SELF-SEEVING IK" EETAILIISTG FOOD PRODUCT'S. 5 



Under the service plan an added volume of business necessitates 

 more clerks to wait on the additional customers. This is not neces- 

 sary under the self-service plan. An increase in volume necessitates 

 only additional stockmen and cashiers, which, of course, are neces- 

 sary in a store of any magnitude under any plan. For example, let 

 it be assumed that there are two stores doing a business of $500 a 

 day, one operating under the self-service plan and one under the 

 cash-and-carry plan with salesmen. Studies of stores of both types 

 indicate that under the former plan it would require, at the outside, 

 about two stockmen, one cashier, and one checker, while under the 

 latter it would probably require five clerks to wait on the customers, 

 one stockman, and one cashier. This includes only those employees 

 who handle the merchandise or come in contact with the customers. 

 The saving in number of employees by self-service would be 43 per 

 cent. Now, let it be assumed that these stores are doing a business of 

 $1,000 a day. A survey of grocery establishments of both types indi- 

 cates that the $1,000 a day self-service would probably require two 

 cashiers, two checkers, and three stockmen, while under cash and 

 carry ten clerks, two cashiers, and two stockmen would be needed. 

 This would be a saving of 50 per cent in the number of employees 

 under self-service. Obviously, stores of the two types doing exactly 

 the same amount of business and operating under conditions exactly 

 comparable in every respect can not be found; but the studies of 

 existing stores under closely comparable conditions indicate the cor- 

 rectness of these deductions. 



If the saving is translated to money value, it is even more apparent 

 because of the different rates of wages paid for different classes of 

 work. If a good sales clerk is paid $25 per week, a stockman or 

 checker $20 per week, and a cashier $15, which fairly represents the 

 difference in wages paid these classes, the weekly wage expense, with 

 the store doing $500 per day, would be $75 under self-service and 

 $160 under cash and carry, or a saving of 53 per cent by self-service. 

 If the stores were doing a business of $1,000 a day, the wage cost 

 under self-service would be $130 and under cash and carry $320, or 

 a saving of 68 per cent in favor of self-service. 



The average expense for wages of salesmen in the cash-and-carry 

 store referred to, doing a business of $6,000 a week, would be, there- 

 fore, between 5 and 6 per cent of the total sales. The self-service 

 store with a like volume of business and the weekly wages referred 

 to would operate on a wage expense of between 2 and 3 per cent of 

 total sales. 



There are other savings in expense under the self-service plan 

 which, although not so marked as those of wages, are of considerable 

 importance in the aggregate. These are largely attributable to the 



