uses self-service methods has forced revolutionary improvements in 

 retail marketing procedure. It has also been instrumental in making 

 sizable cuts in the cost of retailing. 



The keen competition existing betineen retailers has resulted in 

 a persistent demand for the activation of rore detailed merchandising 

 research. Studies have been directed toward improving retail methods 

 of physical operation such as receiving, check in^ price marking, and 

 stocking groceries. Each of these functions have been analyzed through 

 time and motion studies, and improvements have been developed through 

 more efficient handling methods and equipment, and the proper choice 

 for store layout. All this physical handling is a part of the most 

 iraportant item in the total cost of retailing — labor. Wages are the 

 biggest part of the margin exacted for both retailing and wholesaling 

 and therefore _, efforts to make the wisest and most efficient use of 

 labor are not directed aimlessly. 



VJholesale and retail margins on canned tuna are tied into the 

 many other things sold by these distributors. The essential problem 

 of -wholesaling and retailing is not one that can be resolved in terms 

 of any one particular product. The general problem confronting both 

 wholesaler and retailer is the movement of nuraerous products and not 

 just the specific handling of canned tuna. However, in tackling this 

 general problem many specific determinations are made as to how differ- 

 ent items are to be handled and these specific determinations vary con- 

 siderably one from the other. The percentage margin on a staple vol- 

 ume item or a high priced item Taa.y be low, whereas the margin on a 

 perishable or a low priced item may be high. A brief discussion of 

 Federal price regulations as they have concerned wholesale and retail 

 grocers should establish some basis for a review of the margins for 

 canned tuna to see if they are reasonable, particularly since regula- 

 tions on canned tuna and tunalike products have been in effect nearly 

 six of the last ten years. 



During the greater part of IVorld V/ar II, wholesalers and re- 

 tailers of canned foods were required to establish ceiling prices for 

 merchandise which they sold. At the end of the war in 1945 and for 

 the greater part of 1946, individual wholesalers were required to de- 

 termine into vjhat category their particular kind of operation fell, 

 along with the classification of merchandise handled.. By reference to 

 a table supplied by the Office of Price Administration (O-P.A.) >which 

 shovjed the different categories, a set of mark-up factors c»uld be as- 

 certained. These mark-up factors were then multiplied by the particular 



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