April, ’24] 
SAFRO: PRICE OF INSECTICIDES 
241 
handling. It is normally equally unsatisfactory to write to the manu¬ 
facturer and inquire as to the prices of his insecticides. For competitive 
reasons, a manufacture may prefer not to reveal his schedule of prices 
to a non-purchaser. 
Except in cases of proprietary preparations or materials having a 
limited or controlled output, the matter of ascertaining the price of an 
insecticide is not as simple as is too often taken for granted. The 
following factors may be suggested as effecting the prices of competitive 
insecticides and must be included in the matter of price consideration : 
There may be a distributor’s or jobber’s schedule of prices and a 
retailer’s schedule of prices. Each of these factors normally retains for 
itself a profit. The freight rates on raw material to the factory and the 
finished product to different consuming districts may effect prices, 
sometimes considerably. Seasonal sales variations affect prices of 
commodities normally and insecticides as a class are no exception to 
such variations. Normally the season of least sales activity with a 
competitive insecticide would be expected to coincide with the season of 
lowest quotations. However, this would in turn be affected by such 
factors as visible and prospective supplies. There are times when the 
demand is practically nil but the price is maintained because stocks are 
low. This condition might be susceptible to change if sufficiently large 
tonnages of insecticides were to move at what is ordinarily the inactive 
season. 
The quantity item in ordering must not be overlooked as a price factor. 
Some concession can be expected where orders are in larger amounts, 
where packages are larger in size or even where the greater number of 
smaller packages are shipped on the single order. This gives the larger 
purchaser the advantage and whether or not this advantage is passed 
on to the ultimate consumer is entirely a matter of business relationship 
between the lot purchaser and the ultimate consumer. 
A very important factor affecting the price of insecticides is the 
manner of payment. A cash payment will very often bring a discount. 
It is especially important in a consideration of prices that the value of 
this discount be not underestimated. When interest on borrowed 
money amounts to from six to eight percent per annum, it is a matter of 
simple arithmetic to figure out the profit return on a cash discount of 
two percent for payment in ten days, assuming that the net account 
is due, say, in thirty days. Where growers’ accounts are carried until 
the end of the season the price factor is further complicated, but the 
underlying fact must be borne in mind that borrowed money must be 
