52 BULLETIN 1442, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
agencies, so that it was not possible to state which group of stores 
was operating the more economically. 
It has already been stated that gross margin percentages in the 
packer-owned stores seemed to be lower than in other stores, and 
expense percentages also showed some variation. It was of interest, 
also, to examine profit rates shown for the packer-owned stores. 
In one of these markets, a loss of 3.02 per cent was indicated and in 
the other a slight profit of 0.47 per cent of sales was shown. 
In the delivery group of stores not packer-owned the average 
gross margin in markets, where the volume of sales ranged between 
$25,000 and $50,000, was 27.80 per cent in Seattle and San Francisco 
and the average total expense was 22.82 per cent of sales. There 
was thus indicated a profit of 4.98 per cent. 
In 6 packer-owned markets of the same size and type, gross mar- 
gin, total expense and profit percentages were as follows: Store A, 
19.37, 19.28, and 0.09; store B, 17.81, 19.48, and a loss of 1.67; store 
C, 18.04, 17.47, and 0.57 profit; store D, 19.71, 21.42, and 1.71 loss; 
store E, 29.95, 25.88, and 4.07 profit; store F, 26.01, 21.67, and 4.34 
profit. There were thus two stores, E and F, which approximated 
the average percentages of stores not packer-owned. In the remain- 
ing 4 stores, margin percentages were low, and in 3 of the stores, A, 
B, and C, expense percentages were also low. However, in the 4 
stores with low gross margin percentages, 2, B and D, operated at 
a loss of almost 2 per cent each and the remaining 2, A and C, 
operated at low rates of profit, 0.09 and 0.57 per cent. 
Six of the packer-owned delivery stores have been mentioned. A 
seventh, with an annual volume of sales under $25,000, was conducted 
at a gross margin percentage of 24.66, total expense percentage of 
20.20, and a profit of 4.46 per cent. The eighth of these stores was 
operated at a gross margin percentage of 17.89, total expense per- 
centage of 15.68, and a profit of 2.21. 
A summary- of the operation of these 11 packer-owned retail stores 
indicated that 3 were operated at gross margin percentages which 
approximated those of stores of similar size not owned by packers. 
In 5 of the 11 stores the cost of operation was similar to that in 
markets of similar size and type owned by agencies other than the 
meat-packers and in 6 of the 11 stores actual losses were incurred 
or profits were less than 1 per cent of sales. 
PACKER-OWNED SEMIWHOLESALE MARKETS 
Twenty-one of the markets for which data were obtained for 
1923 were reported to be of the semiwholesale character. In all 
of these markets some retailing was done, but retail and wholesale 
sales amounts were not kept separate. Neither were the costs of 
goods sold at retail and at wholesale available separately, so that 
no study could be made of the group from the standpoint of cost 
of retailing. In this respect, they were similar to the semiwholesale 
markets previously discussed, with the exception that these packer- 
owned markets functioned in some cases as branch houses for dis- 
tribution of meats to other dealers. As sources of information 
regarding the cost of retailing by packers, such stores were of no 
