MARKETING HAY THROUGH TERMINAL MARKETS. 41 



uniform price. The shipper, however, hesitates to sell on such terms 

 unless the market is fairly steady or he is certain of a sufficient 

 amount of hay to fill the order. When the time is not stated in the 

 terms of sale it is generally understood that prompt shipment will 

 be made. 



TERMS OF SETTLEMENT. 



On hay shipped from terminal markets the terms of settlement 

 are almost always either " sight " or " arrival " draft, but the arrival 

 draft is used much more extensively because buyers generally refuse 

 to pay for the hay until the}^ have inspected it. The number of in- 

 stances in which the hay is shipped on open billing is few. 



Because much of the hay sold by shippers in terminal markets is 

 bought by them on track in their respective markets and is recon- 

 signecl directly from the track the terms of sale relative to the weights 

 and the grades that govern settlement vary a great deal. Unless the 

 hay has been loaded from a warehouse at a terminal market it is 

 almost impossible for shippers to give official weights. 1 



The term most used is " shipper's 2 weights guaranteed within 2 

 per cent." 3 Outturn weights, however, are frequently specified, and, 

 in fact, " shipper's weights guaranteed " are practically outturn 

 weights, for the guarantee can not be enforced unless the hay is 

 weighed at destination to determine the correctness of the shipper's 

 weights. 



Considerable difficulty is experienced with weights when hay is 

 sold on the terms just mentioned. The weighing facilities of both 

 the country shipper and the buyer at interior points in consuming 

 territories are frequently very poor and their weighing methods are 

 inefficient. The country shipper, therefore, is often not sure that 

 his weights are correct; nevertheless he bases his invoice upon them 

 and sells or consigns his hay to the terminal market. 



The receiver or commission merchant there offers and sells the hay 

 on the open market and offers the shipper's weights or invoice as 

 evidence of the amount of hay in the car. The shipper buys the hay 

 and reconsigns it to his customer, using the country shipper's weights 

 as the basis of his invoice. The buyer, if he has scales, usually weighs 

 the hay as he unloads it. If the outturn Aveight, considering the 2 

 per cent tolerance allowed, is less than the invoice weight, he makes 

 an affidavit as to the correctness of his weight and attaches it to a 



1 " Official "' weights are those obtained by the official weighing bureaus which are 

 maintained by the trade organizations at most terminal markets. A full description of 

 methods of official weighing is given in Bulletin No. 978 ; The Weighing of Market Hay, 

 by G. A. Collier and H. B. McClure. 1921. 



2 " Shippers " in this instance refers to country shippers. 



3 In some markets the tolerance allowed is only 1 per cent, while In others as much as 

 3 per cent is sometimes allowed. 



