The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1919-11-14

found. An article on the way the cost i
OF existing is going up that contains
no jab at the laziness and waste |
fulnesS OF Mrs. Average Housekeep-i
er OF q. S. A. is as incomplete as a /
gingerbread without ginger
Assertions of this kind made by
those who. WELD a pen or grace a!
chautauqua platform are far froma
tue. This has been proved in a
hundred different ways, bur one mof
the best bits of evidence forvthe del
PENDANT is the instantaneous welcome
she has given the self-serve grocery
store.
Mrs. Average Housekeeper, who
is lucky enough to live in town that
possesses one of these stores likesi
taem. because she finds that there
she can get the same quality Of gro
ceries cheaper than anywhere else.
She doesn't get the service of the
corner grocery. but she can save,
money something almost everyone
is trying to- do these days-so she
cheerfuIly carries home the supplies
for her family
Cafeteria or self-sefve groceries
are the last word in economical
grocery store management Low OPP,
Grating costs make for low-priced
commodities and the self-serve varie-
ty at present leads in the reduction
OF running expenses. The self-serve
is able to undersell the corner gro
Gerry or even the cash and carry. It's
underlying principle is that it's Gus.
toners must wait on themselves So
the economics Of the cash and carry
the big one of dispensing with clerk
hire is added.
This new type of grocery store
has discarded absolutely that shib-
boleth to hold trade to which mer-
chants in recent years have pinned
their faith, the giving of all kinds OF
service to their customers The self. !
service does not give any service
whatsoever to- those who patronize
it. Nevertheless, the patronage of
these stores increases by jumps
and bounds because it's owners can
afford to sell their goods more
cheaply than can the merchant who
gives service.
he nIo
made by the reugIar merchant that
the American buying public is spoil
ed and demands all kinds of accom-
mOdatiOns from its merchants. The
self-service Merchant says the people
have taken all this service because
they thought it was offered to them
free and because they paid the gro
Ger as much whether they got it CT
not. When the public realized that
it paid for these extra favors in high
er priced commodities it decided
quickly it could dispense with them
THE corner grocery store IS the
type most common in clis country. !
AS a class they charge the most and
make the least profit. The mortality
in grocery stores is extremely high.
In ten year period the ninety per-
cent which fail are practically all OF
the corner store variety. Most OF
these failures are due to poor man
agement. Apparently anybody and ev-
cry body thinks that no matter what
else he may have failed in he can run
. grocery store. So there are bod
carriers. ex-farmers, , ex-housemalds
and every other kind Of an Eek at
tempting to sell groceries. With no
natural bent. training or experience
for the business it is little wonder
that so many go under annually.
Selling Expenses Cut Down
THE two big facto~s in nearly all
these failures are lack of manage
ment and too many costly favors
! patrons. Figures compiled from every
part of the country in recent sur
vey show that the average gross pro-
fits on sales made by the corner gro
Gerry stores-and this includes the
large downtown grocery stores as
well-range round q per cent, with
the actual. costs at Is to IS per cent.
Itemized, the expenses are as fol
lows: Selling cost-clerk salaries,
advertising, wrapping, and so on
Z per cent; delivery, per cent; man
agement, not quite per cent; fixed
charges-rent. insurance. taxes-2
/ per cent; interest, / per cent; buy
ing IL per cent; bad debts, 1-2 per
cent; miscellaneous cleaning
Waterman, ice and son on-1-2 per