The Commission Man

The present system of marketing fruit products

makes the commission man almost a necessity in the general market.

Neither the grower nor the local dealer can ship directly to the

consumer or even to the retailer, except in a very limited way. It may

be impracticable to devise any other workable system, but it must be

remembered that every man who touches a barrel of apples on its

journey from producer to consumer must be paid for doing so, and this

pay must come either out of the seller's price or be added to the

buyer's price. But so long as present conditions of marketing and

distribution prevail, so long will a selling agent in the general

market be necessary, and the evil cannot be ameliorated by ranting

against it.



An unfortunate impression prevails that all commission men are

dishonest. This is not true, although undoubtedly there are many

scoundrels among them, as they have shippers almost completely at

their mercy. The best method under our present system is to choose an

honest commission man in the city where you sell, to get acquainted

with him, to let him know that your trade will be in his hands only so

long as he treats you fairly, and then supply him with as good quality

of stuff as you can produce. This plan has worked out well with many

successful growers and marketers.



Perhaps the greatest difficulty to be overcome in successfully finding

good markets is that of proper distribution. As has been pointed out

in the previous chapter, there has been a great increase in the

production of apples and hence in competition, accompanied by

speculation and more intensive methods in all phases of the business.

A necessity has arisen for the production of the best at a minimum

cost, as well as for finding the best market for that product. In the

rush for the best market every seller is apt to be guided only by his

own immediate interest without due regard for the fact that others are

acting in the same way or that there is a future. The result is the

piling up of fruit in a market of high quotations, and a subsequent

drop in the price. Then all turn from such a market to a better one

with the result that a famine often results where but a few weeks or

even days before there had been a feast.



Thus it often happens that one market may have more fruit than it can

possibly dispose of at the time, while another, perhaps equally good,

goes begging. Such conditions are ruinous to trade. Growers are

disappointed and ascribe the cause to the commission man. Consumers

are unable many times to profit by a glut in the market but promptly

blame the middleman or the grower when the supply is small and the

price high.



Other difficulties with our system of marketing are non-uniformity of

the grades, the packages, or the fruit itself. There should be a clear

definition of just what "firsts" and "seconds" are and this definition

rigidly adhered to. Transportation is too frequently insufficient, not

rapid enough, especially when perishable fruit is shipped in small

lots, and usually at a too high rate. There are undoubtedly too many

middlemen between producer and consumer. Growers sell to local dealers

who sell to wholesalers at the receiving end. These sell to

wholesalers at the consuming end, who may sell to jobbers, who sell to

retailers. Each man must have his profits, all of which greatly

increases costs.