526 AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



co-operative associations, country merchants, car-lot assemblers, 

 traveling buyers, buying brokers, individual growers, speculators, 

 and city brokers. They distribute goods to the jobbing and retail 

 trade or to the country trade. Thus it will be seen that their 

 activities cover a wider field than do those of almost any other type 

 of distributor. 



Most of the city sales are for cash or for only one or two weeks' 

 time, but country customers are often allowed thirty to sixty days in 

 which to settle. As a rule, these sales to the country trade are the 

 most uniformly profitable of any to the car-lot wholesaler. Prices 

 charged are usually slightly higher than can be secured from resident 

 buyers on the market. This, of course, is justified, as extra packing 

 and cartage charges are involved. The country trade, as a rule, 

 makes little attempt to keep in close touch with market prices, but 

 prefers to place orders regularly with selected wholesalers or jobbers 

 and depend upon receiving fair treatment. Some wholesalers do not 

 rely simply on such orders as they may receive by mail or telegraph 

 from country customers, but seek to develop their trade through 

 private traveling salesmen. 



Many car-lot wholesalers buy when prices are cheap and put the 

 produce in storage, distributing later when prices admit of a fair 

 profit. This involves a certain element of risk as a market may not 

 take on a better tone in time for the wholesaler to move his stored 

 goods to advantage. Profits to the car-lot wholesaler vary greatly. 

 Since he deals very largely in perishables in large quantities and on 

 his own account, his aim is to make as much profit as possible on each 

 sale. He has better chances to make wide margins than has the 

 jobber, because in many instances he deals directly with the farmer, 

 who is an inexperienced seller and unfamiliar with market methods. 

 However, the car-lot wholesaler buys in large quantities for future 

 sale and thus takes greater risks than the jobber, who buys in small 

 quantities from day to day, moves goods rapidly, and in cases of sharp 

 market declines is able to close out very quickly. Average net 

 profits at this stage of distribution are usually less than is popularly 

 supposed. Business competition is usually very keen and prevents 

 any long-continued, excessive margin or profit. Considering his cost 

 of doing business and the services which he renders, the car-lot whole- 

 saler probably operates on as small a margin of profit as any middle- 

 man concerned in food distribution. 



