ISO COOPERATIVE MARKETING 



teen and one-half cents a packed box. But some associa- 

 tions found that they could build their own pre-cooling 

 plants, make their own ice, and still pre-cool and pre-ice 

 their cars at much lower costs than railroad refrigeration 

 would entail. Therefore many of the more progressive 

 associations have installed their own refrigeration facilities 

 and are making additional savings through cooperation. 



Before the assocations entered the field, shippers and 

 commission men were accustomed to charge 7 to lo per cent, 

 on the gross sales for selling. The cost of the exchange 

 system for its entire service is never as high as 3 per cent, 

 on gross sales, and this service includes numerous items 

 that could not possibly be furnished by commission mer- 

 chants. Such a tremendously improved marketing medium 

 has been developed through the cooperative organizations 

 that it would be unfair to attempt to compute the savings 

 that have been effected. Marketing service when applied 

 to exchange methods is really not the same commodity 

 that used to be bought from commission men. Just as in 

 the case of packing, too, the activity of the exchange has 

 forced shippers to lower their charges or go out of busi- 

 ness. Perhaps 5 per cent, on the gross sales would be a 

 reasonable estimate of the selling costs of the citrus growers 

 who still consign on commission.'^ 



Obviously it is impossible to compute accurately the total 

 of the financial benefits the citrus industry has received 

 through cooperation. When under the old methods 4,000 

 cars could not be profitably sold and now under cooperation 

 50,000 cars can be marketed annually it might seem that 

 the total price received for all the cars above 4,000 a year 

 might properly be credited to cooperation. But basing the 

 calculation on the costs of packing, transportation, refrig- 



''- This IS the estimate made by Powell in his report for 1912-13 to 

 the California Fruit Growers Exchange. 



