SELF-SERVING IN EETAILING FOOD PRODUCTS. 9 



Under actual conditions, the time spent in the self-service store is 

 considerably less on the average than in the service store; therefore 

 there is a physical as well as a psychological advantage. A customer 

 familiar with the self-service plan can wait upon himself in approxi- 

 mately the same amount of time that it takes a clerk to wait on him 

 in the service store. The extra time involved in ascertaining the loca- 

 tion of certain articles in the one is usually offset by the time con- 

 sumed in conversation in the other. Therefore, using the above 

 figures, the customer could make the purchases in the self-service 

 store in about 7 minutes, as compared with 15 minutes in the service 

 store. Such a saving in time, of course, would be effected only during 

 the rush hours, but since the majority of people buy during those 

 hours the total time saved would be large. 



During the quieter part of the day a customer can be waited upon 

 as soon as he comes into the service store. With either plan the same 

 amount of time will be involved in making the purchases. Therefore 

 if any advantage exists in self-service under these conditions, aside 

 from lower prices, it will be found probably in the general attitude 

 of the customer toward the plan. Does such an advantage exist? 

 The experience of numerous operators indicates that it does. Whether 

 or not this is merely because of the novelty is a debatable question. 

 There seem, however, to be certain psychological forces involved 

 which have a tendency to throw the advantage toward the self- 

 service plan. Groceries have heretofore been convenience goods; 

 that is, they were purchased at the most convenient place with not 

 much regard to price. But of late they have tended to enter more and 

 more into the shopping class; that is, they are now being bought 

 after a closer comparison of quality and price. 



The fact that the accessibilit}^ of the merchandise appeals to most 

 women is recognized by many of the large department stores and by 

 the 10-cent chain-store organizations. A woman likes to be free to 

 take time in the examination and selection of her purchases. She 

 seldom feels perfectly at ease in doing this when attended by a sales 

 person. Under self-service this disadvantage is done away with. A 

 purchaser coming into the store has free access to every article for 

 sale. She is her own saleswoman, and in making careful examina- 

 tion of the merchandise she is using no time but her own, and there- 

 fore is entirely at ease. If she wishes to ask any questions about the 

 goods, there is some one on the floor to answer them, but he is merely 

 an information aid and not a salesman. This advantage is more 

 marked in the selling of larger articles (clothing, furniture, etc.), 

 where the cost per article is greater ; but it is evident in the sale of 

 groceries. 



78619°— 22 2 



