es for interest,
heat, light, power, insurance, taxes, repairs, equipment, depreciation,
losses from bad debts, and miscellaneous items.[334] The average loss
for bad debts among grocers in 1916 was 0.03 percent of the total sales,
according to the director of business research, Harvard University, who
estimated also that the common figure for credit and collection expense
was 0.06 percent. The total cost of doing business has been estimated as
ranging between twelve and twenty percent of the total annual sales, so
that a bag of green coffee costing $16 in New York or New Orleans costs
the coffee packer in the Middle West from $22.33 to $24.56, according to
the expense of carrying on his business.

_Terms and Credits_

Wholesale coffee trade contract terms and credits are not dissimilar
from those in other lines of commerce. The wholesaler helps the retailer
finance his business to the extent of granting him thirty to sixty days
in which to pay his bill, offering him a cash discount if the invoice is
paid within ten days of date of sale. Until recent years, these terms
were frequently abused, the customer demanding much longer credits and
often taking a ten-day cash discount after thirty or more days had
elapsed. This abuse was particularly prevalent from 1907 to 1913, when
coffee prices were low and competition was especially keen.[335] In
addition, the retailers often demanded special deliveries of supplies,
which added to the wholesalers' costs; and some retailers refused to pay
the cost of cartage from the cars to their stores.

With the coming of high prices after the close of the World War, the
wholesalers showed a tendency to tighten up their credit and discount
terms, the National Coffee Roasters Association especially recommending
thirty days' credit, or at most sixty days, and a maximum cash discount
rate of two percent.

Another trade abuse which has been corrected almost altogether was the
practise of "selling coffee to be billed as shipped"; that is, the
wholesaler held coffee on order, and billed only when delivered, even
though several weeks or months had passed before shipment.

_About Package Coffees_

Since the beginning of the twentieth century, the sale of coffee in
packages has increased steadily until now (1922) this form of
distribution competes strongly with bulk coffee sales. While bulk coffee
is still preferred in some eastern sections of the United States, coffee
packers are making