Durant weekly news. (Durant, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 190?-1944, 1914-08-21
BY A. M Burroughs.

Al YOU ndu a DdIlti VI
lasses out in the warehouse
which was leaking, when would
you want to know about it.
the first day, or at the end Of
the year?
Over-Weight and Over-NTeasure
Food Inspector Ottesen of Iowa
while checking weights and meas
ures at Waterloo, Iowa, found gro
GERS whose scales gave overweight.
These five pairs Of scales. Otte-
sen said, long weighted" the grocer
out of hundreds Of dollars every
year.
One grocer was selling about fifty
pounds of lard day at IA Of an
ounce overweight This one leak,
on one kind Of goods, aggregated
about $40 year.
Bad Buying.
The average retailer is poor
buyer Ninety per cent Of all the
retail stores over-buy. The biggest
store leak Is in the failure Of the
retailer to turn his capital often
He should keep accurate records
through the use of duplicate sales
slips. or other means. of all sales.
Then he will not be likely to dupli-
cate the, mistake, even If he does
not prevent It the first time.
A jobber's discount of fifty per
cent from the list price is a loss II
the goods will not sell. The retail
er must not buy for the extra dis
count but for the profit
Incompetent Help.
Every employee In a retail store
should be put on merit basis. The
clerk who Is not able to sell goods
at profit to the store is incompe-
tent and Improbable to the store.
Keeping him is like letting the fau-
Get remain open in the vinegar bar
rel--only II. is profits and not the
vinegar which is leaking.
Loss of Goods from Stock
A big New York Store, doing a
business of 10 million dollars a year
that two per cent of its gross
sales. or 200 thousand dollars is
stolen from the store every year If
This proportion of goods Is stolen of
the average retail store, then the
store doing a so thousand dollar
business would lose l thousand dol
lars through the theft of the goods
from stock
Failure to Charge Goods Sold on
Credit.
When sale is made on credit
and no record made of it the retail
er stands chance to lose the profit
he should make on the sale; the
time which has been invested in the
buying; the time invested in the sale
of the goods. the cost of keeping. the
goods on the shelves and several
other losses including the big loss
which the carelessness will cause In
other work.
Wasteful Bookkeeping
1t costs more money sometimes Il
keep complete set of records in ts'
right way.
The bookkeeping system should
be up-to-date. 1t should be carefully
worked out by experts. 1t should b,
especially designed for the store. i
should give the exact information
needed, as economically as possible
Errors in Adding Figures.
The amount of money lost every
year in the stores of the countr.
through mistakes in adding figures Il
enormous. A customer gets his bill
1t is a little less than he expected
but he thinks perhaps he has mad,
the error and he pays on your Owl
figures.
If it happens to be a little mor'
than he expected he will ask you IL
regard to II and you spend some val
liable time In Iookeing up the erro
and correcting it.
II you make mistake in you
figures you are sure to lose whethe
it is against you or in your favor
Figuring Profits Wrong
A recent investigation conducted
by the Burroughs Adding Machin'
Company, showed that fully rs pc
cent Of all the retailers figure thei
profits on basis which give then
AiOih pc4 Soht " poA SOht iSo
than they think they are getting
often figuring themselves out of an,
profit at all.
This is the vitel end Of the bust
ness. What is the use to sell good
If profit. the whole purpose Of tn
selling, is lost In bad methods 0
figuring the prices on the goods.
Failing to Charge Expense
All of the expenses are going I
count out of the gross profits whet
er they are put down as part 0
the cost OF doing business or mol
II man pays out $40 per mont
for rent he win not find 1t to hi
credit in the bank at the end Of tn
year even If he does not charge
to the expense OF doing business.
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