14       Four  Things  Every  Druggist  Should  Know.  {ATanuaryPi907.m' 
to  the  cost ;  for  a  20  per  cent,  profit  add  25  per  cent.;  for  a  25  per 
cent,  profit  add  33^  per  cent.;  for  a  33^  per  cent,  profit  add  50  per 
cent.;  for  a  40  per  cent,  profit  add  67  per  cent.;  for  a  50  per  cent, 
profit  add  100  per  cent. 
ARE  THE  DEPARTMENTS  MAKING  OR  LOSING  MONEY? 
So  far  I  have  discussed  the  necessity  of  knowing  the  first  two 
things  in  the  list  of  four  essentials  given  at  the  beginning  of  this 
paper — the  percentage  of  expense  and  the  percentage  of  profit. 
Now  let  me  say  a  word  about  the  remaining  two.  As  the  third 
essential  I  have  stated  that  the  pharmacist  "  should  know  whether 
certain  important  lines  or  departments,  like  those  involving  cigars, 
candy,  and  soda,  are  making  or  losing  money  for  him,  and,  if  they  ate 
making  money,  how  much!1 
As  one  of  the  editors  of  a  pharmaceutical  journal  which  has 
recently  devoted  considerable  space  to  the  discussion  of  these 
business  topics,  I  have  within  the  last  year  seen  many  letters  from 
retailers  throughout  the  country  which  have  been  full  of  significance, 
and  which,  could  I  quote  them,  would  illustrate  and  enforce  many 
of  the  points  which  I  am  striving  to  make  clear  in  this  paper. 
Several  of  the  letters  would  be  found  freighted  with  meaning  in  this 
particular  connection. 
In  one  case,  that  of  a  Cleveland  druggist,  we  convinced  him  from 
his  annual  statement  that  he  was  losing  money  constantly  on  both 
his  candy  and  cigar  departments.  He  .had  kept  separate  records  of 
these  two  departments  and  of  the  soda  business  also.  From  the 
figures  we  found  that  while  the  cigar  trade  yielded  theoretical  profits 
of  perhaps  25  or  30  per  cent.,  he  had  actually  made  but  16  per  cent., 
and  that,  since  his  percentage  expense  was  28,  he  had  lost  12  per 
cent.  Just  where  the  leak  was  I  do  not  know.  Once  in  a  while 
clerks  smoke  "on  the  house."  Occasionally  cigars  are  filched  from 
the  tops  of  the  cases  where  some  dealers  exhibit  them.  In  certain 
cities  competition  with  the  United  Cigar  Stores  Company  and  other 
concerns  brings  the  selling  prices  down  below  a  living  profit  for 
the  retailer  operating  under  a  considerable  expense. 
The  candy  department  of  this  Cleveland  druggist  was  seen  to 
yield  him  a  gross  profit  of  only  25  per  cent.,  and  so  he  lost  3  per 
cent,  on  that.  His  percentage  expense,  estimated  without  his  per- 
sonal salary,  was  23,  so  that  the  candy  department  paid  little  even 
