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Show THE PROBLEMS OF MARKETING Necessity for Standard Grade Stressed in This Week's Article on Local Association. No. 6 (Contributed) A statement typical of the customer custo-mer who is acquainted with Dixie-produce Dixie-produce was recently made to one of the officers of your association. He observed with enthusiasm that Dixie's reputation for raising fruits and vegetables of high quality was justly-deserved. justly-deserved. "But," he added, " you: people are the sloppiest marketers in the country. And until you give' us standard.zed, graded produce so we can depend on what we're getting, get-ting, you'll never get very far on the road to success." In the cooperative association we have launched, it is especially necessary nec-essary that definite grade standards be maintained. Some are so optimistic opti-mistic as to believe that all the foundations for success have already been laid, yet we know practically practi-cally nothing of standardization;, and standardization is a basic prerequisite pre-requisite for success. " This problem, like our many others, oth-ers, must be sensed by the producer and the officers of this association-Proper association-Proper marketing of perishable products prod-ucts can be achieved only by the constant supervision of a manager-who manager-who realizes its importance end who has the support of producers.-who producers.-who are convinced that the standard stand-ard must be maintained at alK costs. There are several reasons why definite standards must be observed observ-ed by cooperative agencies. Without a proper system of grading, grad-ing, the practice of pooling the products prod-ucts of various individuals would' impose a direct sacrifice on the best: class of produce and exact an unjust un-just penalty from those who should reap the greatest rewards. Any sound advertising policy must, be based on uniform, dependable-products. dependable-products. There can be no intelligent comparison com-parison of market prices or any sound basis for a future sale or for-produce for-produce where the buyer has no opportunity op-portunity of inspection without standard grades. (Continued on page 3) THE PROBLEMS OFJIARKETING (Continued from page 1) ' There is no possibility of creatine a constant, dependable, growing de- Z7dT a Pr0dUct U the dealer ana tne consumpr rar,r -"'vir w assured ; m advance just what the product wi l be. Worth while buyers are not attracted by products of indeterminate indetermi-nate or uncertain quality. A dealer would fax rather handle, tnd h a Yakima apple or a- Sunkist orange to one which did not have the advantage ad-vantage of a reputation for dependable depend-able quality, because the consumer has developed a confidence in those products and is willing to humor it Perhaps the one unheralded crate was of superior quality, but there ino assurance that every other lfTlike Scanno tent h, 6 k' and Hi-gent Hi-gent business men will regard it as a prohibitive risk until the reputation reputa-tion for dependability is established ceffn aTC b6n bitter ePerii-ces ePerii-ces in Dixie, which, it is feared were not brought home to some t hose who participated. As an example, ex-ample, two years ag0 a uucer, who had contracted to deliver de-liver only fruit 0f a stipulated standard stan-dard found an opportunity to St m inferior produce, which, it an about The producer took advantage of the action, and in exulting over his own cleverness, felt that he had "put one over on somebody that time." He- did. He put one over on himself and his fellow producers. The ultimate consumer of that crate of fruit was definitely prejudiced when he discovered that he did not get what he paid for. That prejudice was carried back, step by step, until un-til it was laid at Dixie's own door. Aside from the question of moral turpitude, every producer must clearly clear-ly realize that he is hurting no one but himself and his neighbor by such a procedure. Other producers are convinced that their own judgment of what is a marketable product is just as good or better than that of the man who buys the product or who has been appointed to supervise the grading. They argue that they have put similar products on the market other years and no definite complaint com-plaint has been made to them personally, per-sonally, therefore, everybody was satisfied. sat-isfied. The tragedy of the situation is, of course, that they do not realize the folly in their own thinking. think-ing. Many general benefits would result from standardization. Confidence in the products and methods of an association not only increases the demand for its produce, but establishes estab-lishes its reputation as a dependable depend-able firm. This makes financing easier and in fact determines its I business status. The ratio of an in-tution's in-tution's success is in proportion to the confidence it builds up in those with whom it deals. The enforcement of standard grades at the point of production directs the attention of the grower to his mistakes and makes him want to correct them because it offers ucmnLc rewards lor careful and effective effort. Where no definite grade standards I prevail, buyers pay a price based on the average value or less than the average value. One Dixie producer pro-ducer who hesitated to join the association as-sociation because he felt it would establish and maintain grade standards stan-dards and thus prevent him from selling his cull fruit as he had always al-ways done, did not realize that the price he received was brought down to the value of his cull fruit and not that the price for bull fruit was brought up to that of the standard stan-dard produce. Dissatisfaction of producers and shippers who feel that a buvers has unjustifiably rejected their produce and of buyers who feel like they are forced to accept something they did not buy and never intended to" buy can never be eliminated until standard stand-ard grades are definitely established and rigidly maintained. This truth must become so firmly embedded in all our thinking and in all our plans for development that there will never be any hesitation about what course to pursue when the question arises. Each producer must first become convinced of it in his. own mind, and then preach it to every other producer. He must realize real-ize that the question of standardization standard-ization is no longer a debatable proposition, but one so self-evident that he will always insist on its being be-ing maintained. No man who sees the situation clearly will wait for pressure to be broueht bv thp offi cers of the association nor will he feel like they are imposing a requirement re-quirement which involves a sacrifice sacri-fice on his part. Rather will he insist in-sist that they establish the require-,ment require-,ment and he will be diligent and constant in his efforts to see it maintained, for he will know it is an absolute necessity for his own protection and welfare and that until un-til it is a basic working principle in his ass-iration he can never hope to get much farther than he Is. |