A SURVEY OF TYPICAL COOPEEATIVE STORES. 23 



the stores studied by Harvard as against 17.7 per cent for the 30 

 cooperative stores for v^hich the gross profit could be calculated. 

 The circvimstances under which this investigation was made did not 

 permit the investigator to go back of the accounting system in every 

 case to see whether the data upon which gross profits could be 

 estimated were sufficiently reliable. 



For some of the stores not included in this percentage column 

 of gross profit, it was quite certain that the manager was working 

 in the dark, and did not actually know the amount of his gross 

 profit. For example, in several cases a manager who handled prin- 

 cipally groceries and farm produce said that his gross profit was 

 about 21 per cent. Upon analyzing the statements, however, the 

 amount was found to be very much below what he estimated. This 

 was due to the fact that certain commodities, such as butter, eggs, 

 sugar, flour, and practically all farm produce was handled upon a 

 very close margin, and sometimes at an actual loss. These items 

 bulked much more largely in the total business than the manager 

 realized. One store, for example, went bankrupt within a period 

 of 10 months because its manager thought he was running upon an 

 average of 20 per cent gross profit, while in reality he was running 

 at a net loss of 7 per cent on sales, and his gross profit was only a 

 little over 10 per cent. 



Referring once more to Table X, we find that the average cost of 

 all salaries and labor amounted to a total of 6.4 per cent of the net 

 sales as compared with 11.7 per cent for the total expense. That is, 

 the salaries and labor form 54.7 per cent of the total expense of 

 running the business. This surely is not excessive. The Harvard 

 survey of grocery stores disclosed the fact that the salaries in the 

 average retail grocery under private management were 60.6 per 

 cent of the total expense, or almost 6 per cent higher. This is borne 

 out by Table IX, which summarizes the results of the investigation 

 of wages paid. For 42 stores the average salary paid the manager 

 was $106 per month. But if 6 of the stores which pay their manager 

 $150 per month or over are eliminated, the average for the other 36 

 amounts to only $79.50. The average salary for the bookeeper was 

 also too low to secure efficiency. The 10 States in which these stores 

 are located have average wages considerably higher than the average 

 would be for the country as a whole; from this it is seen that the 

 wages paid by the cooperative stores are very low. 



In addition to the regular salaries and wages indicated in Table X 

 there are insignificant outlays for officers and directors, and often for 

 an occasional helper. The most common policy is for associations 

 to pay their directors $1.50 for each meeting attended, except where 

 they occupy a position in the business on regular salary. Occasional 

 help costs the daily wage of from $1 to $2,50 a day, with an average 



