22 BULLETIN" 266, U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



The usual and safest method is to make all sales subject to con- 

 firmation by the shipper and not give absolute selling power to the 

 representative. In this case the broker will offer to the trade or re- 

 ceive orders from the wholesale trade, and if any seem to approximate 

 the market, he will telegraph these offers to the association or shipper. 

 In case the association accepts the offer, the sale is made, usually, with 

 the proviso that the goods are to be subject to inspection by the 

 purchaser. 



SALES AT DESTINATION. 



Sales at destination may be either for cash "on track," through 

 the auction, or sales out of storage. 



TRACK SALES AT DESTINATION AND SALES THROUGH THE AUCTIONS. 



Where a car is billed as a tramp car in the general direction in 

 which markets seem strongest and no sale has been made or order 

 secured for the goods en route, the car is diverted to the strongest 

 available market with orders to the local representative or broker to 

 make the most advantageous sale possible. The broker then gets 

 prospective buyers to make inspections and offers, which he submits 

 to the shipper. In case no attractive offers are made the car may be 

 sold through the auction. 



SALES OUT OP STORAGE. 



Another common procedure for the producer when marketing con- 

 ditions are not favorable at the time of shipment is to place the goods 

 in cold or common storage until the market strengthens. In this 

 case the shipper becomes a speculator, and usually it is best to allow 

 regular marketing agencies to handle speculative deals, unless the 

 grower has the advantage of a cooperative association and the expert 

 services of a trained manager. In the first place, the average indi- 

 vidual shipper has not a sufficient quantity of produce to influence 

 the trend of the market materially, nor is he able to keep in touch 

 with country- wide conditions and probable future developments. 

 In the second place usually he is not able to inspect the goods in stor- 

 age at regular intervals. The keeping qualities of the same varieties 

 of fruit vary greatly from year to year, and regular inspection is 

 almost a necessity in order that the sales may return a profit. Where 

 growers are cooperatively associated the sales representatives on the 

 different markets can perform this service. As a general principle, it 

 may be stated that only sound and fairly matured stock should go 

 into storage. 



In other words, this method of sale is practicable only when the 

 grower can keep in touch with the market, or when he has an abso- 

 lutely reliable representative on the market who can make inspec- 



