UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
DEPARTMENT BULLETIN No. 1317 
Washington, D. C. 
June, 1925 
RETAIL MARKETING OF MEATS 1 
Agencies of Distribution, Methods of Merchandising, and Operating Expenses 
and Profits * 
By Herbert C. Marshall, Specialist in Economic Research, 
Bureau of Agricultural Economics 
CONTENTS 
Page 
Agencies of distribution and methods 
of merchandising 2 
Canvass of representative districts_ 2 
Development of the retail meat 
business 4 
Channels for distributing meat to 
retailers 5 
Methods, practices, and conditions 
in the trade 8 
Types of stores 8 
Recent growth of chain-store 
systems . 10 
Classes of service rendered by 
stores 14 
Volume of sales of stores by 
types and classes 17 
Relation of numbers of stores to 
population 20 
Previous occupation and experi- 
ence of dealers 23 
Nationalities and races of deal- 
ers-, , 24 
Grades and classes of beef han- 
dled , 28 
Relative demand for carcasses 
and sides and for cuts of beef- 32 
Methods and extent of advertis- 
ing 32 
Sanitary conditions and regula- 
tions 35 
Retail meat trade in rural commu- 
nities 37 
Sources of supplies of meats 38 
Retail stores 39 
Meat-wagon routes 41 
Meat peddlers 42 
Meat clubs 43 
Operating expenses and profits 43 
Collection of data from the trade_ 43 
Classification of accounts 46 
Page 
Operating expenses and profits 1 — Con. 
Method of weighting results 50 
Analysis of operating expenses 53 
Salaries and wages 53 
Advertising ; 56 
Wrappings 57 
Refrigeration 58 
Heat, light, and power 58 
Rent 58 
Interest and depreciation 59 
Telephone, repairs, insurance, 
taxes 59 
Losses from bad debts 59 
Other expenses 59 
Delivery expense 60 
Analysis by groups of items 60 
Operating expenses, gross margin, 
and net profit 61 
Expenses and profits of all 
stores combined 61 
Expenses and profits by class of 
service 62 
-Expenses and profits by size of 
stores : 63 
Expenses and profits by sections 
of the country 63 
Gross margin in New York City_ 64 
Expenses and profits of chain 
stores 65 
Comparative expenses and profits 
in selling meats and groceries- 67 
Wages and sales per salesman- 71 
Conditions under which high or 
low net profits prevail 73 
General results shown as median 
and as interquartile range 76 
Investment and stock turn 77 
Typical operating statements 83 
1 Turner R. H. Wright and Charles V. Whalin aided in organizing and directing the 
survey of the trade on which this bulletin is based. Llovd H. Van Kirk directed the 
collection of accounting information. James N. Holsen, James Christensen. Llovd H. 
Van Kirk, George Bartlett, and Mary E. Griffith aided in tabulation of data and prepara- 
tion of the report. In addition to these, Charles H. Beauchamp, Vernon E. Foster, 
F. Pearl Allen, George A. Nahstoll, Robert M. Roudabush, Duncan M. McLellan, Harry R. 
Latowsky, James K. Wallace, and several other members of the department aided in the 
canvass of the trade. 
1-5698°— 25 1 
