New Britain herald., 1915-01-21
NEW DELIVERY SYSTEM
 MAY BE INTRODUCED
No Obstacles As Yet to Pian |nvtSti- gated by Chamber Of Commerce.

There seems to be no obstacles to the inauguration of a scheme of CO., operative deliveries in New Britain, at least the committee of the Mercantile Bureau of the Chamber of Commerce has not found them in it's investiga- tion of the subject. While the com mittee has not yet progressed far enough in it's investigations to tell how such system would work out and may not report definitely to the board of directors for another month, it is believed likely that a favorable report will be made.
 The committee has investigated a number of cooperative delivery sys tems and IS working out a plan to fit conditions in this city. The propo- sition is practically new to the east, but 1t has been tried out successfully in western states during the last few years and has become one of the first movements started by chamber of commerce organizations.
 In a general way, the plan is to form local delivery corporation which maintains a delivery system, either by horse and wagon or by au- tomobile, and delivers the goods sold 'by all the merchants participating in the scheme. Collections are made at stated hours in the day and carried to central station. Here the bun dies from different merchants are as- sorted, just as the letters are assorted at the post office, and turned over to particular man for delivery on his route. From two to five deliveries are usually made each day on each Soute.
 Some stores in New Britain have no delivery system. The expense of maintaining individual deliveries has often been given as one reason for the high cost of living. Certainly 1t is one of the merchants biggest items of expense and it has been ar gued those who do not maintain de- liveries suffer from lack of business that otherwise might be theirs. It is claimed that wherever adopted, the cooperative system has reduced the expense of delivery to those who for merly maintained individual deliveries from twenty to fifty per cent and the telephone business of those who made no deliveries has been greatly in- creased.
 The question of whether personal marketing on the part of the consum- CT would be better from an econo- mic standpoint, is not being consid- cred by the committee. The cham Der of commerce is dealing with con- ditions as they are. not with condi- tions as they might be.
 The cooperative delivery system is Introduced a means of reducing the expense of delivery to the minimum and placing every merchant in po- sition to deliver his goods to his cus- toners. The whole scheme is a mat ter of giving the most efficient ser vice to the consumer
 \ Fundamentally, the plan is not in- tended to replace individual delivery systems, but to supplement them and make delivery of goods possible for those who cannot afford individual systems. The provision dealers may not be incorporated into the system, but in some cities cooperative deliver fes on the part of such dealers have met with remarkable success. The hardware and furniture dealers may :, continue to deliver heavy goods with their own vehicles and turn smaller orders over to the central system. The merchants dealing in smaller wares, such as shoes, dry goods, clothing, house furnishings, and the smaller pro- vision stores will, however, be placed in g. position to deliver their goods at little expense.