28 



N. H. Agri. Experiment Station 



[Bulletin 251 



cash men are also contributing toward the cost of credit and are pay- 

 ing for a service which they do not obtain. An almost exactly sim- 

 ilar trend could be shown with poultry wheat and to a lesser extent 

 for cottonseed meal and gluten feed. On the other hand, opposite re- 

 sults were obtained for bran and middlings; there was a difference of 

 $.07 a cwt. for bran and $.01 a cwt. for middlings in favor of the 

 credit stores. Evidently corn and wheat are used as leaders and are 

 more likely to be changed in price than are either bran or middlings. 



T.\BLE 21 — Cotnparisons of A'o. 2 Corn Prices with Percentage of Cash Sales 



As more credit is extended by the stores, the cash customer pays more for corn. 



CONCLUSIONS 



Because cases vary, it is impossible to set up operating cost stan- 

 dards and say they are attainable by all stores alike. Conditions 

 differ between stores. The location of buildings as well as the ar- 

 rangement of buildings and equipment and other factors are not alike. 

 What might ai)ply to one case would not to another. Furthermore, it 

 is a fallacy to assume that all managers of the 41 stores are equally 

 efficient and capable. 



Throughout the previous discussions, the operating expenses of 

 grain stores have been referred to under fixed, labor, delivery and 

 other costs. The stores have been pointed out which have low, medi- 

 um and high costs. Also the important factors w^hich have contributed 

 to their size have been presented and discussed. All of this informa- 

 tion is based on data from the 41 stores. If now we assemble the 

 lowest cost for each of the four headings from the 41 stores and make 

 up a composite total cost, which would represent the most efficient 

 possible method of store operation, we find the following costs per 

 dollar of sales: fixed $.0107; labor $.0352; delivery $.00; other costs 

 $.0022, a total cost of $.0481. 



Of those stores having delivery equipment which is used only for 

 hauling grain from the car to the store, the lowest delivery cost per 



