1930–31 Volume 55 No 1–5 - Phi Delta Theta Scroll Archive

THE SCROLLPHI DELTA THETA December, 1930efforts in the domestic field are exerted.While on the subject, it might aswell be explained that these effortsfollow two major lines: (1) Ofanalyzing the quality and quantity ofbuying power for different classes ofgoods in different parts of the country;and (2) of determining real costs ofhandling different lines, of travelingdifferent salesmen and of selling todifferent markets, as they are actuallyincurred and not as they are guessedto be. This means breaking downoverhead and charging to each lineand service the portion for which itis really responsible.The need for this sort of work, ofcourse, has not been newly discovered,but the methods employed by theDepartment of Commerce in meetingit have been refreshingly practical.All of the work is done in cooperationwith and at the request of thevarious trade groups affected, most ofwhom incidentally pay a good percentageof the cost incurred for theirown respective jobs. In most of theircost analysis work they use actualtest cases, completely breaking downthe business of a going concern andfinding out what part each functioncontributed to the final result and howmuch it cost. Every merchant knowsthat he is carrying some unprofitablelines and selling to some unprofitablecustomers without realizing it. As aresult they often actually lose moneyon business which had been eagerlysought and which had been thought tobe a real money-maker.It is also notorious that the averageindependent merchant has fallen considerablybehind the times in mattersof display, store arrangement, stockselection, credits, inventory, etc. Lostprofits are tied up in every one ofthese factors, and can only be realizedthrough an accurate knowledgeof what is really happening in hisstore.Brother George also performed theunique service recently of analyzingand organizing the census of distributionreturns into a story that manufacturers,wholesalers, and retailersalike could understand and apply. Hetold this story in Philadelphia, amongother places, at a joint meeting of thePoor Richard Club and the PhiladelphiaClub of Advertising Women.The Poor Richard Club is the outstandingadvertising organization inthis section. He showed how the censuscould be used as a guide to newmarkets and as a test of any merchant'soperating efficiency.The answer seems to be, if you arein marketing difficulties, ask a Phi tohelp a Phi.NEW WINTER HOME BUILT BY POWEL CROSLEY, JR., Cincinnati, '09,AT SARASOTA, FLORIDAThis beautiful house was built for the radio king in 135 working days.[184]