918 THE FRUIT INDUSTRY ix XKW YORK STATE 



PUBLICITY AND OPEN COMPETITIVE BIDDING IMPORTANT FEATURES 



An important feature of the auction system is that its workings 

 are in plain view of all. Daily auctions are public sales in every 

 sense of the word. The auction companies have no business 

 secrets. Any questions that may be asked of them can and 

 will be answered upon communication with them. The public 

 sale system calls for a complete daily record of sales, which is 

 printed, and may be referred to at will by both seller and buyer. 

 Xot less important than publicity in fact it might be called the 

 keystone of the auction system is the selling of the com- 

 modity to the buyer who will bid the most after open competitive 

 bidding. The commodity is offered for sale in such sizes and 

 grades that no buyer is compelled to purchase something that he 

 does not want in order to secure what he wants. 



THE PRIVATE SAI E WAY 



Picture a large business for example, that of the Xew York 

 State barrelled apple, the northwestern boxed apple, the canta- 

 loupe, the watermelon, the peach, or in fact any line of fruit or 

 vegetables where the production has become large divided into 

 small, scattered selling units rather than concentrated in one place. 

 Picture the buyers scattered. Picture two men quietly negotiat- 

 ing over the price. The seller is trying to get as high a price as 

 the drift of the market will stand. He is handicapped by the fact 

 that he must keep in mind the retaining of the buyer's patronage. 

 The seller is further handicapped by not knowing what supplies 

 his competitors are offering. The seller has undesirable sizes and 

 grades of fruit which the buyer does not want, but which the seller 

 is inducing the buyer to take by offering the desirable fruit for less 

 money. The buyer is trying to obtain the fruit at as low a price 

 as he can. No public record is kept of the price for which the 

 goods sold. 



THE PUBLIC SALES WAY 



After viewing this mental picture, compare the private sale 

 system with the public sales in the auction room, and you will gain 

 the viewpoint of the progressive grower of California and Florida. 

 Picture all the fruit and all the buyers concentrated in one place 



