Business English: A Practice Book by Rose Buhlig

THE STEAMSHIP COMPANY Steamship companies operate three general kinds of lines: (1) lines consisting of the largest and fastest steamers which carry only passengers, mail, and valuable parcels; (2) lines using slower steamers which carry both passengers and freight; and (3) lines employing vessels--steamers, sailing vessels, and barges--which carry only freight. The cost of hauling cargoes by water is in every case less per mile than that of carrying the same quantity of goods on land. It costs, for example, over four times as much to carry a bushel of wheat from Chicago to New York by rail as it does to carry it across the Atlantic. It is for this very reason that the traffic on our navigable rivers, the Ohio and the Mississippi, and on the Great Lakes is so heavy. Whenever a cargo can be shipped as well by water as by rail and there is no hurry for delivery, it is shipped by water. However, because so much of our freight must be rushed from place to place, the railroads get the bulk of the inland traffic. THE RAILROAD COMPANY The services of the railroad company embrace the hauling of freight, the carrying of passengers, and the transporting of express and of mail. The hauling of freight is the most important item in the railroad business, about three-quarters of the total income being derived from this source. Each year over one billion tons of freight are turned over by shippers to the railroads, who use almost two and one-half million freight cars to carry it. About one-half of this tonnage is minerals, mainly ore and coal; about one-seventh consists of manufactured articles; and one-twelfth of agricultural products. Commodities are grouped into from ten to fourteen classes, on each one of which the freight rate is different from that of the others. By freight rate is meant the cost of shipping a certain unit, usually 100 pounds or a ton, from one place to another; it is dependent on the distance. There are certain bulky commodities like coal, livestock, lumber, grain, and cement, which are almost always handled in carload lots. They are not included in the freight classification, but have a special ex-class freight rate. Freight rates depend also on whether the goods are shipped by slow or _local_ freight or by fast or _through_ freight. There are a hundred different kinds of papers used in carrying on the railroad freight business. Only four of the most important will be considered here. When a shipper turns over his goods to the railroad company at its freight depot, he gets from the agent a _receipt for freight_, which is merely a receipt for the goods he has turned over. In the ordinary course of business these receipts are exchanged at the company's office for a _bill of lading_ in triplicate. The original and one copy are given to the shipper. The second copy is kept by the railroad. This bill of lading may be of two kinds, _straight_ or _order_. If a straight bill of lading is given, the original is sent to the person to whom the goods are shipped, who is called the _consignee_, who on the presentation of the bill of lading is entitled to the goods after paying the charges. An order bill of lading is much like a check, in that it can be assigned to another person. Like the straight bill it states the name of the consignee or the person for whom the goods are intended and his address, but the consignee cannot get possession of the goods until he has paid for them. To collect payment, the shipper attaches to the order bill of lading a draft for the amount of the goods and the freight, and through his bank and the bank of the consignee the amount is collected. The consignee then gets possession of the order bill of lading, which entitles him to possession of the goods. This is more fully explained on page 344. The railroad's most important paper is the _way bill_, which shows the conductor or the agent of the company just what articles are included in the shipment, so that it can be checked when unloaded. When the goods arrive at their destination, the consignee is notified and is sent a _freight bill_ showing the freight charges. When he presents his bill of lading and pays the charges, the _freight bill_ is receipted and the goods are his. In quoting prices on goods, manufacturers and distributors usually designate whether they will pay the freight or whether it is to be paid by the consignee. In the latter case the price is quoted f. o. b. at the place from which the goods are shipped, which means freight on board at that point. That is to say, if a distributor located at Detroit quotes his automobiles f. o. b. Detroit, he means that he will see that the goods get into the railroad company's hands at Detroit, but that the consignee pays the freight from Detroit to the destination. The latter is the common practice in shipping. In the following exercises we shall treat the subject of distribution under four heads: I. The Retail Merchant. II. The Wholesale Merchant. III. The Mail Order Merchant. IV. The Salesman. I.--THE RETAIL MERCHANT =Exercise 259= _Oral_ You are opening a grocery store. Remember that your object is to sell the largest possible amount of goods. Develop each of the following suggestions: