Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1917-09-14
TRYING To
REDUCE DELIVERY COSTS

That the delivery system. which ts
now in vogue in every city. village
and hamlet in the country, adds to
the cost OF merchandise. is an indis-
putable fact. and the people them
selves are responsible for IL. Now
a-days the average city woman will
demand the delivery OF a pound OF
butter or cake OF soap. Further
more. some of them will order one
or more articles from her grocer in
the morning and insist upon the i'm
mediate delivery OF the order. They
will think of several other things,
which they forgot in the morning,
and insist that the goods must be
delivered right away. as some Of the
items are needed for supper. Such
instances as these are the rule. rather
than the exception. as every grocer
in the city who conducts a delivery
will testify. In order 20 meet the
demands OF the public for deliveries
two and three times day. the mer-
chant must add a certain per cent to
the price OF his goods. III he did
no, he would soon go out of business
In many cities throughout the
country. the merchants have been
sending out solicitors every morning
to take orders from their customers.
To maintain this system the mer-
chants must add a still larger per
cent to the cost OF their goods. for
the solicitor and the delivery man
must be paid out of the profits of
the business. They are just a. much
fixed expenses as are the stocks OF
merchandise. and the cost of main
tanning these systems comes out of
the pockets of the consumers.
In quite a number OF the cities
the merchants have taken steps
towards reducing the cost Of gro
ceries and merchandise by taking
off the solicitors and by dividing
the town into districts. and having
only one delivery day in each dis
trict. Whether or not this plan will
succeed depends to what extent the
people cooperate with them. II
people are willing to adjust them
selves to the new system. they can
materially reduce the coat or living.
However. IL they insist upon goods
being delivered at their call. they
will have to continue paying for the
accommodation.
The merchants of Rock Springs are
agitating a change IN the delivery
system. as the following from last
weeks Miner indicates:
The Rock Springs business men
held an important meeting at the
City Hall on Thursday evening at
which time they discussed the ways
and means of reducing the cost OF
their soliciting and delivery systems.
During the meeting IL developed that
the cost OF solicitors and the present
delivery system was increasing the
c0st OF merchandise from five tn ten
Der cent. This cost is looked upon
by the business men as unnecessary
and the meeting was held for the pur-|
pose of devisfng some means where
BY II could be eliminated.
One Of the propositions was the
establishment Of a delivery system
owned and managed BIZ all the bus
mess houses IN the cit. thfs system
TO deliver the goods from all the
stnrea Another proposition was
- eafahl' shnnenf ~ the nne delivery
0uiv 70 each section OF the city. II
is likely that the latter system will
be adopted By the Rock Springs
business men within . short time,
and IL 10 hoped that some Of the
enormous overhead expenses can be
cut out.
"Tha latter Fvstern has been in
F~ree TN several towns in this see
''nR ~ wyoming for some months.
md n several instances the delivery
"osf has been eut IN half. Il this
system is adopted. each section OF
the CITY VIII ger one delivery : day
and af1 orders received after 4he.
! hour of delivery viii ba held ant11