UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
In Cooperation with 
The Port of New York Authority, New York City 
DEPARTMENT BULLETIN No. 1411 
.^ nrnff^^ k. 
Washington, D. C. 
August, 1926 
EXPENSE FACTORS IN CITY DISTRIBUTION OF PERISHABLES ' 
By Charles E. Aktman, formerly Research Agent in Marketing, Bureau of 
Agricultural Economics 2 
CONTENTS 
Page 
City distribution exemplified by New York 
metropolitan area 1 
The metropolitan distribution system 2 
Basis of analysis of distribution expense 4 
Collection of original price data 5 
Adjustment for shrinkage in retailing 6 
Method of data analysis 7 
Analysis of commodity differences 7 
Contrasts in service requirements 8 
Size of sale as criterion of service require- 
ments 10 
Size of sale as an adequate explanation of 
percentage margins 11 
Deductions from size-of-sale analysis 12 
Apportionment of distribution expense be- 
tween jobber and retailer 14 
Reasons for variability of jobbers' portion. 16 
Influence of wholesale price changes on job- 
bers' spread . 17 
Conclusions regarding variability of job- 
bers' price spread 19 
Page 
Analysis of types of store operation 19 
Classification of store types . 20 
Extent of data 20 
Manner of making comparisons 21 
Adjustment of data 21 
Differentials showing contrasts in distribu- 
tion expense per car 22 
Differentials showing contrasts in prices to 
consumers 24 
Summary of store operation contrasts 26 
General conclusions 28 
Implications in commodity differences 30 
Influence of common monetary and physi- 
cal units 30 
Influence of a new unit of distribution 33 
How retail prices are set 33 
Summary of application of theory 34 
Limitations of percentage differentials for 
comparing prices 36 
Marketing fresh, fruits and vegetables presents certain difficulties 
that are intensified by the perishable nature of these commodities. 
This makes it especially important that efficient methods be emplo} T ed 
in distributing them to consumers. An attempt is made here to 
explain some factors which account for the large proportion of the 
expenditures of consumers which under present methods is absorbed 
in the expenses of city distribution. 
CITY DISTRIBUTION EXEMPLIFIED BY NEW YORK METROPOLITAN 
AREA 3 
The analysis deals with distribution of perishables in the metro- 
politan area in and about New York City, as exemplifying conditions 
that prevail generally in urban centers throughout the United States. 
The wide geographical extent of producing regions which supply the 
i This is one of a series of marketing analyses made through cooperation of the TJ. S. Department of Agri- 
culture with the Port of New York Authority. 
2 Acknowledgment is made to H. D. Comer, formerly Research Agent in Marketing, for assistance in 
the statistical analyses and interpretations included in this bulletin. 
' 3 For description of the New York marketing system and statistical tables, see Artman, C. E. food 
costs and city consumers, New York. 1926. 
'—26 1 
