12 



N. H. Agr. Experiment Station 



[Bulletin 272, 



Current Expenses: 



When current costs were charted in reference to volume no definite rela- 

 tionship appeared. The majority kept these costs under three-fourths of a 

 cent per quart regardless of volume. 



Greater current costs have been the result of bad debt losses, high depre- 

 ciation and interest charges on equipment, and unusually high ice or elec- 

 tricity bills in cooling the milk. Practically all of these items are matters 

 of management and plans could be worked out for revising them. The cur- 

 rent expense* of these 54 producer-distributors totaled $6,371.72 yearly, 

 or an average cost of $.392 for everv hundred quarts of milk sold. See 

 Table 7. 



Table 7 



Current expenses of marketing 1,626,930 quarts of milk; 

 54 producer-distributors 



Items 



Advertising 



Bad accounts 



Bottles 



Caps 



Depreciation 



Electricity 



Ice 



Interest on equipment. 



Tickets 



Miscellaneous 



Total 



6.371.72 



.392 



Advertising is not carried on extensively. Only six producer-distributors 

 reported any expense for this item. Printing the name of the distributor or 

 farm on the cap was the method used most frequently. Newspapers, mov- 

 ing pictures and calendars were other agencies used. The amount spent for 

 advertising varied from less than $10 to over $100 annually. The largest 

 amount was spent by a producer who claimed to have a select trade. He 

 was producing milk of high quality and obtained a price higher than the 

 average. 



* Depreciation costs were prorated according to the number of years each article 

 ment had been in use and based on original cost. If the age of an article was over 

 given in the following schedule, no depreciation charge was made: cans. 2 years: cases 

 aerators and bottling tanks, 10 years; electric refrigerators, 20 years; steam boilers a 

 25 years. 



Interest at 5 per cent was charged on depreciated value of equipment. 



Where ice was put up by the farmer the cost was figured at the following rates 

 cents, team and wagon 50 cents, and truck $1.70 per hour. 



Electricity used for lights was charged at 7 cents per kilowatt hour when using 

 bulb. Bottles "were valued at 7 cents each and tickets at 30 cents per thousand. 



of equip- 



the limits 



3 years ; 



nd stoves. 



labor 35 

 a 40-watt 



