EXPENSE FACTORS IN CITY DISTRIBUTION OF PERISHABLES 27 
unit store, both types being on the same nonservice basis, the con- 
trast in favor of the chain store is reduced to $255 per car. Chain 
stores distributed fruits and vegetables at an expense 31 per cent 
below that required in unit cash-and-carry stores. The form of 
management in the chain store thus accounted for a saving of nearly 
one- third of the total distribution expense. 
In the comparison of independent unit stores offering various 
degrees of special service the cash-and-carry type required in the 
process of distribution $250 per car less than the amount required 
for distribution by the credit-delivery type. The spread between 
wholesale and retail prices was thus 23 per cent less than that in the 
unit stores giving credit and delivery service. In other words, 
nearly one-fourth of the credit-delivery store's distribution expense 
was accounted for by the expense of delivery service and the granting 
of credit. 
To the individual consumer the meaning of these differentials in 
selling expense is more clear when they are expressed as differences 
in retail prices. Between the chain store and the typical unit store 
there was found a gross price difference of 5 cents per standard 
retail sale. Retail prices in chain stores averaged 17 per cent below 
those prevailing in typical unit stores which gave the prevailing 
amount of service. When the cash-and-carry chain store is compared 
with the cash-and-carry unit store, both types being on the same non- 
service basis, there is a net difference in retail prices of 3 cents per 
sale, in favor of the chain store. This is 13 per cent below the cash- 
and-carry unit store price. This figure is the truer measure of the 
advantage of the chain store form of management, as the former 
larger percentage difference includes some difference in service. 
Comparing unit stores by themselves according to service policies, 
credit-and-delivery service together are found to have cost the con- 
sumer 3 cents per retail sale, in contrast to selling prices in cash-and- 
carry unit stores. This service differential is 11 per cent of the retail 
price in the full-service type of store. From the data from which 
these differences were derived, the credit element accounts for a 
greater proportion than does the delivery element, but this may be 
due in a measure to the limited nature of delivery service maintained 
by reporting stores in the cash-and-delivery group. 
A presentation of the differences found in this analysis of manage- 
ment and service factors, showing the split-up of the consumer's 
outlay under various forms of store operation, is given in Figure 11. 
In the bars for different store types the dark portion represents the 
wholesale cost of the goods disposed of in the standard retail sale. 
This wholesale portion is made uniform for each type — 14 cents. 
The remaining part of each bar shows the distribution expense for 
services. In the chain store all distribution services were rendered 
at a total expense of 6.8 cents per sale. In the unit-store types there 
is added a charge for jobber's service of 2 cents per sale. The general 
retailer's service in the cash-and-carry unit store costs 7.8 cents. 
Total distribution expense for retailer and jobber in the cash-and- 
carry unit store was thus 3 cents per sale greater than in the chain 
store. In the unit store which operated on a cash basis with limited 
delivery service the expense of delivery adds 1 cent more. In the 
type which grants credit in addition to delivery, 2 cents are added 
again to cover the added credit service. 
