22 



BULLETIN" 394^ U. S, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



of them did not segregate tlieir expense accounts at all, but included 

 everything under the one title of " General expense." 



Table VIII. — Annual operating expense. 



Number 

 of stores. 



Total. 



High. 



Low. 



Average. 



Salary and labor , 



Rent 



Light and heat 



Insurance 



Taxes 



Telephone and telegraph. 



Interest 



Postage and stationery. . . 

 Miscellaneous 



S145, 553. 98 



20, 279. 76 



2, 194. IS 



9, 054. 41 



5, 957. 55 



.347. 50 



14, 695. 68 



874. 44 



195,022.36 



S12, 021. 95 



1, 800. 00 



250. 00 



1, 905. 44 



1, 239. 22 



56.00 



2, 300. 00 



644. 32 



83,623.79 



S720. 00 

 84.00 

 24.00 

 22. CO 

 25.00 

 25.00 

 37.00 

 25.00 

 7.10 



S4, 695. 93 

 881.51 

 137. 14 

 301.81 

 283.69 

 43.44 

 587.83 

 174. 89 

 5, 417. 29 



Total expense ' 



393, 979. 86 



86, 553. 74 



946.00 



9, 609. 27 



Profit for year. 

 Loss for year . . 



178, 229. 31 

 2, 453. 38 



5, 749. 33 

 1,226.69 



1 The different columns will not balance since the answers are given in each case for the number of stores 

 indicated. 



Table IX. — Monthly salaries and labor. 



Question. 



Number 

 of stores. 



High. 



Low. 



Average. 



Manager 



Bookkeeper 



Head salesman. 

 Other salesmen 

 Saleswomen . . . 



S250. 00 

 125. 00 

 150.00 

 90.00 

 55.00 



145.00 

 10.00 

 45.00 

 35.00 

 16.00 



S106. 00 

 68.87 

 74. 13 

 49.95 

 32.10 



Officers and directors usually receive the' nominal sum of SI. 50 per meeting, except where they are 

 actively engaged in the business, when they are paid a salary for managerial or accounting services. 



It is believed that the salary and rent items for 32 and 23 stores, 

 respectively, are fairly trustworthy, the average salary roll being 

 about $400, and the average rental about $75 per month. Even these 

 items are not typical of the stores covered by the survey, on account 

 of the small proportion included. 



The percentage of expense to net sales is not excessively high. It 

 ranges from 7 to 17, with an average of 11.7. This percentage is 

 for 33 of the stores, and is probably a much better showing than 

 would have been made had all the stores been able to contribute to 

 the data from which this percentage was calculated. In view of 

 the fact that some of the managers stated it as their belief that it 

 cost somewhat more to run a cooperative than a privately owned 

 business, this percentage is surprisingly low. The Harvard investi- 

 gation of grocery stores found the lowest cost of operation to be 

 10.4 per cent of sales, the highest 25.2 per cent, and the common 

 l^ercentage 16.5, as against the cooperative averages just quoted. 



In considering this showing for the expense of operation, there 

 must be taken into account the average gross profit of 21 per cent for 



