8 BULLETIN 302, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
deliveries, and have no telephones in their stores. Their plan is to 
sell a peck of apples proportionately as cheap as they could sell a 
barrel. The concern publishes a weekly newspaper which in one week 
had a circulation of 26,000 copies. In this paper they advertised the 
commodities on which they would make special prices. On Novem- 
ber 4, 1914, they quoted ‘‘ Excellent cooking apples,”’ which cost them 
about 10 cents, at 15 cents per peck. This company moved a large 
quantity of fruit through their various stores at low prices, made a 
profit of about 50 to 60 cents a barrel, and enabled the consumer to 
buy far below the usual retail prices. 
The investigator also secured the record of sale of 118 barrels of 
apples through 5 and 10 cent stores. The complete distribution of 
this lot from grower to consumer is given in Table 2. 
Tt will be noted that the 5 and 10 cent stores handled this fruit for 
21.8 per cent of the consumer’s dollar. A large Pacific coast growers’ 
organization, in its efforts to secure a record of the distribution of the 
orange consumer’s dollar, secured reports covering the market prices 
of oranges for a whole year. When these reports were tabulated it 
was found that 334 per cent of the orange consumer’s dollar remained 
with the retailer. So it would appear that through distribution con- 
ducted as in the case given above a saying of 11.53 per cent can be 
effected, it being granted that apples and oranges are retailed in a 
similar way. 
TaBLE 2.—Distribution of the consumer’s dollar ina sale of 118 barrels of apples distributed 
through medium of 5 and 10 cent stores. 
2 Per cent of 
Retail costs ) 
consumer’s 
per barrel. anil 
Growermreceived: (On: the tree) ash ayaa ae Sark eg hai 3 oe nee Rete $1. 455 38. 49 
66 
Cost of barrel, picking, grading, packing, and hauling....................-.-.--- Z 17. 46 
RUit STOW ETS associa LIOnuse limo Chances jc. sie 52 oe ee eee . 135 325% 
Ereight, origin to destination. 2: ¢jseteces sect es sense. ie ae eee oe -416 11.00 
Cartagerat destination (depot LO|StOLe) seen o ec ee a oe eee ee eee ee .05 1.31 
Loss,(shrinkage) to.wholesalense: eioyeaecc eA - Sete Saag eee eee . 032 . 84 
Costito:wholesalen. tence ge. seh web Se sat ee ee 2. (48) Res ceases 
Wiholesaler’sproltt so -foes sare crs Re ees yeas Ee ee eee Seren . 208 5. 53 
Cost 105 and 1O'Cene stores ne Naa mn oe en ee D056 |e eee 
Brott. to biand10icentstonesigs sbihc ys | eee ee ee cee ae ee ee Seer a . 824 21.80. 
Price paid: by; consum ena 444-43. 325.44 32 a ee eo eee ele aaa 3.78 100. 00 
For distribution and costs this lot of fruit was marketed very satis- 
factorily, but of course the case is not typical of retail handling. It 
is interesting to note that the distribution was from a growers’ asso- 
ciation through wholesaler and retailer to consumer. In the large 
cities the jobber usually intervenes between the wholesaler and 
retailer, while wasteful methods and costly service come between the 
retailer and consumer, with the result that prices are charged which 
may be prohibitive of heavy consumption. 
