14 DEPAETMENT CIKCULAK 413, U. S. DEPT. OF AGEICULTUEE 



QUANTITY COMMODITY AND SPECIFICATIONS PRICE 



(Signed) : 



Buyer. 



Seller. 

 By 



Broker or Salesman. 



I hereby certify that I am authorized by the Seller named above, as his Broker 

 or Salesman, to fill out this Standard Confirmation of Sale and sign and authen- 

 ticate the same in his behalf. 



SUMMARY 



On the basis of this study of about 43 per cent of the total shipments 

 for the period covered, it was found that, as an average for the three- 

 year period, 1922-1925, about 81 per cent of Washington State boxed 

 apples were sold on a basis of f. o. b. usual terms. About 8 per cent 

 were sold on a delivered basis or for cash on track, while the sales 

 made direct at auction, direct for export or consigned, amounted to 

 less than 5 per cent each. 



For the three-year average, reductions from the original price, caused 

 by rejections, occurred on 10 per cent of the cars sold f . o. b. usual terms, 

 ranging from 15.2 per cent in 1922-23 to 6 per cent in 1924-25. 

 For the cars on which there were reductions in price the average 

 reduction was approximately 20 per cent of the invoice price. 



Price reductions on rejected cars which were resold to other buyers 

 were heavier than on rejected cars on which allowances were made 

 to the original buyers. But there was no means of determining 

 whether the average condition or grade of shipments handled by the 

 latter method was better than in the case of shipments which were 

 rejected and resold. There appears to be an increasing tendency on 

 the part of sellers to adjust differences by making allowances to orig- 

 inal buyers rather than to resell to other buyers. Of the cars on which 

 price reductions occurred, allowances to the original buyers were made 

 in 58 per cent of the cases in 1922-23, in 60 per cent of the cases in 

 1923-24, and m 75 per cent in 1924-25. 



Of the cars which were rejected and resold at less than the invoice 

 price, about 60 per cent were resold to other dealers, about 30 per cent 

 were sold at auction, and about 10 per cent were consigned. 



Less than 5 per cent of the rejected cars were resold at the original 

 invoice price or more, and on these cars the advance over the original 

 invoice price averaged only about 3 per cent, as indicated by records 

 for 1922-23 and 1923-24. 



Reasons given by buyers for rejecting shipments related mainly to 

 condition of the fruit, including such factors as decay, scald, over- 

 ripeness, freezing injury, and internal breakdown. Condition factors 

 were given as reasons for rejection in over 60 per cent of the cases as 

 an average for the three-year period. Grade factors like color, pack 

 and sizing, bruising and blemishes were much less frequent reasons 

 for rejections, averaging less than 15 per cent for the three-year 

 period. Miscellaneous causes such as disputes concerning specifi- 



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