Oct., 1937] 



Eggs Under the Hammer 



19 



Boston 

 Lawrence 

 Somerville 

 Jamaica Plain 

 Andover 



3741 cases 

 1834 cases 

 1911 cases 

 1359 cases 

 877 cases 



Salem, N. H. 

 Dorchester 

 Methuen 

 Milford, N. H. 

 Nashua, N. H. 



875 cases 



735 cases 



630 cases 



591 cases 



531 cases 



New Hampshire buyers took 16 per cent, and Massachusetts buyers 

 84 per cent of the eggs sold. 



Auction Sales to Telephone Buyers Large 



It is not always convenient for buyers to make auction purchases in 

 person, and if required to do so, the volume of sales would be reduced. 

 The auction management, therefore, permits buyers to send in tele- 

 phone or mail bids which will be executed by an employee of the auc- 

 tion as per instructions. The employee who makes these bids is known 

 to the other bidders on the floor. The bids so made account for an 

 important volume of eggs. 



i While the volume of eggs purchased by buyers attending the auction 

 in person has increased, the percentage has decreased. The percentage 

 of eggs sold "off sale" and to telephone bidders "on sale" has increased 

 considerably since the first few months of operation, but the percentage 

 increase in 1936 over 1935 has not been great. 



(See Fig. 5 for approximate percentage of eggs sold by different 

 methods in eight selected months, 1934 to 1936). 



Volume of Eggs Taken by Buyers 



Buyers on the auction were grouped according to the number of 

 cases taken monthly, and the percentage of all eggs taken by each 

 group was determined. In July and October the groups with moderate 

 volume took the largest percentage of eggs, but in Januarj^ and April 

 the groups with a volume exceeding 100 cases led. This is due to the 

 fact that peddlers take a larger per cent of the volume in June and 

 October, while chain stores and wholesalers take more in January 

 and April.- 



(Table 8 gives percentages taken by each group.) 



Table 8. — Percentage of eggs going to b^iyers taking different volumes of eggs in 



representative months in both "On Sale" and "Off Sale" -purchases 



{July, October, January, April, 1935-1936) 



