SELF-SEEVING m RETAILING EOOD PKODTJOTS. 37 



tomers apparently are not willing to buy such articles from tlie sam« 

 pies. They wish to see the actual contents of the package and will 

 usually break tied packages open before purchasing them. This 

 causes waste and also prevents the use of the products for attractive 

 displays. 



Fruits and vegetables may be divided into groups, according to the 

 methods of handling that seem most satisfactory. Among those that 

 can be most satisfactorily sold under self-service are oranges, lemons, 

 and grapefruit, cantaloupes, bananas, cabbage, eggplants, cucumbers, 

 peppers, and certain types of apples. Lettuce and cauliflower also 

 are dealt in successfully by some self-service establishments, but they 

 are more easily injured by handling than the other products named. 

 Most of these products are usually exposed in bulk and sold by count, 

 but a few, such as cabbage, cauliflower, and bananas, might be sold 

 by weight, while peppers might be sold by the small basket. 



In the case of certain products, display in baskets is practically a 

 necessity because of the smallness of the units or because the products 

 are too perishable to stand bulk display and picking over. In this 

 group may be included lima beans, either shelled or in pods, green 

 peas, string beans, Brussels sprouts, tomatoes, peaches, pears, plums, 

 cherries, grapes, berries, and cranberries. Of course, when the small 

 fruits which may be eaten without preparation are displayed, the 

 temptation to petty pilfering is considerable. For this reason some 

 self-serve stores do not deal in such products, confining their basket 

 trade to vegetables, the larger fruits, and to such small fruits as 

 cranberries, which require cooking. The placing of berries, cherries, 

 etc., near the cashier's desk probably would reduce the pilfering of 

 such products. At least one manager of a self-service store has 

 solved this problem satisfactory to himself by placing baskets of 

 small fruits in his glass-door refrigerators. He finds that customers 

 will not open the doors to pilfer. 



Where berries and other small products are displayed in pint or 

 quart boxes, the containers may be sold with the fruit, the whole 

 package being slipped into a paper bag by the wrapper. In the case 

 of many of the products mentioned as best displayed in baskets, 

 however, especially in the case of baskets containing more than a 

 quart, the contents usually are poured into bags by the wrapper, the 

 baskets being retained for repeated use by the store. 



A third group, practically confined to vegetables, may be described 

 as semibulky products usually bunched. In this group are green 

 onions, young beets and carrots, oyster plants, radishes, asparagus, 

 rhubarb, celery, and sweet corn. Most of these products can be sold 

 satisfactorily under self-service when exposed in bins or on tables. 

 Sweet corn probably can be sold less satisfactorily under self-service 

 than an}^ other of the products in this group. Customers usually 



