Increasing use of frozen foods by 

 ■*• Illinois farm families has brought co- 

 operative cold storage locker rentals in 

 the state to an all-time high, according 

 to the report made to the annual meet- 

 ing of the Illinois Cooperative Locker 

 Service Nov. 26 by Director Frank 

 Gougler of the lAA produce marketing 

 department. 



The meeting was held in conjunction 

 with the lAA annual convention at the 

 Hotel Sherman in Chicago. 



In spite of the war time curbs on 

 construction, the number of coopera- 

 tive cold storage locker plants has in- 

 creased from 48 in 1941 to 77 in 1945. 

 These 77 plants contain 32,417 lockers 

 which virtually all have been rented 

 throughout the year. 



Gross income per plant increased 

 from $16,000 in 1941 to $21,000 in 

 1944. Total volume of meat, poultry, 

 fruit and vegetables stored in the lock- 

 ers has reached the annual figure of 

 13,000,000 pounds. 



Director Gougler and President Dana 

 Cryder said a great deal of thought was 

 being given to suggestions on how to 

 level off the volume of produce han- 

 dled by the locker plants in order to 

 eliminate peak loads and slack periods. 



Interest, they explained, is also being 

 manifested in further expansion to in- 

 clude slaughter and rendering units. 

 Plans call for slaughter units for all 

 cooperatives and centralized rendering 

 which would bring additional income 

 from the processing of by-products. 



Fixed assets of the 77 plants amount 

 to $1,165,087, 6o per cent of which is 

 represented by capital stock. Average 

 net income of each plant amounted to 

 $2,142.30 for an average 13.53 per cent 

 profit above operating expenses. Be- 

 cause of abnormal conditions during the 

 war years when plants had waiting lists 

 for lockers, managers of locker coop- 

 eratives are wondering how long the 

 demand will continue and what the 

 j>ost-war trend will be. 



Two other questions in connection 

 with the trends of the future are asked 

 by locker men: How long are locker 

 rentals and charges going to be frozen ? 

 When will costs of operation, over 

 which the associations have no control, 

 cease to increase or decrease? 



The board of directors of the Illinois 

 Cooperative Locker Service submitted a 

 program at the annual meeting of the 

 organization in Chicago Nov. 26 for the 

 further development of services at its 

 locker plants. 



The proposal was submitted after a sur- 

 vey started in late August emphasized 

 the need for more and better services to 

 members. It was approved by delegates 

 to the annual meeting. 



Directors of the Illinou CooporcrtiTe Lock- 

 er Service in 1945 are pictured here. LeH 

 to right: Earl L. Wenzel, Kirkland; Carl J. 

 Bates, Kewanee; President Dana Cryder, 

 Minooka: C. Ray Ward, Cropsey, and Paul 



Rosentreter. CarlinTille. Not present is 

 I. E. Mau, Harmon. E. A. Fosse, Marion, 

 was named at the annual meeting to 

 represent district 7. 



CO-OP LOCKER PRESENTS 

 NEW SERVICE PROGRAM 



Meeting Dec. 4, the board set the ma- 

 chinery in motion to put the following 

 proposal into effect: 



Employ: 1. A general manager. 2. A 

 service engineer. 3. A consulting '.-ngi- 

 neer. 



The duties of these three men and the 

 source of income to employ such per- 

 sonnel to be as follows: 



1. Manager's duties: Direct and super- 

 vise the services of the service engineer. 

 Meet with local boards and managers and 

 assist them with, improving their services. 

 Purchase all supplies needed by local 

 plants and some of the smaller lines of 

 equipment. The source of income to pay 

 for this service would be from annual 

 dues and commissions earned on han- 

 dling supplies, equipment, etc. 



2. Service engineer's duties: Render 

 periodic inspection service to member 

 companies similar to that which has been 

 rendered during the past three years by 

 Mr. Bodine. He would also be required 

 to take care of emergency calls. Should 

 the consulting engineer be unable to take 

 care of all the business in his line, the 

 service engineer could probably take care 

 of some such service. 



For emergency service, the state com- 

 pany would charge members who have 

 paid in advance for periodic service at 

 the rate of $2 per hour and expenses and 

 $3 per hour and expenses to members 



who have not paid in advance for peri- 

 odic service. The board would neces- 

 sarily have the privilege of adjusting 

 these hourly charges from time to time, 

 to conform with prevailing charges for 

 similar services. 



Expenses would include meals and 

 hotel costs while rendering emergency 

 service and travel by car at the rate of 

 5c per mile or actual railway fare. 

 Similar expenses would be paid by state 

 company to cover the expenses of the 

 service engineer while rendering periodic 

 inspection service. 



For this service, member company 

 would pay to state company $75 per year 

 in advance for each complete locker 

 plant for which the service engineer 

 would render three full days of service 

 to each plant subscribed for by member 

 company. 



The service engineer would be em- 

 ployed on a salary basis. 



3. Consulting engineer's duties: Ren- 

 der service to new and old companies 

 with the installation of locker plants, ex- 

 pansion of locker plants, slaughter plants, 

 and construction of slaughter plants or 

 slaughter-processing plants. The work 

 would be similar to that which Mr. 

 Bodine has been rendering during the 

 past two years. It would not include 

 periodic inspection service or emergency 

 service. 



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L A. A. RECORD 



