The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1913-03-20
EvERY-THURsDAY
the COST OF DOlNG BUSINESS

I'LL IVSt W OV1SV OCSuNlSC
| It is safe to say that the aver
age business man has little con-
caption of the real cost of con-
Quoting his business AS rule
the merchant marks on each ar
ticle which he offers for sale, a
figure which is the sum of the
price paid for said article plus
freight. He then adds certain
per cent, varying with individ-
uals and with merchandise. and
that is the selling price. This
man forgets what it costs to un-
pack h goods, mark them,
place them on the shelves. get
them ready for delivery, and the
many other processes necessary
to be performed before the goods
go to the customer. He neglectS
to add the value of his own SER
| vices to the cost of conducting
his business. He should make
such addition for if he does not
himself work he must pay some
one else to work. The conse.
quence is that the selling price
Of many articles represents loss
instead of a profit.
The business men of the
country are just beginning to
wake up to the fact that they
have been running their bust
nesses on hit Or miss plan in
stead Of at profit, and are TAX
ing measures to rectify their er-
rOrs. At meeting of the local
m &c h ant S in Sank Cen
tire this week, the searchlight
was thrown upon business
methods by Mr.. Curtis M. John
son of Rush City, who himself
has seen the light and profited
thereby. Mr.. Johnson demon.
strated that a legitimate bust
ness of $4,000 a year cannot be
conducted at an expense of less
than II per cent, AID that many
OF the selling prices represent
losses instead of gains. Mr..
Johnson spoke in the evening at
the Commercial Club and his
facts and figures were revela.
ton to the many business men
present.
The so-called Ben Franklin"
movement began to open the
eyes of the printers of the coun-
try some four Or five years ago,
and every we'll regulated print
shop is now on the cost sys-
tenn" basis. That is to say. the
net cost to the Office Of produc-
ing every job is recorded on a
suitable blank, the sum of these
items taken and a reasonable
percentage added for profit.
The result has been an advance
In prices in many lines and in
some cases a decrease. There
are still some printers who de-
cline to see things in the. cost
system light and continue to do
business for any old price. The
cost system man lets some Jobs
go because some customers de-
cline to pay reasonable price
based upon actual cost. But the
printer who takes that stand,
though he may lose a few jobs
and he undoubtedly will-has to
show for the wisdom of his
stand bank account that looks
a good deal better than it did be-
fore he adopted the cost system,
while his unwise competitor is
steadily losing money and it is
only matter of time before he
goes to the wall. The Herald
knows of country newspaper
man who some years ago was in
debt all the time, wore shabby
cloJhes, his office had a down at
the-heel appearance a n d no
wholesaler in the Twin cities
would sell him a cents worth of
goods unless cash accompanied
the order. Three years ago that
man adopted the cost system
and now he is out of debt, his
credit is good, he wears as good