dealers' attitudes. Table 7 of this report showed that the percentage of dealers 

 in West Virginia who had manufacturing facilities was significantly greater 

 than in the New England states. A separate attitude analysis was made, ex- 

 cluding data for West Virginia. It was found that the response patterns of 

 the New England dealers alone was not significantly different (± 1 per cent) 

 from the response patterns of all four states. This indicates that although 

 there were many more plants with manufacturing facilities in West Virginia, 

 dealers' attitudes were the same. Thus, the availability of manufacturing 

 facilities did not influence dealers' favorable or unfavorable attitudes toward 

 balancing. 



Dealers Methods of Balancing 



A major problem in an operation which attempts to equate receipts with 

 fluid sales is the seasonality of milk production. To overcome this problem 

 two methods are currently being followed. One method is to limit receipts 

 from producers so that in the flush production season producers receipts 

 just meet fluid requirements. During the balance of the year the dealer pur- 

 chases from outside sources the difference between the quantity of milk re- 

 ceived from producers and the quantity needed to meet fluid sales. This is 

 frequently referred to as buying short. An alternative method is to purchase 

 milk from producers in sufficient quantities so that producer receipts meet 

 fluid requirements during the short period of the year (buying long). The 

 surplus during the remainder of the year is sold at surplus prices wherever 

 a market is found. The surplus milk in this case might be manufactured. 



In the analysis of balancing methods used by dealers there were 167 who 

 said they tried to balance receipts with fluid sales and 34 who said they did 

 not. The analysis was therefore made by considering each group separately. 



As few as 18 per cent of the 167 dealers who were attempting to balance 

 receipts with fluid sales indicated that they were able to obtain an even 

 supply of milk from producers, Table 8. Thus, 82 per cent of the 167 dealers 

 had to buy milk in short supply periods or sell or manufacture their surplus. 



Table 8 Methods of Balancing Used by Independent Milk Dealers who 



Attempted to Balance Receipts with Fluid Sales, Four 



Northeastern States, 167 Dealers, 1956-1957. 



Method of Balancing 



Ncmber of 

 Dealers" 



Per Cent of 

 167 Dealers* 



Obtain uniform supply from producers 

 Buying excess producer milk and selling 



to another firm (buying long) 

 Buying insufficient producer milk and buying 



from another firm (buying short) 

 Both buying long and buying short 



*It is obvious that there are more responses as to the type of balancing than the 

 number of dealers (179 responses from 167 dealers). This occurred because some 

 of the dealers who obtained a uniform supply of milk from producers occasionally 

 purchased or sold small quantities. 



19 



