MARKETING WESTERN BOXED APPLES 31 
THE COMMISSION DEALER 
The commission dealer is less prominent in the boxed-apple trade 
than in handling some other lines of produce, but is responsible for 
a small percentage of business, maliaine a considerable number of 
shipments from isolated or unorganized producing districts. Many 
firms have agents to solicit consignments at shipping points, often 
contracting with the growers to handle their crops. Sometimes when 
local prices are very low and cash offers unsatisfactory, shippers con- 
sion car lots at a venture. The commission dealers sell mostly to 
jobbers and retailers, charging the shipper usually 10 per cent 
commission. 
Numerous variations exist in market practices. Many receivers 
will sell in lots of any number of boxes at prices varying according to 
the size of the order. A part of the stock may have been bought 
f. o. b. and some by auction or through another city dealer. In 
some large cities there is a fairly distinct class of small jobbers or 
small wholesalers. These dealers pay especial attention to small, 
out-of-town orders, advising the buyer on variety and brand, putting 
up the package securely for transportation, and attending to various 
details, perhaps extending long-time credit to regular customers. 
For these services an advance of 3 to 10 per cent over the ordinary 
jobbing price may be charged. In some markets there 1s a class of 
small jobbers called ‘““‘wagon men,’”’ who peddle the fruit by the 
truck load, retailing it by the box to small buyers. 
A TYPICAL CARLOAD 
The usual story of a car of boxed apples is that a broker, having 
received the description of the apples for sale by the country shipper 
or marketing organization, has called up the wholesalers on his list 
and obtained the best offer possible. This offer was wired to shipping 
ae and as the terms were accepted, at first, or after the terms had 
een changed, the car was sold f. 0. b. subject to inspection on arrival. 
The buyer pays the freight. Usually the car is billed to the shipper 
himself with instructions to the carrier to advise his broker or buyer 
at destination when the car arrives. When the broker or buyer pays 
for the car the shipper notifies the railroad to release the car to the 
buyer. On arrival of the car, the buyer or broker receives notice 
from the railroad, accepts the carload by paying the amount of 
invoice, and the buyer hauls the apples to his store in the wholesale 
ee where the salesman disposes of the apples in large or small 
ots. 
Some cars are bought “Delivered” or “On track.’’ Another 
variation is sale on commission, the shipment having been con- 
signed by agents, branch offices, associations, and occasionally by 
individual growers. 
IN SMALLER MARKETS 
In cities below half a million population there is usually no very 
distinct class of jobbers, but the car-lot receiver is also a jobber and 
perhaps a commission dealer selling lots of any size from a box to 
a carload. Sales in small lots constitute the great majority of the 
receivers’ transactions in such markets and are the usual basis of 
their wholesale price quotations. 
