COOPERATIVE MILK-DISTRIBUTING PLANTS. 27 



eration and losses due to extension of credit are eliminated. The 

 two prevailing systems are: (1) Cash (in advance from retail trade, 

 in which payment for coupon books or tickets is made before the 

 milk is delivered, or on delivery from wholesale trade) ; and (2) 

 charge accounts, where collections are made weekly, semimonthly, or 

 monthly. 



The principal advantages of the cash system are, first, the elimina- 

 tion of uncollectable accounts ; second, the elimination of the expense 

 of billing and collecting; third, the reduction of bottle losses. Its 

 disadvantages are the first cost of tickets and the annoyance to 

 patrons in giving the deliveryman the proper tickets at the time of 

 delivery. 



The advantages of the charge system are : First, patrons are not in- 

 convenienced by the use of tickets; second, delivery work is facili- 

 tated, because the deliveryman is not obliged to collect or check up 

 the tickets ; third, it is a convenient method of extending credit. The 

 disadvantages of the charge system are : First, the expense of book- 

 keeping ; second, the loss of bad accounts ; third, the higher and more 

 expensive order of salesmanship required on the part of the delivery- 

 man for billing and collcting than in either the cash or cash-in-ad- 

 vance system ; fourth, necessity for the service of extra collectors and 

 credit men. 



METHODS OF INCREASING SALES. 



In new, as well as in old-established plants, it is necessary to be al- 

 ways on the alert for new business. Customers are continually leav- 

 ing the city or moving to other parts of it and new residents are 

 constantly moving in. Various advertising methods may be em- 

 ployed, the attending success depending upon the care with which 

 they are planned and their timely application. The most effective ad- 

 vertising is of the positive sort or that which emphasizes the health- 

 fulness and food value of milk. Such advertising may be in the form 

 of newspaper articles, billboards, posters, circulars to patrons, and 

 ■display advertising. 



Many milk-distributing plants have offered incentives to their sales 

 iorce in increasing and extending trade by paying additional com- 

 missions or bonuses for new customers, returned bottles, volume of 

 business, collections, or total route sales, as part of the routeman's 

 .salary. Some firms employ the policy of consistently extending their 

 business by consolidation with or purchase of the business of com- 

 petitors. Where the competitor's customers are mostly within terri- 

 tory already covered and can be reached by existing routes, or are 

 in new territory and a nucleus of a route is desired to which other 



