44 OUTLINES OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



28. Is parcel-post marketing designed to lower consumers' prices ? 

 raise producers' prices? Can it do both? Point out the principal 

 difficulties from (a) consumer's point of view, (b) producer's point of 

 view. 



29. Would there be an actual social saving in marketing by parcel 

 post i.e., would there be less labor and material used up in the 

 process? Or would there simply be a redistribution of effort and 

 reward ? 



30. Get some local transportation rates and costs of packing for 

 parcel post and for regular shipment. Figure how large a package of 

 eggs, butter, vegetables, or the like one would have to get in order to 

 make a saving of fifty cents. How much effort on the buyer's part 

 would this transaction involve ? Would it be worth while ? 



31. Is parcel-post marketing a means of saving some goods which 

 would otherwise go to waste ? Is it a means of giving city dwellers 

 perishable products of better quality than can be secured under ordi- 

 nary conditions ? 



32. What advantages are possessed by express companies for 

 developing and carrying on direct marketing operations which are 

 not enjoyed by the post-office ? 



7,3. Are public markets an institution of great age or of recent 

 appearance? Why is there special interest in public food markets 

 today ? 



34. Does retail selling in public markets stabilize prices in accord- 

 ance with actual ratios of demand and supply ? Does it avoid waste 

 or deterioration of the goods ? Does it effect greatest labor economy 

 in selling ? other economies ? 



35. Discuss the principal abuses in the grain business, the live- 

 stock business, or the shipping of fruit and truck crops which led to 

 the movement for co-operative marketing associations. Has co- 

 operation eliminated them ? 



36. What are the principal difficulties in the way of successful 

 co-operative selling organizations ? Are these due to (a) the nature 

 of the commodity ? (A) the nature of the producer ? (c) the nature of 

 the market? 



37. What middlemen does the co-operative shipping association 

 eliminate ? Does it do the same work with greater economy or does 

 it get some easy profits that formerly went to the local buyer and 

 shipper ? 



38. Does co-operative organization of growers oblige city whole- 

 sale buyers to pay more than they otherwise would for their supplies ? 

 Does it result in higher prices to consumers ? 



