The Kennewick courier. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1905-1914, 1913-05-02
MARKETING APPLES

On A Better Apple Market or How
to Reach the Consumer. The
other by H. M. Gilbert of North
Yakima on Apples From the Fruit
Growers to the Consuming Public"
Mr.. Gilbert is a member of the
firm Of Richey & Gilbert. the leading
independent dealers in the Yakima
Valley. Mr.. Collins needs no in
PRODUCTION. Both have written to
Kennewick people excellent articles
from material drawn from their own
experience and investigation; both
give figures to show the consumers
dollar is divided among the various
agencies which handle the growers
products and both arrive at approx
mately the same result, namely,
that the retailer insists on too large
a profit and that home competition
must in some way be eliminated.
From about 500 cases investigated,
Mr.. Gilbert finds that the grower
gets on the average of 263 per cent
and the retailer 40 to 45 per cent
of the consumers dollar; the rail-
roads take II to 10 per cent and II
to IA per cent goes to agencies known
as middlemen. This is better
showing for the middlemen than is
usual, we think.
Mr.. Collins gives aspecific instance
which he investigated. The car
wasin excellent condition when sold,
and this is the way it went, show
| ing net profit to the grower after
the selling commissions, boxing,
ETC., but not including growing, Of
twenty-five cents per box. The car
was sold by the broker to the jobber
for 81. Is per box, the retailer paid
the jobber 1925 per box, the con-
sumner paid the retailer at the
rate of $500 a box. This is an
example of the consumer paying
sixteen times as much as the grower
received for growing" In this case
the retailer got "A per cent and the
jobber alone of the several middle
men got 273 per cent of the con-
sumer's dollar.
| Mr.. Gilbert discusses quite fully
the disastrous effects of home COM
pstition for the year 1912, and ar
rives at the following conclusion:
1--WE must get rid of this competi-
ton among ourselves. l believe
that one central selling concern
could stop the competition and sell
all the fruit we grow in the Yakima
Valley and at satisfactory prices. l
know the people are ready for it :.
I know there are thousand towns
for every thousand cars of apples
grown in the Yakima Valley and l
don't care if you multiply it by ten.
I tell you we can knock out
all the competition in the world if
we only get our heads together in
some other way than ''butting"
them together"
Mr.. Collins advises cooperation
in the matter of advertising and
makes the following excellent sug-
gestion:
Before any advertising should
be done, we should adopt a uniform
label or conspicuous trade mark
on our label so as to give the con-
Stunning public something to ask for.
I believe that it will be necessary to
put a trade mark On the wrappers
as we'll, as most apples are sold by
less than the box, in which case
apples lose their identity unless
each individual apple be trade
marked"
In discussing marketing he says
TN the past year we have seen a
most expensive system of dispos-
ing of our apple crop tried out
Dozens of personal representatives
direct from the West have been
travelling over the same ground,
under the same expense, and IN
many cases, coming into fearful
compe tition with one another which
could have been eliminated to a
great extent had symstematic
II