96 COOPERATIVE MARKETING 



out what percentage of his cars shipped during these months 

 usually goes to New England. Then he sees to it that 

 enough relatively large fruit is on hand to load that number 

 of cars with excess percentages of the larger sizes/ This 

 plan has several advantages. First, the tree is relieved of 

 part of its load and may devote its strength to the fruit 

 that is left. Second, large fruit is apt to become coarse 

 sooner than the small fruit tree does if left on the trees, 

 so gathering it early improves the average quality for the 

 season. Third, smaller sizes are very often preferred over 

 the large during the latter part of the season, so getting 

 the large fruit out of the way may forestall later discrimina- 

 tion. True, picking to size is more expensive and more 

 troublesome than taking the fruit as it comes, and that is 

 the very reason that individuals cannot be trusted to do it. 

 But the cent or fraction of a cent a box that is added to 

 the cost of picking is likely to be far more than recouped 

 through pleasing the market. 



Some growers who concede the reasonableness of having 



^ The trade regulations in regard to the "standard car" make pos- 

 sible considerable variation in the percentages of the various sizes of 

 fruit contained in the same car. "Standard car" is a somewhat variable 

 term in different years, but, in general, a car of oranges is expected 

 to contain not more than lo per cent, each of the 96, 112, and 250 

 sizes and not more than 20 per cent, of the 126 size. The remainder 

 of the car, or 50 per cent, may be divided at will among the 150, 176, 

 200 and 216 sizes. If a car contains an excess of the 96, 112, 126 or 

 250 sizes above the percentages noted for the standard car, the dealer 

 who buys the car at a given price a box expects a discount of twenty- 

 five or fifty cents a box on the excess. He also expects a discount 

 of fifty cents a box on all boxes of the 48, 64, 80, 288, 300, 324, 360 

 and 420 sizes. Cf. U. S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Plant 

 Industries, Bulletin No. 123, p. 18. In short, the very large and very 

 small sizes arc discounted by the trade. But if a given market de- 

 mands large sizes, for example, an excess percentage of those sizes 

 above the amounts permitted by the standard car may not be dis- 

 counted. Hence arises the opportimity for a manager to employ mar- 

 keting strategy in connection with sizes. 



