424 MARKETING OF BUTTER 



to that of the trial shipments, the buyer may ask the creamery 

 to find another outlet for its butter, or else negotiate another 

 agreement satisfactory to both parties. 



3. Commission Sales. The shipper pays the freight and 

 cartage, assumes the risk of transportation and the commission 

 man acts as an agent to sell the butter for which service he 

 charges the shipper a commission, usually of 5 per cent, of the 

 gross receipts. This method places the shipper at the mercy of 

 the commission man, it deprives him of all control over the re- 

 turns from his butter and it is a method which generally proves 

 very unsatisfactory and costly to the creamery. 



While there are many reliable and trustworthy men in the 

 commission business, the temptations which surround the com- 

 mission man to abuse his power at the expense of the shipper are 

 very great, and are rinding many a vulnerable spot among their 

 members. Most commission men not only act as agents for the 

 shippers, but usually do also a receiver's business. On an ad- 

 vancing market they are encouraged to buy outright, while on 

 a declining market they are prone to adhere to the commission 

 business exclusively. Not infrequently they charge the shipper 

 a commission on goods they purchase outright and thus receive 

 a commission on their own purchase. The creamery has no 

 guarantee that the returns reported represent the price at which 

 the butter actually sold. A business that offers such unlimited 

 opportunities for illegitimate gain at the expense of the power- 

 less shipper, naturally attracts an element that is no credit to the 

 profession and that jeopardizes the welfare of the shipper. 



4. Contract Sales. By contract sales is meant the method 

 whereby the shipper enters into a contract with the dealer agree- 

 ing to deliver a certain number of pounds of butter per week at 

 a price based on market quotations. The contracts are usually 

 short-term agreements and are largely, though not always, con- 

 fined to the storage season. Contract sales are usually taken 

 advantage of by large creameries. Small creameries with a lim- 

 ited and often uncertain output are seldom in a position to ne- 

 gotiate such sales and, when consummating them, they are liable 

 to find serious difficulty in fulfilling their agreement. 



