12 BULLETIN 979, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



make sales and shipments direct to consumers Avho are carload buyers 

 of ha}^. It is also possible to sell to consumers located in more dis- 

 tant sections, but there is more difficulty in establishing and main- 

 taining a business contact with such customers. When dealing with 

 near-by consumers the seller can keep in touch with the needs of the 

 customer b} T personal visits or by telephone and thus anticipate his 

 needs and be in a position to fill them promptly. When the buyer is 

 located at a distance, more difficulty is experienced by the shipper in 

 supplying his needs. After a shipper through advertisements, cor- 

 respondence, or visitation, either personal or by a representative, has 

 secured a number of consumers as customers, he still has the problem 

 of holding their trade. 



The desires of shippers to obtain the highest market price for their 

 hay and of the buyers to obtain their hay at the lowest market price 

 are the principal reasons for the practice of marketing direct from 

 country shipper to consumer. Some buyers are of the opinion that 

 they can obtain better hay, or at least hay better suited to their needs, 

 if they can buy direct from a reliable shipper located in a territory 

 producing the kind of hay desired. On the other hand, consumers in 

 some sections prefer to buy only from a broker, distributor, or local 

 representative of the shipper. The difficulty of obtaining the quality 

 desired and of creating and maintaining satisfactory business rela- 

 tions seems to be the principal objection to buying direct from coun- 

 try shippers. 



Although the country shipper may sell direct to the consumer, he 

 must meet competition from other shippers. To do this successfully 

 he must make an effort to obtain his customers in the territory to which 

 he has the most advantageous freight rates; he must learn the char- 

 acter and grade of hay that his customers desire and need and must 

 have and maintain a supply sufficient for his customers' needs at all 

 times. 



Difficulty of maintaining a satisfactory supply is one of the im- 

 portant reasons accounting for the relatively small amount of hay 

 marketed direct from shipper to consumer. It takes either a long 

 time or considerable expense to obtain good customers in distant 

 markets, and if the dealer can not make shipments as the hay is 

 needed, the customer is forced to seek a new source of supply and is 

 then generally lost to the shipper. It is therefore necessary for ship- 

 pers to have a good volume of business distributed throughout the 

 year or a large storage. Many country shippers do not have these. 



Because of light crops in some sections and heavy crops in others, 

 the direction of movement is frequently changed and shippers who 

 have established a good business with consumers in a particular ter- 

 ritory find that they can not meet the competition from shippers 

 located in the sections of temporarily heavier production. It there- 



