12 
BULLETIN 1317, U. S. DEPABTVEEXT OF AGBICULTUEE 
(3) The importance of personal interest of the salesman in the 
business is much greater in the meat than in the grocery trade. 
With substantially all goods in package form, as in the niodern 
grocery, there is not much opportunity for economy or saving of 
waste that the owner can utilize, as compared with the paid em- 
ployee. In the meat trade, the difference between a profit and a 
loss lies largely in the care in preventing deterioration of a highly 
perishable article or in exercising discrimination in the amount of 
trim that will be fair to the customer and retain his patronage and 
yet insure a profit. One serious evil of the meat trade is the dis- 
honest practice often followed by customers, particularly in New 
York City, in paying to the salesman a small fee or tip for giving 
Gross Margin in Carry Stores 
AMOUNT OF SALES 
PER CENT 
NE 
UNDER 
$ 25,000 
CN SE 
PC 
NE 
$25,OOI TO 
$50,000 
CN SE 
PC 
NE 
$50,0C 
$ 100 
CN 
I TO 
ooo 
SE 
PC 
NE 
OVER 
$100,000 
CN SE 
PC 
OF 
NET SALES 
32 
30 
28 
26 
24 
22 
20 
; 
Each 
dot repre~ 
enfs 
one s 
fore 
1 
1. 
• 
I . 
s 
• 
• 
k 
* 
, 
. 
. i 
t 
* 
: 
• 
. 1 " 
. 
1 
. 
t 
* 
1 8 
• \""y"."*" 
1 Average 
: . 
t 
• 
1 6 
. 
> 1 
. •' 
t 
• 
12 
1 
3 
! 1 
♦ i 
* 
^r 
1 
! 
1 1 
. 
! ! ! 
• 
! 1 i 
J ' _l 
Fig. 1. — Stores or markets are grouped by volume of annual net sales and by section of 
country. Percentages are calculated on basis of annual net sales as 100 per cent. 
Abbreviations : NE. Northeast section ; CN, Central section ; SE, Southeast section ; 
PC, Pacific coast section 
an especially good cut or closer trim than usual. This practice 
illustrates the difficulty experienced by chain systems and by large 
individual concerns, as compared with the small shop where the 
work falls largely tinder the eye of the owner-manager. The evil 
can be met in the largest concerns by having the meats cut and 
trimmed in cutting rooms and displayed in refrigerated counters, 
where they are sold by a different group of employees as salesmen. 
(4) The advantage in buying on a large scale is less in the meat 
trade than in other lines, except in job lots of meats, which being 
highly perishable are liable to deterioration. The chain system as 
well as its small individual competitor must make frequent purchases; 
and. although the purchases may be larger, they must be sent in small 
consignments to the various branches. There is not the opportunity 
