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Show POSTMASTER HAD I MADE A MISTAKE Fails to Figure Correctly in Attempting to Prove That the Parcel Par-cel Post Will Cut Down the Cost of Living in Utah Retail Dealer Deal-er Replies to Postmaster Cutler of Trenton Middlemen Serve a Good Purpose and Cannot Be Eliminated Editor Standard 1 read with much interest and some amusement the ar tide In Saturdays Issue by Postmas ter Cutler of Trenton on how to reduce re-duce living expenses by using parcel post. It Is very evident that Mr Cut ler has had no experience in the re tall business His letter may sound very nice to some who do not know-actual know-actual conditions In the first place he Is away off on some of the prices, both from tnc farmer and the retailer. And in the second plaCQ there are very few women wom-en who are willing to sit down and write a letter to the farmer, one or maybe two days before she wants to use the goods, and then having gone to that (rouble, find when the goods do arrive that the farmer did not have all that she ordered In repnrd to prices. In his article, the vegetable part Is all right, but who wants peas, leans and beets at one time'" llnv. aboul froth corn, or fruits, such as berries, peaches, etc ? Some things .ire too beavj to pay to ship, while others would not stand the shipping Rut to et down to business Mr Cutler says the middlemen (the retail ers) charge 36 conts a pound for spring chickens. 40 cents for buttr and 30 cents a dor.en for eggs. Now we only ch.trce 25 cents for chickens. 35 cents for ranch butter, 40 cents for creamer butter, and 2Tlj cents for ejjga 3tc for one dozen or two dozen for 55 cents. There Is a difference of 31 cents on the rhicken. Fi cpnts on the butter and 1"2 cents on the pres. or 38 '.j cents out of the 70 rents that ho says th.it the consumer will sae But this Is not all. We are paying the farmer 22Vi cents for eggs and cents for but ter, cash, or 2h cents for eggs and 30 cents for butter if he will take his pay in groceries, and he generally does that way as h has to have the groceries gro-ceries anyway. So It Is not likely that the farmer would sell his goods cheaper In one pound lots than ho fan get for them In l.nrge quantities to the dealer This nikes a difference differ-ence In Mr Cutler's figures of TVs cents on eggs and 6 cents on butter The 10 rents for C O D. and Insurance In-surance Mr t'utler failed to count Another thing he failed to count was the 0O8l of packing for shlpmem. which would not he less than 10 cens Mr Cutler also made a little mistake of 3 centR In his figures Counting all these little things. Instead of the consumer 6avlng 70 cents he has only saved 4 per cent. Two cents of this has gone for a stamp to order the goods, besides the paper and envelope. envel-ope. And the trouble, and by the time the goods arrive maybe the lady has changed her mind In regard to what she wants, or she might be Invited out to dine, or any number of other reasons why the) may not suit. How different that way of trading would be to the pres.. tit form, through the middlemen If the consumer has a telephone, the dealer calls her up every morning, gets her order and delivers de-livers It iu time for dinner, and waits until the end of the week or month for his monev or sometimes two or three months or even longer, and, If he never gets K he calls It donated to charily The customers do not pas it as some seem to think It la a loss direct If he loses very much he goes broke ." It is neor figured as an expense Now I am not and never have opposed op-posed the parcel post. It Is another big step In the evolution of civlllza- tlon It has Its place and a very Im- p portant one, but It Is not going to eliminate the middlemen It seems as foolish to object to a railroad as to object to parcel post Any Improvement Improve-ment In transportation Is a benefit to everyone. The middlemen retailers I have always al-ways been and probably always will be. They are a part of the scheme of things and can no more be eliminated than the farmer He ha3 devised ways and means of dlstrlbu tlon that Is cheaper than any other wav But the consumer can help to a great extent to get cheaper goods, or rather. I should pa. get goods cheaper cheap-er If she will have h"r mind made up on what she wants for the full day when the grocer calls for the order so that he can make one de livery a day Instead of three or four Teach the boys that are working for the middlemen to do their work pron erly, be honest and polite to custom era, and then pay for the goods at the proper time and not put the merchant mer-chant to the extra expense of having a collector And in many ways help the merchant to reduce his expense, then competition will do the n-st The cost of living Is not so high BS It might be Meat is the only thing that Is abnormally high That will he higher before It Is lower The producer pro-ducer must find a way to produce more meat before w e can hope for any relief. "It is not so much the cost of high living as the cost of living high." (Signed) W. A. JAMBS. |