coal trade bulletin - Clpdigital.org

THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN. 43
INDISPENSABIL1TY AND PURPOSE OF THE COMMISSARY STORE
By B. F. Roden, President of the Roden Coal Company
I am to discuss one of the legitimate departments
of the mining business. A by-product of
mining is the company store. A mining company
spends thousands of dollars in purchasing and
equipping a property; it thus gives employment
to large numbers of men. Is there any reason
why the business of selling necessities and luxuries
to the population thus created, with consequent
profits, should be turned over to outside parties?
1 see no reason if the store is properly
conducted.
I feel that certain things are due the employes,
A high-standard of quality should be maintained.
It is well known that almost every article may be
purchased in several grades. Canned goods may
be purchased, water packed, at a lower price than
standard quality, thus reducing the amount of
solids in a ean. A three-pound can ol tomatoes
does not always represent the same amount ot
tomatoes. This is one method of misrepresentation.
Other methods are: Syrup, supposedly
molasses and cane. We all unconsciously think
of molasses as made from sugar cane whereas it
probably is glucose molasses. Pickles and all
canned goods may be packed with preservatives
injurious to the health. Vinegar may be manufactured
from a barrel, a hose and some acid.
Alabama law provides for full weight sacking of
foodstuffs. These goods, however, may be purchased
out of the state, packed 70 or 80 pounds to
the sack; and are sold by the sack. Where you
have been accustomed to 100-pound sacks—the
weight not being mentioned—you suppose you bu>
100 pounds. Off-grade, damaged or re-manufactured
goods, such as le-dyed ribbons; second
grade cloth as first; poor thread; shoes with part
card-board soles in place of leather; treated
meats; "all woo!" clothes three-quarters shoddy,
and numerous other methods to
FOOL THE PUBLIC
into believing they are securing first quality goods
at cut prices. Commissaries are usually above
such tricks.
Give your customers full weight and good value
at a reasonable profit above handling on the investment.
Reasonable profit is a flexible term.
according to our dispositions. Do not exact the
limit of profit your customer will stand; let him
make something on the trade, then both buyer and
seller are satisfied. We all know the feeling we
have when we make a purchase and later discover
it might have been bought elsewhere at a lower
•Paper read at the Annual Meeting of the Alabama Coal
Operators Association. Marvel, July 26. 1913.
price. Our employes feel the same way if tiie
pi ice is unreasonable.
Department stores rarely handle groceries, as
very little profit can be made on these staples.
Commissary trade is largely on staples, so some
profit must be made on these, if any is to be made.
Goods should be kept in a sanitary condition.
The company, because of its better knowledge of
sanitary principles, is best fitted to give clean,
wholesome food.
Courtesy from clerks is due our customers. Do
not allow condescension on their part because their
work is cleaner. Salesmanship, not comment, is
desired. Some miners have been farmers, small
merchants, or in other lines of work, but have returned
to mining as being more profitable. Some
have accumulated savings, which, with their education
and breeding, make them desirable citizens.
Commissary trade is rush trade, which often
wears on the natural courtesy of the clerk. The
early morning and the late forenoon are the busiest.
Practically all the trading of the day takes
place in three or four hours.
To my mind the practice of paying off daily in
store checks which are redeemable on pay day is
bad. While this saves some little clerical work,
there is quite a loss to the men by having checks
sa handy that
THEY SPEND MORE
than is necessary. There is also a considerable
number of these checks which are lost or never
redeemed. Should these checks be interchangeable
it promotes gambling and drunkenness.
I feel that the operator owes some things to the
public—one of which is not to allow his store
checks to be interchangeable. Aside from decreasing
their value in the minds of the men it
gives an opportunity for the speculator, who can
buy these checks from 60 to SO cents on the dollar
and purchase goods in the store at below cost and
sell to the employe for less than any competing
merchant can buy. Suppose sugar or any of the
staples sold in the store could be bought at from
00 to 80 cents on the dollar; these could be resold
at a good profit at much below cost. This creates
the idea in the minds of your men that commissary
prices are too high; since this speculator can
afford to sell the same articles at 20 per cent, less
than price. This practice puts a legitimate competitor
out of business and places a premium on
the speculator. It is also a boon to the boot­
legger.
At some mines the superintendent, store force
and office force buy checks at a discount to pay