methods like ethanol and steam-distillation.
Even after the final product has been produced with all this expensive machinery, companies still must then pay additional costs for third-party lab testing, certifications, and other quality assurance measures. While costly, these measures are extremely important investments in order to demonstrate safety and trustworthiness to consumers. Companies cannot operate and maintain trust with their customers or with law enforcement without investing in these quality assurance certifications. Certain industry standards like the Good Manufacturing Practices require companies to follow specific procedures in their operations, often which carry their own price tags.
Limited business services available
In addition to paying lofty prices for necessary equipment, CBD companies must also struggle with reduced access to important business services like advertising and financial services. Prior to the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill, most banks and credit card processors refused to work with CBD companies. During these early years of CBD sales, Bluebird itself was forced to deal with untrustworthy vendors who often charged egregious prices for their services only to pull the rug out unexpectedly and stop providing those services altogether. When our sole credit card processor cut ties with the company, it forced the team to use only checks/cash and ACH bank transfers for its e-commerce business for several months, resulting in a 50% drop in sales almost overnight.
Only after the 2018 Farm Bill legalized the domestic production and commerce of hemp did some major financial institutions start to open their doors to hemp and CBD companies. However, other vendors are still lagging behind with pre-Farm Bill attitudes. For example, CBD companies still have limited access to advertising through Google and social media channels. This is due to many tech giants still having outdated policies on the “advertisement of drugs,” a category into which CBD has been unfairly lumped despite being distinguished from marijuana in the 2018 Farm Bill. These restrictive policies severely limit the ability of hemp and CBD companies to advertise and draw in new customers, thus limiting potential revenue and driving up product costs.
Unfair pricing from shady CBD companies
When CBD began exploding in popularity several years ago, analysts and research firms forecasted that the nascent industry could be worth $24 billion by 2022. With those promising forecasts came a flood of eager businessmen looking to cash in on what appeared to be the next big gold rush. Since the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill, thousands of CBD companies have cropped up to grab a slice of the pie, often with nothing more than profits on the mind. That has resulted in exorbitantly priced CBD products lining the shelves of every major grocery store, beauty retailers, and even gas stations.
Shady CBD companies aren’t concerned with fair pricing or proving the value of their products. These companies tend to invest less in necessary equipment and quality standards plus charge a higher price per product. AKA they like to spend less and generate more money. And while there’s nothing wrong with making good profits, it results in customers being taken advantage of by making them believe they must spend a fortune to get good CBD.
How to calculate the price per milligram of your CBD product
Fortunately, not all CBD is outrageously priced. And, you don’t even need to use genius smarts to find quality CBD that fits into your budget. One of the best tools to use in finding good value CBD is by calculating the price per milligram of CBD in your product. You can do this with a simple formula - take the price of the product and divide it by the total number of milligrams of CBD.
For our Classic Concentrated CBD oil with 1,500 mg of CBD per 1 oz bottle, that would look like this:
$99.95 / 1,500 = $0.06 per milligram of CBD
Related Article: How to Find the Best Value CBD
We’re here for you on your CBD journey, no matter what. If you have questions or need help finding the affordable CBD product that’s right for you, email us at info@bluebirdbotanicals.com. Happy bargain shopping!
