The wholesale trade in the United States

Despite all the services which wholesalers provide, merchant wholesalers do less than half the business done at wholesale in the United States today. The pattern in Canada is pretty much the same, and for the same reasons. These services cost money, and in the constant push towards reducing the cost of distribution, many different methods and channels are tried by manufacturers seeking to reach the consumer in the most efficient manner possible. This does not always mean the least cost, as we know, because such considerations as the control of merchandising practices, quicker and more efficient service to retailers, and service to ultimate buyers often enter into the picture.
Merchant wholesalers are wholesalers who take title to goods they bring into their establishment, break bulk, reassemble and resell.
There are many different types of merchant wholesalers. Some handle general merchandise, and are known as general merchandise wholesalers. Others handle a single line, such as dry goods, groceries or building materials. A third type is known as a specialty wholesale merchant, who handles only a narrow range of products and caters to specialty shops in the con¬sumer goods field, or to special buyers in the industrial field where a high degree of technical knowledge is necessary.
Limited function wholesalers are merchant wholesalers who do not provide full services and often provide only a minimum. Among the limited service wholesalers, certain types stand out and have become trade institutions. We can cite the following as the most important ones:
Wagon or truck jobbers. As the name implies, a wagon and truck jobber sells from his wagon. His main contribution is that he covers wide rural territories and delivers perishable or semi- perishable merchandise to small and often out- of-the-way retail customers. The cost of operating a truck-jobbing business is relatively high (14 per cent of sales or higher, equivalent to the cost of the full-service wholesaler). But he renders a real service to out-of-the-way retailers and their customers.
Per markets, a new type of wholesaler has developed to take care of these retail customers. The rack jobber specializes in such products as beauty aids, small items of clothing, and household items, often displayed in wire racks inside supermarkets, hence, the rack-jobber designation. His main function is that he keeps stocks and displays filled and properly price-marked. He usually sells for cash and is paid for the amount of merchandise he sells and delivers to each customer. Cash and carry jobbers. A cash and carry jobber sells only for cash, and sells only at his place of business. The retail customer comes to the wholesaler's warehouse, selects and buys what he wants, pays cash for it, and carries it away. Cash and carry jobbers are found in all lines of business. It is not the type of merchandise handled, but the method of operation that makes them different. Mail-order wholesalers. Many of the earlier distributors were mail-order houses, once more prominent than today. In the days of poor communications and scattered rural populations, mail ordering (especially retail) was often the only way consumers could purchase during winter months. Mail-order wholesale houses service retailers, both mail-order retailers and others, usually through catalog sales. Often lower prices are possible because the amount of service rendered is reduced to a minimum.