16 BULLETIN" 267, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
CAR-LOT WHOLESALERS. 
A very important factor in market distribution is the car-lot whole- 
saler. These men purchase fruits and vegetables from cooperative 
associations, country merchants, car-lot assemblers, traveling buyers, 
buying brokers, individual growers, speculators, and city brokers. 
They distribute goods to the jobbing and retail trade or to the coun- 
try trade. Thus it will be seen that their activities cover a wider 
field than do those of almost any other type of distributor. 
A large part of the business done by the car-lot wholesaler is 
transacted very early in the day. Most of these early morning side- 
walk sales are for cash, and in a great many cases the buyer does his 
own delivering. Later in the day. beginning about 8 or 9 o'clock 
in the morning, telephone orders come in from grocers all over the 
city for deliveries to be made later in the day. The greater portion 
of this business is for credit, but settlement is usually demanded 
within a period of one or two weeks. Still later in the day shipments 
are made up for distribution to country customers in neighboring 
towns. Thirty to sixty days' credit is extended to these customers. 
The orders from this country trade may be by telegram, by letter, or 
through private traveling salesmen. As a rule, these sales to the 
country trade are the most uniformly profitable of any to the car-lot 
wholesaler. Prices charged are usually slightly higher than can be 
secured from resident buyers on the market. This, of course, is justi- 
fied, as extra packing and cartage charges are involved. The country 
trade, as a rule, makes little attempt to keep in close touch with 
market prices, but prefers to place orders regularly with selected 
wholesalers or jobbers and depend upon receiving fair treatment. 
In addition to selling to the retail trade, popularly known as 
" retailing," car-lot wholesalers distribute considerable quantities of 
goods to jobbers. The " jobbing price," it should be noted, is usually 
less than prices charged the retail trade for the same articles. This 
lower jobbing price is, of course, to protect the jobber and insure 
him at least a small margin or profit when he, in turn, sells to the 
retailer. 
SALES OUT OF STORAGE AND CLEAN-UP SALES. 
Many car-lot wholesalers buy when prices are cheap and put the 
produce in storage, distributing later when prices admit of a fair 
profit. This involves a certain element of risk, as a market may not 
take on a better tone in time for the wholesaler to move his stored 
goods to advantage. Some of the heaviest losses in the wholesale 
trade are the direct result of dealing in stored goods. 
After a heavy clay's sale there is usually a considerable amount 
of miscellaneous produce left on hand. At this point hucksters and 
peddlers purchase the odds and ends that are unsold and clear the 
