STUDIES IN EGG-MARKETING 



By C. W. Thompson 



(Reprinted from Bulletin No. ij2 of the Minnesota Agricultural 

 Experiment Station) 



SUMMARY 



COUNTRY merchants were unable to reach the primary 

 markets through any other avenue than that of the com- 

 mission man so long as the conditions of shipment involved 

 great hazard. 



As improvements in transportation and refrigerator service di- 

 minished the risks of handling, jobbers found inducement to enter 

 the primary markets and buy outright from local country dealers. 



The growth of jobbing has now practically displaced the han- 

 dling of eggs on commission in all Western primary markets 

 except during periods of falling prices. 



In recent years certain localities have developed a system 

 of marketing eggs directly to city retailers without the aid of 

 middlemen. The success of such direct shipments has been 

 mainly conditioned upon the ability to create and maintain a 

 special market for high-grade quality. 



While the net margin on which jobbing is being done is only 

 one-third or one-fourth of what it was ten or fifteen years ago, 

 the gross margin has been kept unnecessarily large because of 

 losses in candling, sorting, and repacking mainly due to the 

 "case-count" policy of purchasing eggs in the local towns. On 

 the other hand, the cost of storing has been reduced through 

 economies from increased volume of business, especially by a 

 saving on loans and insurance. 



Cold storage lessens fluctuations in prices at different seasons 

 and renders a high-class product available to consumers during 



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