In figuring out the selling price for the ordinary run of goods, the process, while different, is never very difficult. We must base our calculations on the smallest value used in coupon sales, except in the case of staples sold only to charge customers. Ordinarily, the smallest purchase that can be made with coupon books is five cents. We should, therefore, in every possible case, make our selling price a number divisible by 5. Cheap articles may be sold “2 for 5”, etc. It is a bad policy to sell articles for 4 or 9 cents and have the clerk hand back change when a coupon sale is made.
Articles that can be quickly and easily sold can be handled at a small margin of profit, but articles that may prove to be “stickers” or those representing a considerable investment should be made to pay a larger profit.
In this connection, the general policy of the Exchange may be made to take one of two trends. The first policy is to sell all articles at the minimum price consistent with making the Exchange self-supporting. In this case, the amounts paid to the organizations in dividends will be proportionately small, and consequently, the various companies will receive little money to spend on their messes, athletics, etc. This plan would be of considerable benefit to such customers of the Exchange as are not stockholders.
The other policy is to charge about the same prices as obtain in the stores of nearby towns. In some cases of isolated posts, the prices could be put even higher. This plan would result in larger dividends paid to the companies but might entail the loss of customers, especially in these days of mail-order and catalogue houses. This latter policy is upheld by many able authorities, especially since the passage of the “anti-canteen” law. According to one of the most able officers the writer has ever known, this policy was stated about as follows:—“We should charge as high a price as the traffic will stand. I do not want my men to spend their money in town, for obvious reasons. I want them to spend it where they themselves will get the benefit of the profits made on their purchases. Therefore, give them good value for their money—as good as they can get anywhere—but do _not_ try for low prices and _do_ make the Exchange so attractive that they will naturally gather there and patronize it.”