EXPENSE FACTORS IX CITY DISTRIBUTION OF PERISHABLES 5 
representing different kinds of management , varying degrees of 
service, and diverse types of trade, in a number of representative 
localities in different parts of the New York metropolitan area. 
COLLECTION OF ORIGINAL PRICE DATA 
Nearly 14,000 sets of individual price records were made, covering 
a continuous period of 16 months, from February, 1923, to May, 
1924, inclusive, records being taken for an identical day in each 
week of this period. Fifty retail stores cooperated in supplying 
retail prices. Most of the quotations were obtained from 30^ re- 
tailers located in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Bronx, Newark, Passaic, 
and Elizabeth. 4 The geographical location of these stores and their 
relation to the primary wholesale market and the intermediate job- 
bing markets, are indicated in Figure 2. 
The retail price quotations were collected on Friday of each week 
by regularly accredited reporters who were actively interested in the 
project. They were principally housewives and representatives of 
women's clubs or home organizations in the respective localities, who 
obtained the prices from shops in their immediate neighborhoods 
where the family trading was done. Wholesale prices for corre- 
sponding dates were taken from the daily market reports of the 
United States Department of Agriculture, with an allowance of one 
day's lag for distribution from the wholesale market to the retailers. 
Representative dealers in four jobbing markets of the area supplied 
jobbing prices for the days corresponding to the retail quotations. 
The commodities chosen included the fruits and vegetables which 
are consumed in largest quantities as shown by records of annual 
car-lot receipts in the New York market. The selection was made 
to embrace only articles which are generally sold in retail stores, 
and of a sort that admitted ready identification and comparison. 
With subdivisions due to differences in varieties or sources and in 
methods of marketing, the c omm odities were classified in the 14 
groups shown in Table 1 
Table 1. — Commodity classes and number of price quotations, New York metro- 
politan area, February, 1923, to May, 1924 
Commodity 
Number 
of quota- 
tions 
Commodity 
Number 
of quota- 
tions 
California oranges ... .. . . 2,017 
688 
Yellow onions ..-.-.. . 1.757 
Southern potatoes ... __— 
538 
1,606 
1,435 
1,284 
1,276 
1,252 
774 
484 
Boxed apples 
353 
270 
Eastern lettuce ..... 
237 
Northern cabbaee .. 
13, 971 
Retail prices were stated in terms of quantities prevailingly quoted 
by retail stores — by the pound, quart, peck, head, dozen, or single 
unit, or for an advertised value such as 25 cents worth. These 
4 Aid in collecting price data was given bv: Women's City Club of New York; New York League of 
Women Voters; Teachers College of Columbia University; Henry Street Settlement, New York; 
Pratt Institute of Brooklyn; Brooklyn Society of Ethical Culture; Contemporary Club of Newark, 
N. J.; Housewives' Economic League of Passaic N. J.; Women's Club of Elizabeth, N. J. 
