OUTLETS AjSTD METHODS OF SALE FOE- SHIPPERS. 9 



This bulletin can not attempt to discuss the functions of these 

 organizations in detail because it is written primarily for the indi- 

 vidual grower who has no cooperative organization to handle his 

 shipments for him. 1 



SALES DIRECT TO CONSUMERS. 



It is a common belief that the most direct outlet for producers, 

 that is, the channel direct to consumers, is always the most simple 

 and elementary of all channels of distribution. It is doubtful 

 whether this is always true, for many difficulties lie in the way of a 

 producer who attempts to get in touch with the final consumers of 

 his commodities. There is no doubt as to the advantages, in that 

 there are no intermediaries in the distribution of these goods and the 

 producer is able to get much higher prices than he could if selling at 

 wholesale. 



Before discussing direct methods of marketing it may be well to 

 give some consideration to the difficulties involved, especially 

 in the distribution in the larger cities. In the first place, there is 

 the inconvenience of getting in touch with the consumers who are in 

 the market for the particular commodities concerned and, in the 

 second place, the difficulty of making collections and avoiding bad 

 accounts. The average grower is fully occupied in supervising pro- 

 duction on the farm, and it is troublesome enough for him to keep 

 in touch with general market conditions without attempting to han- 

 dle all of the details necessitated by direct marketing. Finally, 

 these direct channels are possible only in specialized cases where 

 small quantities of goods are to be shipped, and it is seldom that 

 large quantities of products from extensive farms or orchards can 

 be disposed of through these outlets. Wholesale distribution must 

 be resorted to in these cases. 



The principal methods of selling direct to consumer by the farmer 

 may be summarized as follows: Direct delivery by wagon or motor 

 truck; sales on public markets; express and parcel-post shipments; 

 peddling from the car doors; and, finally, sales to factories, such as 

 canning or pickling plants, cider mills, and grape-juice factories. 



DIRECT DELIVERY I5Y WAGON. 



Direct delivery by wagon or motor truck is practicable only where 

 the farmer lives within a 25-mile radius of the consuming center. 

 Hence this method affords an outlet oidy for the commodities pro- 

 duced in the area immediately surrounding the market. Such 

 deliveries are Limited, in the main, to country (owns and smaller 

 cities. The automobile truck undoubtedly is enlarging this radius, 



■ Bee Be kjm, ' - i- ; M'.-un.-iv. , < . \s\, :ui<i i>n , u n. Cooperati 1 emarknUiw :m<i iin;uirin)'<>i m. 1 1. . i - 

 tag association . Tn Sfearbool D\ S. Dept, of Agriculture, 1914. 



96016°— J5 u] I. 266—16 2 



