14 



The Florists^ Review 



OCTOUKU 4, 1917. 



arc liyiii}; out tlu' I'oid car in coiijimc- 

 lion witli our Wiiitcs for tiie sinailor 

 loads and wo find that tiiis can be op- 

 eratrd on a basis of 11..") rents per mile. 



''It costs anywhere from 'M cents to 

 •111 cents ]ier package to niaiii' a d(di\- 

 ery. The location of the store clianj^'es 

 this item. In our case the a\cra^'e 

 \aluc |it T delivery for the last year has 

 iiecn .tl.nl c;i(di. 



' ■ ^'ou will aho )io1e that av(> have 

 found the amount of nimiey that we 

 carry on oiir hooks will axcra^c ahout 

 hS.4 [ler cent per nu)nth for the entire 

 yea r. 



'■Our own husiness. Ixdny more ol' 

 the tele|dioMc than the transient trade, 

 is represented hy '.)'2.','> |)er cent of cash 

 sale< and (i7.7 |ier cent char<i;e .sales. 



'"It is our jud<^'ment that ]dants ])ur- 

 (du'iseil for I'esale shoui(| lie liyured on a 

 basis of three for one. In other words, 

 if a plant costs .^1 it sluudd be s(dd for 

 $.1. If this ]dant is placecl in a basket, 

 the basket shouhl be (i<iured on a liasis 

 ot' two tdi' one in addition. If this 

 jilant was placeil in a basket costing;' .Id 

 cents, the c(Unplete ;irti(de should sell 

 fcu' .t4. 



''<'ut llowcis bought for resale slouild 

 lie li^ured on ;i b;isis ot' t \\(i and oue- 

 liaif I'or one, and pr(d'eralily threi' foi' 

 one. Tliat is, c.aiuations costinj^ ,$4 ]ier 

 hundred should sell for $l.riil jier dozen, 

 looses costing ^H per hundi'ed should 

 .sell foi' +;'> |ier dozen. 



■'In tiyurinj; nuade up work, we be 

 lic\e th.at the nui.ximuni to be allowed 

 for the cost of the raw sto(d\ should not 

 lie to e.\cee(| ^l.'l'.-; pel' cent of the re- 



tail })rice (d' the finished article, deduct- 

 ing; the selling,' price of the basket that 

 the flowers are arranj^i'd in. As ;in il- 

 lustration, where you aim to nuikt' a 

 ^'> basket, if this basket c().sts .Id cents, 

 accordiiifi' to the previous fij^ures it 

 would stdl for .$1 without any flowers. 

 \(ni will then have to deduct from .'}^."), 

 $1, leaving; the balanct- .$4, and the cost 

 of the flowers in this basket should b(! 

 one third of .$4, or $1. ;>;'., this to include 

 llowiMs ai'ul oreens. 'Phis illustration is 

 fi>;ure(| on a niaximum .allowance, and 

 you should, wherever jiossible, aim to 

 make that even less than one-third; ."HI 

 per cent would be nundi better. Of 

 course your ability to buy will be a fea- 

 ture that will govern this situation more 

 or less in every dtdail. 



''We recommend that steps be taken 

 to make our jirices iimre uniform 

 throughout the entire country and su^- 

 ji'est that a committee be appointed to 

 woi'k out this jih.ase of it. Its results 

 should be submitted to the secretary 

 of the \\ T. I)., he in turn to nuiil 

 ea(di member a comjihde list of piices 

 su^i^csted, at least once e\er\' twe 

 months. In this way the retailers all 

 o\-er tlu' country would haxc a basis to 

 wcuk on that would be uui\-ersally ap- 

 ]iliod. 



"We beliexo that in estinuatinjj; a 

 decoration the cost of all articles to be 

 used should be fij^ured on a basis of 

 three for one. In other words, if the 

 cut flowers, yri'ens, etc., used on the 

 decoi-ation fi<inre .tHl(i, the retail price 

 should be .fiidd. Accessories, jialms, 

 etc., should be fi^'iUH'd on a iiasis of 



Albert Pochelon. 



(S.'cretary K. T. P.) 



from l."i ]ier cent to '20 per cent of 

 their original cost for the loan value 

 and this sum should be added to the re- 

 tail price of the other items to obtain 

 the ]iroper tpiotation. 



"You will iu)te we recommend in the 

 abovi' that the plants and cut flowers 

 be fi<;ured on a basis of three for one, 

 made-up work on the maxiniuni basis of 

 three for one, prtd'erably less, and yet 

 you will see that our actual records 

 show that the cost of sto(d\ is ;i7 per 

 cent of the <;ross sales. The difference 

 is made up of destroyeil and wasted 

 ]il;ints and flowers. 



"Mr. Anderson snuucsfed that if 20 

 per cent be added to tlie cost of every- 

 tliinj;- as it reaches the store it would 

 be a safeguard to overconu' this situa- 

 tion and we believe the su<i'yestioii is 

 well ma<le. 



' ' Analyzin<;' the nu'nhandise cost, 

 lepresented by ',\7 jier cent, and our 

 recommendation to make this I'l.'i'.-; l)er 

 cent at the maximum, or still nnii'e de- 

 sirable, only .'!(• per cent at b'ast in all 

 made-up work, you will notice the ap- 

 jiii'idable (lifl"erence in the actual fig- 

 ures, 7 ]ier cent, aj^ainst our jirospective 

 aims of ;>() ]ier cent. In I'ound figui'es, 

 7 per cent would b(> one fifth of ;>7 i)er 

 cent, or the L'n ]ier cent rcd'erred to by 

 .\lr. Anderson in ni;ikin,<>' his su*jj;estion. 

 So you see this is .a \ital ]ioint and, 

 since it works out with figures, we be- 

 lieve it to be so worthy that it should 

 command uni\'ers;il ado|iti(iu. 



"It seems this is the only ])laee 

 wherein it is jiossible to shade in order 

 to try to increase the profit. We do not 

 b(die\e that JO ]ier cent is a just }iet 

 lirofit on the gross volume of sales for 

 the enormous (di.ances that one has to 

 take in n business of this (diaracter 

 and also when you considei' the unusual 

 hours. 



"We should like to haxc ;i thorough 

 discussion on this subject, so that it 

 will be Jiossible for all of us to go back 

 to our business .and i-e\ise our conduct 

 of it to increase our profits to a basis 

 where they .justly btdong. " 



Discussion on Profits. 



The committee was not disajipointed 

 in the discussion pioxdked. first of 

 all, it was emphasized th.at these fig- 

 ures are not for the public, but to show 

 retail llorists where their mon(^y goes 

 :ind how they must figure to make a 

 profit in keejiing with their work, their 

 lisks and the service they give. 



Mr. Kerr .asked where express (diargcs 

 are in(dude<l in the committee's esti- 

 nuites, stating that with him, in Texas, 

 express (h;irges ha\c been found to 

 average -'Jl per cent of the inxdice value 

 of the sto(d\. The committee had in- 

 cluded ex|iress as ]iait (d' the cost of 



sto(dv. 



.1. S. Wilson had in his potdiet some 

 of the figures on the cost of operating 

 .")d,ddd feet of glass and :i retail store 

 doing a business of about .tOd,dd(i. He 

 found the jiei'centage of co-t to sales 

 was: 



I'^iyrell 3.-1.00% 



.\iilu (IcUvi'i-.v I I'i>r(l> I 4..-i(l'"o 



l-:\iil-ess .-iiMl c:i|-t;ii.'e 'i<)% 



l'clc|ll|nMl' :IIh1 tcll'L'lM|ill 50% 



riiiilinu :niil >l;i I iniMiy ... ..■(I>% 



l^^-•l:l^'^■ .->0% 



lt<'Ii:iirs Mil u'l'ii'MlieiiM'S '2.00% 



Ice ;{.'■.% 



i.if-'iit ;*.'>% 



ComI 4.00% 



Wilier 2.'-|% 



I.'iilirc <liies H.-)% 



.Xdvcrtising 2..'")0% 



liiiiiiitii'iis 18% 



Cclicflll »'\|icll^c .%.00% 



Itilil ilCii.llMts 0.-|% 



