ticularly important to farmers, since much farm produce is highly 
perishable and necessarily must have a rapid turnover if waste is to 
be avoided. The retailer is the final outlet, and if he must charge a 
high price for his goods, because of his heavy operating expense, he 
blocks the channels of trade and causes a slowing down in the flow 
along the entire distribution system, all the way back to the producer. 
Therefore, any method that will reduce the cost of retail-store opera- 
tion, or make the retailer more efficient, is of importance to the grower 
of perishable farm products as well as to the consumer. It will in- 
crease the grower's outlet because of the reduced cost of the produce 
to the consumer. 
Since a large percentage of the farm products distributed are sold 
through grocery stores, it has been considered advisable to study the 
methods, cost of operation, and possibilities of some of the new types 
of such stores in order to determine whether there is a probability 
that costs of retail distribution of foodstuffs, including farm prod- 
ucts, can be materially lowered in the immediate future. 
During most of the period between 1900 and 1910 there was an in- 
creasing demand for service. Competition forced dealers to add one 
service after another until the system became overburdened. With 
the marked increases in prices after the outbreak of the World War 
there came a reaction. Consumers had to give more thought to the 
buying of foodstuffs, and prices, rather than convenience and service, 
became the all-important consideration. An increasingly large part 
of the public came to realize that under the more common methods 
of retailing, the cost of service, though advertised as free, was neces- 
sarily included in the price of merchandise, whether or not the cus- 
tomer availed himself of such service. 
As a result of this growing recognition that a cost is necessarily 
attached to service, several types of so-called nonservice grocery 
stores have come into existence. Of these the self-service store has 
been the most radical development, since it has come closest to the 
complete elimination of service. This type of store is generally 
believed to have originated on the Pacific coast, but its development 
probably was simultaneous in several parts of the country. 
In this bulletin the " service " stores referred to are of the " cash 
and carry " type. They are used in comparison with " self-service," 
because they approach the latter most nearly in cost of operation and 
service rendered to customers. If comparison were made with the 
" credit and delivery " type of store, the differences would be much 
greater. 
SELF-SERVICE. 
Self-service means, of course, to serve one's self. The use of the 
phrase in connection with the retail distribution of merchandise 
applies to those retail establishments so constructed and operated 
