18 



N. H. Agri. Experiment Station 



[Bulletin 251 



So much irregularity was found in the state survey concerning de- 

 livery charges that tlie attempt was made in the cost accounting out- 

 line to assemble these costs and the total tonnage delivered. A lim- 

 ited number of tonnage records was kept, but none was available which 

 gave the amount credited to delivery so that it is impossible to show 

 whetlier tiie service was operated at a profit or a loss. 



Thirty-five of the 41 stores reporting for 1928 were delivering grain. 

 The average delivery cost per dollar of sales was $.012. There were 

 sixteen stores with delivery costs per dollar of sales less than $.01, 

 fourteen with $.015, four with $.025 and one with $.035. 



OTHER COSTS 



Whereas the majority of the items under Other Costs are of a mis- 

 cellaneous nature, the skill with which they are managed can make or 

 break a business. Attention is called to their distribution in Table 13 



Table 13 — Other Cost Distribution of 41 Retail Grain Stores 



Expense Items 



Amount in 

 Each Item 



Per cent 



Average 

 Amount 



Stationery and postage . . . 

 Telephone and telegraph . 

 Light and power and heat 



Net interest 



Demurrage 



Advertising 



General repairs 



Bad debts 



Miscellaneous 



Total 



I 5,530.29 



5,904.98 



10,571.88 



9,736.28 



329.00 



4 ,728 



8,761 



12,621.42 



15,255.04 



11 

 56 



$73,438.56 



7.5 



8.1 



14.4 



13.3 



.4 



6.4 



11.9 



17.2 



20.8 



100% 



$134.88 

 144.03 

 257 . 85 

 237.47 

 8.02 

 115.32 

 213.70 

 307.84 

 372 . 07 



,791.18 



with special emphasis on bad debts and interest paid on borrowed cap- 

 ital. These items are flexible and of greater importance to the stores 

 furnishing credit than to those on a cash basis. Since 9 of the 41 are 

 on a cash basis, the percentage of other costs would be even greater 

 for these three items if the credit stores were considered separately. 

 Interest expense will vary in the same manner; those stores supplying 

 credit usually have to borrow more money for working capital than 

 those on a cash basis. 



Demurrage was unimportant except for two stores, where it could be 

 attributed to a lack of working capital. With one it is the result of 

 having too nuich capital tied up in fixed assets which are beyond the 

 reqtiirements of the business. With the other, working capital was 

 lacking because of too liberal a credit policy based on a small net 

 worth in the business so that the local bank could not afford to ex- 

 tend any more credit to the dealer. 



Bad debts varied from none up to $4000. Store 8 had the highest 

 other costs because of a heavy loss due to over-extension of credit. 



