SELF-SEEVING IN EETAILHSTG FOOD PRODUCTS. 39 



quantity is essential so as to insure a turnover of once a day on the 

 more perishable products and at least once a week on the more staple 

 products. 



The average dealer, realizing there is a considerable loss from 

 spoilage and wanting to be on the safe side, marks his more perish- 

 able products up perhaps about 50 per cent. This, of course, tends 

 to discourage purchases and causes slow movement, which automati- 

 cally increases the spoilage. Therefore, when this average dealer is 

 asked what his percentage of loss through spoilage is he can show 

 from his records, if he keeps them, that his spoilage amounts to 

 such and such a high percentage. But this does not necessarily 

 prove that such a percentage of spoilage is anywhere near the mini- 

 mum that can be obtained. Operators who recognize the value of 

 modern merchandising methods completely reverse this procedure. 

 They examine the articles carefully before they are purchased and 

 buy only sound products ; they buy only in suiRient quantities to last 

 for a day or a week, depending on the nature of the products, and 

 they assume that losses from spoilage will be almost negligible if 

 products are sold rapidly. They are enabled, therefore, to make 

 very little allowance for spoilage and to set relatively low prices. 

 These low prices stimulate sales, so that the products are moved into 

 consumption before they have time to spoil. 



In one of the self-serve stores studied considerable attention was 

 given to the marketing of fresh fruits and vegetables, and they were 

 handled in a very efficient manner. Careful records were kept of 

 the loss through spoilage, both in the way of a reduction in price to 

 move partially spoiled or damaged products and absolute loss re- 

 sulting from spoilage, and it was found that this percentage of total 

 spoilage amounted to only 2 per cent of the total sales of fresh 

 fruits and vegetables. This, of course, does not take into considera- 

 tion the loss through such factors as evaporation, but represents only 

 the visible loss through spoilage and mark-downs necessary to move 

 certain of the more perishable products the same day they were pur- 

 chased. This loss ranged from 1 per cent on potatoes and 3 per cent 

 on citrus fruits to 20 per cent on Tokay grapes shipped from Cali- 

 fornia. These figures were taken from the records of one month's 

 operations during the latter part of the summer. 



ACCOUNTING. 



The existence of self-service is primarily dependent upon its abil- 

 ity to sell merchandise to the consumer at a lower cost than by other 

 methods of distribution. In order that this may be most satisfac- 

 torily accomplished, the economies of the plan itself should be fur- 

 ther emphasized and supplemented, as has been pointed out, by oper- 



