PROBLEMS OF COOPERATIVE MARKETING ASSOCIATIONS 41 



paratively small lots to jobbers, retailers, and other buyers. Their 

 sales are usually made from their stores in the wholesale produce 

 district, but may be made directly from the cars in the railroad 

 yards. 



Commission merchants, as a rule, handle a wide variety of fruit 

 and vegetable products. Many commission merchants also operate, 

 at times or continually, as jobbers or receivers, buying shipments for 

 resale. In fact, there is no sharp division of functions between the 

 various distributing agencies. 



The concerns generally described as " receivers " or " car-lot whole- 

 salers " perform practically the same functions as the group general- 

 ly described as jobbers. Receivers, however, usually buy carload 

 lots, whereas jobbers may not. Receivers may resell in carload lots, 

 but jobbers sell relatively small lots. The chief distinction appears 

 to be the volume of business handled. The consuming territory 

 which they serve may be one city, or a part of a city, or may extend 

 over a territory including several cities or towns. 



Receivers and jobbers differ from commission merchants in that 

 they buy products for resale. From the point of view of distribu- 

 tion, their functions are much the same as those of the commission 

 merchants. 



RETAILERS 



Retailers include chain stores, local unit grocery stores, markets, 

 fruit stores, hucksters, push cart venders, and to some extent, de- 

 partment stores, and " 5 and 10-cent " stores. They buy occasionally 

 in car lots, but usually in less than car lots, and resell in quantities 

 purchased by the average family. The cost of retailing fruits and 

 vegetables exceeds the total cost of all other marketing agencies and 

 operations. Studies of the retail margins for oranges in a number 

 of markets for the years 1917 to 1921, show that the retailer received 

 as an average $1.88 for each box of oranges which he handled, com- 

 pared with $1.25 for all other packing and marketing services, $1.22 

 for transportation, and $2.78 received by the producer. 



A large part of the retail margin retained for fruits and vege- 

 tables is due to the high cost of selling and delivering small quan- 

 tities to a large number of customers ; a part is due to the perishabil- 

 ity of the product. This can be overcome to some extent by the 

 adoption of standard grades and more careful packing and handling 

 methods by the growers and their associations. Some large organi- 

 zations are actively engaged in campaigns to demonstrate to the 

 retailer that it is relatively more profitable for him to handle a 

 larger volume at a smaller margin. It is probably true that the 

 consumption of fruits and vegetables may be further stimulated in 

 this way. 



METHODS OF SALE 



Fruit and vegetable organizations may make track sales, f. o. b. 

 sales, delivered sales, or consignment sales. Some confusion and 

 misunderstanding exists among shippers and buyers as to the mean- 

 ing and conditions of each of these methods. 



Track sales are sales wherein the terms and conditions of the 

 sale are completed after an inspection of the shipment by the buyer. 

 Such sales, therefore, may be made at either the shipping point or 

 at destination. The buyer pays the seller or his agent directly. 



