COST OF MARKETING DAIRY PRODUCTS 261 



slight variation in the daily production of milk, it is evident 

 that it is necessary for market milk establishments to handle 

 a small amount in excess of what can be disposed of at retail. 

 This excess is usually converted into other products, such as 

 butter, cream for ice cream making, or cheese. As there is 

 a good demand for special makes of soft cheese, this has often 

 been made from the surplus milk, and some plants have suc- 

 ceeded in entirely eliminating this particular loss. Prominent 

 milk dealers of Boston estimate the loss due to surplus milk and 

 shrinkage at 0.37 cent per quart. ' 



6. Loss on Bad Accounts. — More accounts are lost when 

 dealing with the consumer direct than when selling to a dealer. 

 Customers leave and neglect to pay and some accounts are so 

 small that it will not pay to collect. To overcome this loss in 

 some places tickets are sold on a cash basis. This system has 

 succeeded in many instances, but has also some failures to its 

 credit. It reduces the bad accounts, but may also have a 

 tendency to reduce the number of customers. 



7. Overhead Expenses. — Overhead expenses such as office 

 expenses, insurance, depreciation, advertising, etc., differ 

 greatly in different plants, due to variation in the cost of plant 

 and equipment, office system, efficiency of organization, etc. 



8. Total Cost of Marketing. — The datum available on total 

 cost is very hmited at this time and it varies greatly in different 

 plants. A dairy school conducting a 500-quart milk route 

 twelve miles in length in the middle Western states reports the 

 cost at 3.51 cents per quart; deliveries were reported not to be 

 made more than three houses from the main route. The milk 

 was not pasteurized. 



Milk dealers of Boston report the cost of marketing in that - 

 city as follows: ^ 



' Hoard's Dairjrman. 



2 Hoard's Dairyman, July 19, 1912. 



