■,P W M.I ' Ii ^ BP'f " {HVPfl JP ^:« P'.1 L* ■ 



30 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



Mav 10, 1012. 



iiiniitiiircHniiiiiiinMiiiiMiiJiiiiiiiiiiiiiijiijjjiiiiiiiiiiiiiiH 





THE TRIANGLE 



IN THE TRADE 





r i n»rrfnnprrppffnF'ni'"""""""f*'"" 



FBOM QROWEB TO BETAILEB. 



Speaking frcxa Experience. 



The subject assigned to me for dis- 

 cussion, the relations of grower, whole- 

 saler and retailer, I consider one of the 

 most important in our trade today. I 

 frankly confess I do not feel at all 

 competent to do justice to a subject 

 of such vital importance; yet I am 

 always willing to give the best I have, 

 and in the best way I can. 



My experience as a grower -'dates 

 back a quarter of a century. i)uring 

 these years I have been a close stu- 

 <lent of the various ways of marketing 

 our goods. I have often heard the_; 

 grower call the wholesaler a crook, 

 and the retailer call him a robber, and 

 about all the wholesaler could do was 

 to take it and be happy. I will now 

 take up each branch separately, and 

 give my observations and suggestions. 



-■r«i^ The Grower. 



First of all comes the grower, or, in 

 other words, the producer^. In refer- 

 ring to this branch I am considering 

 the average-sized plant, consisting of 

 .'50,000 to 75,000 square feet of glass. 

 If the pAprietor is an" exclusive grower 

 for the wholesale market, he is all the 

 more fortunate. The majority of grow- 

 ers with plants of this size, especially 

 those located in smaller cities, while 

 claiming to be wholesale growers, do 

 quite a little retail business at times. 

 I say at times, for this is, as a rule, 

 irregular — a funeral occasionally and 

 the usual holiday demand. Now, a 

 grower so situated (as most of us are) 

 has a much more serious problem be- 

 fore him than one who is an exclusive 

 wholesale grower. The former's ship- 

 ments are irregular and for that reason 

 his wholesaler is at a loss to know what 

 to expect, unless the worthy grower, 

 who expects clean sales, will take the 

 trouble to keep his wholesaler posted. 

 By this I mean that when a local de- 

 mand is apparent, which would reduce 

 shipments to the wholesaler, he should 

 be notified at once. Prospective crops 

 for the holidays should be gone over 

 carefully ten days before, and every 

 succeeding day or two; estimates should 

 be made and the wholesaler notified as 

 to the progress of crops, giving him as 

 accurate an id^ as possible of what 

 he may expect. This work is not done 

 for the wholesaler alone, but also for 

 the benefit of the retailer, who is the 

 customer of the grower, buying through 

 his wholesaler. 



The Grower Who Succeeds. 



The principal beneficiary, however, 

 of such prompt and careful work on 

 the part of the grower is the grower 

 liimself, and I venture to say right 

 here: You show me a grower who 

 keeps his wholesaler posted on his 

 various crops, puts his trust in him, 



A paper by J. F. Ammann, of Edwardsvllle, 

 111., read before tlie St. Louis Florists' Club, 

 May 0, 1912. 



consigns to one firm only and sends the 

 consignments regularly, growing a 

 good average run of stock and not re- 

 tailing at home for less than he gets 

 at wholesale, and I will show you a 

 grower who is making a success. On 

 the other hand, a grower who is always 

 in a stew about that fifteen per cent 

 commission, trying to save this when- 

 ever he can by peddling or selling 

 directly to the retailer all he can, 

 underselling this same retailer at home 

 to further save that fifteen per cent 

 and dumping the remnants on the 

 wholesaler, is not only unsuccessful 

 .as a rule, but is his own worst enemy, 

 doing an injustice not only to himself, 

 but also to the trade at large. In most 

 cases, I think, the latter grower does 

 not intend to wrong anyone or take 

 any particular advantage of any one; 

 rather, I dare say, he is the victim of 

 a system that any trade should deplore. 



Hiinting For the Leak. 



The average grower of flowers today 

 is entirely too much of a retailer and 

 wholesaler himself to be a successful 

 grower. Look at our neighbor, the 

 truck gardener. He is seldom a whole- 

 saler, and rarely a retailer; let us take 

 a leiSaon from him. Never mind the 

 fifteen per cent commission, dear 

 grower. I was in conversation not long 

 ago with the head of a large Chicago 

 firm of growers, who wholesale their 

 own product, and he informed me that 

 it cost them last year twelve and one- 

 half per cent to wholesale their product, 

 not including any salary for two lead- 

 ing members of the firm who devoted 

 their entire time to this branch. If 

 your wholesaler is making money and 

 you are not, there is a leak somewhere. 

 This leak may be at your end; better 

 look for it there first, anyway. If 

 you cannot find it, ask the wholesaler 

 to help you look for it. If he is at 

 all deserving of your patronage, he 

 will help you, and I bet you will find 

 it. I want to close on the grower by 

 saying: If you can't trust a whole- 

 saler, don't do business with him, and 

 if you can't trust anybody, get out of 

 business as soon as possible and have 

 your mind at peace. 



The Wholesaler. 



Next to the grower comes to my mind 

 the wholesaler. This most important 

 individual has been lambasted by both 

 grower and retailer ever since his first 

 appearance in the arena. However, we 

 have him still with us, and I fully be- 

 lieve he is even more important than 

 ever. I have no defense to offer for 

 him, other than that we need him, 

 and the sooner both growers and re- 

 tailers fully realize this the better it 

 will be for us all. I feel that the im- 

 portant duties of the wholesaler are 

 to keep his growers advised as to mar- 

 ket conditions, visit their plants at 

 regular intervals, consult with them as 

 to what to grow fpr the coming season, 

 and be intelligently informed on gen- 

 eral conditions about the greenhouses. 

 It is also his duty to give the retailer 

 general information as to the conditions 

 of the growers' crops. He should also 

 keep in touch with the retailer's busi- 

 ness wants. In fact, as the representa- 

 tive of both grower and retailer, he 

 should be in close touch with both. 

 Character and habits are among the 

 chief assets of a wholesaler; if he ha» 

 these, he will also get the reputation 

 without much effort on his part. While 

 he should trust the retailer, he should 

 be watchful not to trust too much. I 

 have found, from observation, that 

 while the grower does not trust the 

 wholesaler enough, the wholesaler, on 

 the other hand, often trusts his re- 

 tailer too much. Both extremes should 

 be avoided. 



Growers Who Are Fayorites. 



We often hear remarks about certain 

 growers being favorites with the whole- 

 saler. Such opinions are common 

 among ' gtowers who are not quite up 

 with some of their more fortunate fel- 

 low growers; hence the more progres- 

 sive individual is often called a favor- 

 ite of his wholesaler. Now, I venture 

 to say that if those who express this 

 opinion of the so-called favorite will 

 proceed carefully and fairly to observe 

 the way he conducts his business, they 

 will invariably find the kind of n an 

 I have already pictured in previous re- 

 marks. They will find that the favorite 

 is the grower who does no peddling, 

 who consigns all his stock to one whole- 



Totman't, in the Green Mountain State. 



