2 BULLETIN" 1317, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
AGENCIES OF DISTRIBUTION AND METHODS OF 
MERCHANDISING 
CANVASS OF REPRESENTATIVE DISTRICTS 
The retail meat trade is less routine in character than the trade 
in other foodstuffs, and the dealer requires both extended experience 
and thorough study of the business in order to achieve reasonable 
success and to meet his responsibilities to customers and to the 
general public. 
Three characteristics of fresh meat are instrumental in making 
the problems of retailing difficult. 
(1) Meat is highly perishable and must be held at low tem- 
peratures or be sold promptly. It may be preserved by freezing, 
but its value as fresh meat is greatly lessened by this process. Ac- 
cordingly, the adjustment of supply and demand, both in the whole- 
sale and in the retail trade, enables the dealer at times to sell at ex- 
cessive prices and compels him at other times to sell at great sacri- 
fice. 
(2) The difficulty of precise standardization and the lack of 
understanding of quality by the average consumer, and in some 
measure by dealers. In consequence, unfair dealing is more easily 
possible and greater reliance must be placed upon the skill, knowl- 
edge, and honesty of the dealer than in most other lines of trade. 
(3) Lack of homogeneity and uniformity in value. The retail 
dealer in purchasing a side of beef of good grade receives from 55 
to 65 per cent of lean meat, from 20 to 30 per cent of visible fat, 
and from 10 to 15 per cent of bone. Edible portions differ greatly 
in palatability and tenderness, and the amount of bone varies from 
40 or 50 per cent or more in the shanks to an almost negligible 
amount in some of the fleshy cuts. Between different grades and 
even between animals of the same grade these percentages differ 
materially. The varying styles of dividing the animal into retail 
cuts and the necessity for trimming away parts of the bone and fat 
introduce a further personal element. 
An understanding of the business of an individual concern neces* 
sitates consideration of a variety of factors. In a study of the trade 
of the country generally, the variety of factors involved is greatly 
increased. 
In this investigation a complete personal canvass was made from 
January to August, 1920, of 28 cities and of the rural districts of 
8 counties. Five suburban municipalities were also convassed, each 
with a population of at least 2,500, making a total of 33 urban dis- 
tricts under the census classification. Each of 7 of the counties con- 
tained one or more of the cities canvassed. The remaining county 
was entirely rural, containing no municipality with a population 
so large as 2,500. (See fig. 1) . 
The cities were fairly representative of the entire country as to 
geographical location, climatic conditions, and varying types of 
industry. The total population of the 33 urban districts was 2,877,- 
957 in the census of 1920. In them were a total of 3,504 stores sell- 
ing fresh meats. (See Table 8.) The eight counties canvassed were 
fairly representative of the various types of farming and rural 
