16 BULLETIN 1441, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
also vary between meat cutters, for no two cut exactly alike. 
Shrinkage is a factor and this is influenced by variations in 
seasons and climatic conditions. These variations therefore must be 
reckoned with. Because of local conditions and shifting of demand 
for certain cuts, frequent adjustments in prices are necessary in 
order to maintain a fair ratio between costs and retail prices. For 
these reasons no fixed chart of retail prices based on carcass cost and 
yields of retail cuts can be used with any degree of accuracy. 
Most retail dealers have a knowledge of the variations, yet 
more than 50 per cent of those interviewed made no cutting 
tests. In only a small percentage of stores were cutting tests made 
with any degree of regularity and in a majority of the stores cutting 
tests were very infrequent or did not occur at all. Differences in 
percentage yields of cuts from carcasses of different grades are not 
understood to an appreciable extent. Some stores were found that 
base their prices merely on their competitor's prices with no accurate 
knowledge regarding price bases. 
DISPROPORTIONATE DEMAND FOR CUTS 
The apparent tendency on the part of customers to call chiefly for 
cuts that come from the hind quarters of beef carcasses has been a 
troublesome problem in the retail-trade meat for several years, and 
has resulted in a disproportionate demand for different cuts of meat. 
Aside from the influence which seasons have on demand for roasting 
and boiling meats, the study showed that any disproportionate demand 
for steaks and chops as compared to the so-called cheaper cuts can not 
rightfully be charged entirely to consumers. Any marked lack of uni- 
formity in movement of cuts was found to be due largely to the 
method of retailing. Salesmanship, initiative, and merchandising 
ability are involved. In all stores considered efficient, straight car- 
casses of fresh meats are usually purchased, and there are no accumu- 
lations. Some such stores were found in which more fore quarters 
than hind quarters are handled and the price spread between the so- 
called " preferred cuts" and the cheaper cuts is relatively narrow. 
In one city studied several retailers stated that previous to the 
entrance of a chain-store system they had drifted into a routine 
method of selling in which fore quarters accumulated and remained 
a drag on the market. Some dealers did not even try to handle 
them. When two local units of a chain store were opened in 1920 
these new stores at first handled fore quarters almost entirely. The 
first purchase for these stores comprised 65 medium-grade beef rat- 
tles (fore quarter minus rib cut) at 3 cents per pound wholesale. 
From these, stewing beef was sold at 5 cents, shoulder roast at 9 
cents, and chuck steak at 10 cents. The 65 rattles were disposed of 
in two days. That date was said to have been the beginning of better 
merchandising methods by retail dealers generally in that city and 
most of them have profited by that demonstration of merchandising 
possibilities which is applicable in at least modified form to practi- 
cally all classes of retail meat stores. 
The only exceptions found were in the type of service stores located 
in districts of small apartment houses. In families in such districts, 
usually both man and wife work. Steaks and chops are the chief 
meat purchases because they can be quickly prepared. Here con- 
ditions seemed genuinely to discourage sales from the fore quarter. 
