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HOW TO GET MORE PROFIT 

 OUT OF BUSINESS 



At the annual meeting of the Florists' Telegraph Delivery Associatio)i, 

 at Detroit, October 2 and 3, the outstanding feature zvas the report of a 

 special committee appointed to find the way to more satisfactory profits in 

 retail fiozver selling. The committee gave figures from its members' ozvn 

 hooks and dreiv deductions therefrom. 



T IS needless to say that 



I each and every one of us 

 is interested in securing 

 the maximum of profit out 

 of our business without 

 jeopardizing our relation 

 with the buyer," said H. 

 P. Knoble, of Cleveland, 

 prefacing a report at the 

 meeting of the F. T. D. at 

 Detroit this week. "It is possible to 

 accomplish this by applying modern 

 business methods more generally, utiliz- 

 ing these principles, and adapting them 

 efficiently. 



"At the meeting of the S. A. F. in 

 New York, your president appointed a 

 committee, composed of Mr. Asmus, Mr. 

 Anderson and myself, to present a 

 paper on this proposition. Iii order to 

 get this question before you properly, 

 it was thought best 

 to take a record of 

 our own businesses 

 and to present them 

 so that discussion on 

 these various items 

 might be taken up, 

 with the thought in 

 view of improving 

 them. It was our 

 judgment that when 

 three businesses were 

 taken into considera- 

 tion, one located in 

 Chicago, one in Buf- 

 falo and one in Cleve- 

 land, it would be 

 possible to arrive at 

 a fair basis. While 

 the items vary a lit- 

 tle in each case, yet 

 on the whole they re- 

 solve themselves into 

 more or less equal 

 final results. 



"The following is 

 a list of the items in 

 percentage of the to- 

 tal annual sales: 



Overhead expense. AUA'^c 



Merchandise of 

 every description 

 except baskets, 

 ribbons and chif- 

 fons 37. 0'^ 



Baskets, ribbons 



and chiflonB.., 4.3% 



F. T. D. ont-of- 

 city accounts.... Z.G'/o 



Profit and loss* ac- 

 count lO.OTo 



OFFICERS ELECTED 



President 

 W. F, Gude Washington, D. C. 



Vice-President 

 Philip Breitmeyer Detroit, Mich. 



Treasurer 

 W. L. Rock Kansas City, Mo. 



Secretary 

 Albert Pochelon Detroit, Mich. 



The secretary and treasurer are 

 elected by the board of directors, 

 but the retention of Secretary 

 Pochelon and Treasurer Rock seems 

 a foregone conclusion. 



Cost of advertising 6.0% 



Salaries 21.0% 



Delivery expense 9.0% 



General expense 9.1% 



Percentage for rent 2.0% 



Cost per delivery. 40 cents 



Cost per mile with White trucks.. 20.04 cents 



Total 100.0% 



"Some of the 

 items of special in 

 terest are: 



Herman P. Knoble. 



Cost per mile with Ford trucks 11.05 ceata 



Average amount of orders $4.01 eack 



Amount of bills receivable taking the 

 average of the entire year, per 



month 18.4% 



Cash business 32.3% 



Oharge business 67.7% 



"Analyzing the above items sepa- 

 rately, you will note that the overhead 

 expense is 45.1 per cent of the gross 

 sales. Merchandise of every descrip- 

 tion, except baskets, ribbons and chif- 

 fons, is 37 per cent. Baskets, ribbons 

 and chiffons are 4.3 per cent. Out-of- 

 town F. T. D. business costs 3.6 per cent. 

 Profit and loss is 10 per cent. 



* * Further analysis of the overhead de- 

 velops these items: Cost of advertising 

 is 6 per cent of the gross. This of 

 course is very flexible. Location will 

 have much to do in changing this item. 

 Those living outside of the center of 

 the city will have to spend more in pro- 

 portion for advertis- 

 ing than those locat- 

 ed in the downtown 

 district, where much 

 of their publicity can 

 be obtained by win- 

 dow displays and 

 other methods that 

 can be used where 

 traffic is heavy. 



* ' Salaries in each 

 case seemed to be 

 about the same, 21 

 per cent of the gross 

 sales, and this of 

 course should include 

 a liberal salary for 

 the proprietors. 



' * Delivery expenses 

 are about 9 per cent. 

 In some cities of 

 course this will vary. 

 The type of delivery 

 equipment which you 

 have will also have 

 a tendency to cause 

 this. In our case, up 

 to this time we have 

 used White trucks 

 and, while we find 

 that they cost, driv- 

 ers' salaries, depreci- 

 ation, upkeep, insur- 

 ance and all, 20.9 

 cents per mile, yet we 

 find this type of ve- 

 hicle very reliable 

 and, while it seems 

 high, it is a question 

 whether it is not 

 better than the 

 cheaper type of de- 

 livery. However, we 



