Arizona republican., 1917-05-14
MARKETING EGGS
 FUR POU[TRYMEN

Frank H. Bruns. a buyer for the John F. Barker company, delivered the fol- lowing address Saturday afternoon to the assembled dairymen and poultry men at the fair grounds:
 Marketing -egs
 The subject of maketing eggs from the viewpoint of the dealer must be covered in several different groups First, the purchasing, which must be done very carefully; and this point is covered pretty thoroughly by circular letter which we recently sent out to the members of the Poultry Associat ton. and also other names which are given us through the courtesy of MT. Bems your secretary. These extracts were taken from the Egg Reporter and covers mainly the real points in pur- chasing e""s. After they are properly graded it is necessary for the dealer to immediately place them in a cool even temperature, basement or properly cooled storage room until marketed no matter how short or how long a time they are to be held If all the eggs produced could be brought to buyers who candle eggs scientifically the qual- ity of the eggs brought to the market would not only be improved but better
 
 lowing reasons:
 When the producer brings his eggs to the purchaser who handles eggs. all the rots and incubated eggs aud sec onds are eliminated, and he pays what they are worth. or, pays for what he gets. This rigid and necessary mode of purchasing would cause the pro- ducer to give better and more careful attention to the gathering and produc- tiOn of eggs. At first thought it would appear that by taking your eggs to the country or town grocer you would get more for them than you would by talk ing them to the scientific egg buyer, because if we are giving 20 cents or 30 cents, or whatever the price may be, the grocer will give the same price perhaps, either in cash or in trade and ask no questions and take them just as they run, but the result of that sort of marketing has a tendency and actually does reduce the value of your eggs for | the reason that the grocer sells them just as he receives them, to out of town 1 buyers. very often selling them for the same price he pays for them. The out of town buyer is usually dissatisfied. but he buys them because they are cheaper. The result is that the whole saler who.candles and markets his eggs ! many times compelled to meet the prices made by retail grocers in coun- try towns, thereby keeping the market ! lower than it would be if the dealer were allowed to purchase the eggs and pay for what he got. The dealer has right to expect to pay for nothing but the good eggs, just as the pur- { chaser of any commodity in the open market has right to expect first class | goods for his money The marketing of eggs by country stores because of the fact that they do not candle but sell them out case count, does not give the ! locality a good reputation for eggs. as there are bound to be many dozens of had eggs and the buying dealer is sure to have many complaints, but he usual 1 y continues to buy the country deal CTS eggs because they are cheaper.
 Another form of competition which l is not as bad but still has a tendency to hold the market price of eggs down. is the practice of producers who ship ! their own eggs at a price far below the prices made by the egg buyer. The l expense of handling eggs does not stop at the egg candler's bench. Every merchant, retail or wholesale has "n average yearly overhead expense, con- ! sisting of salaries, insurance, lights, | delivery. expense taxes and mainten- ance of every sort, which. on the vol ume of his business, is all the way 1 from [ F per cent to 20 per cent de- 1 pending on the line of business The average annual overhead expense in the average produce dealers business runs i from 912 to 111s per cent. For an illus tratiOn we will say that we are pa win Q 3l cents for No. l eggs, which is s930 l for the bare egg. The case and filters Fare 50 cents. which makes s9.S0: the expense of candlyin is one-haif .. dozen, which is s9.95; 10 per cent 1 added to this sum for overhead eX- penSe makes practically S11.00. Now. ! in order to make a profit, even per cent profit. we must sell these epoe at $11.55. For extra fancy or inferior eggs, selected it is possible to get SIP, or approximately 10 per cent ms ! means 10 per cent on the cost and not 10 per cent on the bulk sales. Every ] successful merchant must figure his | profits on certain percentage of his total sales, and not on the percenta ge of cost. Ranchers and farmers have just as much overhead expense as the merchant, but they have not yet com- prehended the necessity of figuring overhead expense and that their cost of doing business is just as much as most merchants. He must eventually learn that overhead cost must be taken into i consideration in marketing his produce providing they are selling direct to the l retailer
 Petaluma California, probably has the best reputation for good quality of eggs, and better system of handling and marketing than any other section
 of the United States. and practically all the eggs that are produced in that
 market are sold to the regular egg buyers
 There are a number of good egg buy
 CTS in Phoenix and we believe if the ] association would interview each buyer
 and cooperate with them that they
 would all agree to pay the full mark ct rates as compared with our nearest competitor, which in this case would be | Los Angeles or San Francisco. We
 have attempted to follow the Los An geles market, and are doing so now.
 We have no complaint with the pro-
 ducer who wishes to market his own eggs, providing they figure their over head expense as we have to do and sell
 them at their full market value. and
 by so doing keep the purchasers mar
 ketlns price up to the maximum; but
 we do have complaint against the re-
 tall dealer who markets his eggs just
 as they are received thus giving the
 district reputation for poor eggs.
 Mr. Barker. at his office, will be glad to furnish any information he has in his
 files or answer all personal inouiries
 regarding local conditions and shippine
 points and prevailing selling prices al
 any time.