. Bulletin of the Department of Agriculture. Agriculture; Agriculture. BULLETIN No. 1044 i Contribution from the Bureau of Markets and Crop Estimates "^^uTa f»i ^â \J^^I?t. H. C. TAYLOR, Chief ^^''^^U. Washington, D. C. V April 19, 1922 SELF-SERVICE IN THE RETAILING OF FOOD PRODUCTS, By F. E. Chaffee,- formerly Investigator in City Marketing, and McFall Kerbey, Assistant, Bureau of Markets. CONTENTS. Page. Introduction 1 Self-service 2 Advantages and disadvantages of self-service 4 Page. Problems in self-sei'vice 14 Handling- perishable farm products. 35 Accounting 49 Summary of inv
. Bulletin of the Department of Agriculture. Agriculture; Agriculture. BULLETIN No. 1044 i Contribution from the Bureau of Markets and Crop Estimates "^^uTa f»i ^â \J^^I?t. H. C. TAYLOR, Chief ^^''^^U. Washington, D. C. V April 19, 1922 SELF-SERVICE IN THE RETAILING OF FOOD PRODUCTS, By F. E. Chaffee,- formerly Investigator in City Marketing, and McFall Kerbey, Assistant, Bureau of Markets. CONTENTS. Page. Introduction 1 Self-service 2 Advantages and disadvantages of self-service 4 Page. Problems in self-sei'vice 14 Handling- perishable farm products. 35 Accounting 49 Summary of investigations 39 INTRODUCTION. The cost of distribution plays an important part in the final cost of food to the consumer. Under the methods that have been in com- mon use for generations in the United States this cost is now very high. It has been estimated ^ that of the price paid by the consumer for perishable farm products used for food, from 25 to 75 per cent commonly goes to pay the cost of distributionâthat is, the cost and profits of handling after the products leave the hands of the producer. In the case of certain products and certain distributing agencies the proportion of the final price which goes to pay distribution costs is even greater than 75 per cent. Of the cost of distributing food products, the cost of the final step, retailing, is of major importance, since that single step, on the aver- age, approximates the cost of all the preceding distribution steps together. There are many good reasons for this, but we are led to the conclusion that one of the most urgent points at which to attack the high cost of living is through the group of agencies concerned with the retailing of foods. Several recent developments in the distribution field have had a tendency to reduce the cost of retailing. Such developments are par- 1 Weld, L. H. D., Studies in Marketing of Farm Products, p. 7. 78619°â22 1 1. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page i
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