REDUCTION OF WASTE IN MARKETING 
grading, marking and inspection of ap- 
ples, with penalty of a fine for falsely 
marked packages. This has had a good 
effect in improving the grading, and has 
brought better returns in cash. The 
formation of an association of Ontario 
fruit growers and the establishment of 
general packing houses, with uniform 
packing guaranteed by the association, 
has had a still better effect, and the as- 
sociation products bring the highest 
price in the market. 
THE REDUCTION OF WASTE IN 
MARKETING 
FRANK ANDREWS 
Assistant Chief of Division of Production 
and Distribution, U. 8S. Bureau of 
Statistics 
Of the items entering into the cost of 
marketing fresh fruits and vegetables, 
possibly one of the greatest is the loss due 
to waste. Two important causes of this 
waste are slowness of delivery to the buy- 
er and the glutting of markets. Delay in 
transportation may cause the produce to 
decay or wilt, so that it may bring small, 
if any, returns, or, even if it arrives in 
good condition, it may be too late to be 
sold at good prices. <A loss in selling 
price may be caused also by a faulty dis- 
tribution of consignments, whereby some 
markets are overstocked, while there is a 
scarcity at others. These two causes of 
waste are being overcome, to some degree 
at least, by improved methods of distri- 
bution, as used by shippers, and by bet- 
ter transportation service. 
It is the purpose of this article to show 
the working of two general plans, whose 
extended use dates back scarcely 10 or 15 
years. One plan is used by shippers to 
distribute consignments among cities and 
towns in such manner as to avoid a glut; 
the other scheme is employed by trans- 
portation companies to move perishable 
freight quickly, and at the same time to 
be ready to change its destination on 
short notice, even when it is on the way to 
market. 
1327 
The Carload as a Unit 
A Saving in Money and Time 
In farming on a large scale, the unit 
of quantity for a shipment is regularly a 
carload. The advantage of a car lot over 
a smaller quantity is so great that the 
smaller shipment competes at a disad- 
vantage, except in near-by markets. Not 
only are the freight rates for carloads 
lower, but the time of transit is shorter 
and the risk of injuring the produce in 
transit is less. A car lot may be sent to 
any one of a large number of cities and 
towns, while the smaller shipment is lim- 
ited, by the higher freight rates and by 
delays in transit, to fewer markets. 
Since car lot shipments form such a 
large proportion of the total supply, con- 
ditions which affect their marketing in- 
fluence also the marketing of the smaller 
lots of highly perishable fruits and veg- 
etables. Home-grown produce is more apt 
to bring good prices in the neighboring 
city or town under conditions which tend 
to reduce the danger of an oversupply 
from distant regions. Hence, changes 
affecting the movement of carloads, as dis- 
cussed in this article, affect the entire 
truck-growing industry. 
There are a number of plans by which 
small shippers join in making up a car- 
load. This is regularly done by farmers’ 
co-operative associations. Country buyers 
also gather prodrce from various farmers, 
arranging their purchases so as to have 
carloads for shipment. Of the other plans 
for combining smaller lots in carloads, 
two of the more noteworthy are the local 
“pick-up” service of some railroads and 
the system employed by some forwarding 
agents. 
Combining Small Lots 
There are forwarding agents whose 
business it is to collect small consign- 
ments at various points in the Mississippi 
Valley and to ship them to market. The 
forwarding agent gathers enough produce 
to make a full carload at a given station, 
consigns it to himself at the destination, 
and delivers the contents to various con- 
signees. By this system a small ship- 
ment by a producer is carried as prompt- 
