2 BULLETIN 1411, TJ. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE 
perishable food requirements of this area gives the New York City 
market national importance from the standpoint of producers. 
Similarity of distribution methods for serving this metropolitan popu- 
lation to those employed in other large cities makes analysis of these 
methods likewise a matter of general interest to consumers. 
More than 180,000 carloads of fresh fruits and vegetables, having 
an estimated wholesale value exceeding $200,000,000, were shipped 
or hauled in the calendar year 1923 for consumption in the New 
York market. Ninety per cent of this food supply came from pro- 
ducing sections ranging from 30 to 3,000 miles distant. Over one- 
half of the total was transported 500 miles or more. Neighboring 
States produced only about 30 per cent of the total. Over one- 
fourth came from the Pacific coast, and one-seventh from Florida. 
The average length of haul for perishables consumed in the New 
York market area in 1923 was 1,500 miles. 
THE METROPOLITAN DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM 
The system by means of which perishables are distributed from the 
New York wholesale market to consumers in the metropolitan area is 
illustrated by Figure 1. Most of the fresh fruits and vegetables for 
the entire metropolitan area pass through a highly centralized whole- 
sale district on the lower west side of Manhattan Island. From this 
wholesale market the produce is hauled by motor truck or team to five 
jobbing markets in different parts of the area. The car-lot receipts of 
the wholesale markets are thus broken down into jobbing lots con 
venient for handling by jobbing firms. The jobbers in turn split up 
their purchases into small-sized lots required by individual retailers. 
The principal function of the wholesaler is to receive certain com- 
modities in large quantities from the producing points, whereas the 
function of the jobber is to assemble from various wholesalers a con- 
siderable variety of different commodities in relatively small quanti- 
ties. The retailer carries the process of breaking up the shipping 
units one step further, and expands greatly the variety of articles 
which he distributes. 
In distributing perishables in the New York metropolitan area, the 
greater part — from 75 to 80 per cent of the total receipts — passes 
through retail stores. The remainder is disposed of by pushcarts, 
hucksters, hotels, restaurants, and other agencies. Consideration is 
given here to this major group of retail stores. These are subdivided 
into three general types: (1) Independent grocery stores, carrying 
perishables as an adjunct to their grocery business, which comprise 
nearly three-fifths of the total number of food stores; (2) specialized 
fruit-and-vegetable stores which handle no other commodities, and 
which comprise about one-fourth of the total number; and, (3) chain 
grocery stores, whose number in the metropolitan area is estimated 
to be approximately one-fifth the total number of retail food stores. 
The trade of the unit and chain grocery stores is estimated to consist 
of about 20 per cent fruit and vegetables, whereas these commodi- 
ties constitute practically the entire business of the specialized fruit- 
and-vegetable stores. Giving consideration to the numerical impor- 
tance of these three store types and the proportion of perishables sold 
by each, it is estimated that each type handles approximately the 
following proportion of fruits and vegetables retailed through 
