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Cost of handling citrus fruit from the tree to the car in Florida

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Title:
Cost of handling citrus fruit from the tree to the car in Florida
Series Title:
Bulletin - University of Florida Agricultural Experiment Station ; 202
Creator:
Hamilton, H. G.
Place of Publication:
Gainesville, Fla.
Publisher:
University of Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
Publication Date:
Language:
English

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Subjects / Keywords:
Average total cost ( jstor )
Financial investments ( jstor )
Labor costs ( jstor )

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University of Florida
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All applicable rights reserved by the source institution and holding location.

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Bulletin 202


UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION
Wilmon Newell, Director
(In Cooperation With the Division of Resident Teaching,
College of Agriculture, University of Florida)


COST OF HANDLING CITRUS FRUIT
FROM THE TREE TO THE CAR
IN FLORIDA
By H. G. HAMILTON


-uI


Fig. 66.-A modern citrus packinghouse.


Bulletins will be sent free upon application to the
Agricultural Experiment Station
GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA


April, 1929







BOARD OF CONTROL


P. K. YONGE, Chairman, Pensacola
E. W. LANE, Jacksonville
A. H. BLENDING, Leesburg
W. B. DAVIS, Perry


FRANK J. WIDEMAN, W. Palm Beach
J. T. DIAMOND, Secretary, Talla-
hassee.
J. G. KELLUM, Auditor, Tallahassee


STATION EXECUTIVE STAFF


JOHN J. TIGERT, M.A..LL.D., President
WILMON NEWELL, D. Sc., Director
S. T. FLEMING, A.B., Asst. Director
J. FRANCIS COOPER, B. S. A., Editor
ERNEST G. MOORE, M. S., Asst. Ed


IDA KEELING CRESAP, Librarian
RUBY NEWHALL, Secretary
K. H. GRAHAM, Business Manager
.RACHEL MCQUARRIE, Accountant


MAIN STATION-DEPARTMENTS AND INVESTIGATORS


AGRONOMY
W. E. STOKES, M. S. Agronomist
W. A. LEUKEL, Ph. D., Asso.
C. R. ENLOW, M. S. A., Asst.*
FRED H. HULL, M. S. A., Asst.
ANIMAL HUSBANDRY
A. L. SHEALY, D.V.M., Veterinarian,
in Charge
D. A. SANDERS, D.V.M., Asst. Vet.
E. F. THOMAS, D.V.M., Asst. Vet.
R. B. BECKER, Ph.D., Asso. in Dairy
Husbandry
C. R. DAWSON, B. S. A., Asst. Dairy
Investigations
CHEMISTRY
R. W. RUPRECHT, Ph.D., Chemist
R. M. BARNETTE, Ph. D., Asso.
C. E. BELL, M. S., Asst.
H. L. MARSHALL, M. S., Asst.
J. M. COLEMAN, B. S., Asst.
J. B. HESTER, B. S., Asst.
COTTON INVESTIGATIONS
W. A. CARVER, Ph. D., Asst.
M. N. WALKER, Ph. D., Asst.
E. F. GROSSMAN, M. A., Asst.
RAYMOND CROWN, B.S.A., Field Asst.


ECONOMICS, AGRICULTURAL
C. V. NOBLE, Ph. D., Ag. Economist
BRUCE MCKINLEY, A.B., B.S.A., Asst.
M. A. BROKER, M. S. A., Asst.
R. H. HOWARD, B.S.A., Field Asst.
ECONOMICS, HOME
OUIDA DAVIS ABBOTT, Ph. D.. Chief
L. W. GADDUM, Ph. D., Asst.
C. F. AHMANN, Ph. D., Asst.
ENTOMOLOGY
J. R. WATSON, A. M., Entomologist
A. N. TISSOT, M. S., Asst.
H. E. BRATLEY, M. S. A., Asst.
HORTICULTURE
A. F. CAMP, Ph. D., Horticulturist
M. R. ENSIGN, M. S., Asst.
HAROLD MOWRY, Asst.
G. H. BLACKMON, M. S. A., Pecan
Culturist
PLANT PATHOLOGY
W. B. TISDALE, Ph. D., Plant Path.
G. F. WEBER, Ph. D., Asso.
A. H. EDDINS, Ph. D., Asst.
K. W. LOUCKS, B. S., Asst.
ERDMAN WEST, B. S., Mycologist


BRANCH STATION AND FIELD WORKERS
Ross F. WADKINS, M. S., Lab. Asst. in Plant Pathology (Quincy)
JESSE REEVES, Foreman, Tobacco Experiment Station (Quincy)
J. H. JEFFERIES, Superintendent, Citrus Experiment Station (Lake Alfred)
W. A. KUNTZ, A. M., Assistant Plant Pathologist (Lake Alfred)
J. FRANKLIN FUDGE, Ph. D., Assistant Chemist (Lake Alfred)
GEO. E. TEDDER, Foreman, Everglades Experiment Station (Belle Glade)
R. V. ALLISON, Ph. D., Soils Specialist (Belle Glade)
L. O. GRATZ, Ph. D., Associate Plant Pathologist (Hastings)
A. N. BROOKS, Ph. D., Associate Plant Pathologist (Plant City)
A. S. RHOADS, Ph. D., Associate Plant Pathologist (Cocoa)
STACY O. HAWKINS, M. A., Field Assistant in Plant Pathology (Homestead)
D. G. A. KELBERT, Field Assistant in Plant Pathology (Bradenton)
R. E. NOLEN, M. S. A., Field Assistant in Plant Pathology (Monticello)
FRED W. WALKER, Assistant Entomologist (Monticello)

*In cooperation with U. S. Department of Agriculture.









COST OF HANDLING CITRUS FRUIT FROM THE TREE
TO THE CAR IN FLORIDA'
By H. G. HAMILTON'

The present investigation was undertaken for the purpose of:
(1) Analyzing the facilities for handling citrus fruit in Florida,
and (2) Determining the cost and the factors influencing cost
of handling citrus fruit.
Data were secured from the books of each of 99 packinghouses


1 WEST COAST SECTION

2 NoRTh CENTRAL SECTION

3 SOUTh CENTRAL SECTION /
f EF~ST CoAST SECTION

PAcKRI^qhouSEs froM hh .-
Rec.on.ds wRE obtN;Wed
For both seasons
O For i9t4-25 o'Ly
X TFo-r 19?5-ob onLy

Fig. 67.-Location of packinghouses studied.


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Much credit is due the packinghouse firms who furnished the data
which made the study possible. The author is indebted to Drs. C. V.
Noble and J. E. Turlington, under whose direction the work was done.
Drs. G. F. Warren, W. I. Myers and M. P. Rasmussen of Cornell Univer-
sity offered constructive criticisms and made many valuable suggestions.
Messrs. M. A. Brooker, Bruce McKinley and C. A. Scarborough assisted
in the field work.
1Also presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Cornell Uni-
versity, September, 1928, as a major thesis in partial fulfillment of the re-
quirements for the degree of doctor of philosophy.
2Associate Professor of Marketing, College of Agriculture, University
of Florida.







Florida Agricultural Experiment Station


for the season of 1924-25, and 95 packinghouses for the season
of 1925-26. Estimates were not used except for some packing-
houses in allocating the total cost to the different items of cost.
The working schedule and explanation of allocating costs are
given in appendix B.
Where data were available, the same packinghouses were
studied for the two seasons, 1924-25 and 1925-26. Owing to
change in ownership, losses from fire, cessation of operation
and inadequate accounts, data could not be obtained for the sea-
son of 1925-26 at 16 of the 99 packinghouses for which records
were obtained in 1924-25. Data from 12 other packinghouses,
in approximately the same localities, were obtained.
The state was divided into four geographic sections, and data
were secured from representative packinghouses in these sec-
tions. The sections of the state and the location of each packing-
house studied are shown in figure 67. It will be observed that
most of the packinghouses were located in three counties. These
three counties are also the counties that lead in carlot shipments
of citrus fruit. (Figs. 68 and 69.)
Of the total commercial production of the state, data were ob-






101r 1137
1505 1o
0oq'd 2049
Shipments for 1q24-25 shown thub 191 9 1 88o

S arpmeant fr 1ma5- io Iiown vus er C 10
2 9 0 1
3492 2691 12878 0

? 6 895 35
2067 5qT
*In 1924-25, St. Lucie County included the \ 1Y.
area later made into Indian River Coun- 1136
ty, and Palm Beach County included the
area later made into Martin County. 1


Fig. 68.-Carload shipments of citrus fruit
from Florida by counties.








Bulletin 202, Cost of Handling Citrus Fruit


7 30
46. 66. 67. 20. 45.
7. 3 40. 16.
S65 62. 12
23. 34. 10. 58

Figure 69. 15. 4. 1
ALPHABETICAL LIST OF COUNTIES IN FLORIDA, 38.
NUMBERED TO AGREE WITH KEY iAP. 42.
1. Alachus 26. Hendry 51. Pasco 9q
2. Baker 27. Hernando 52. Pinellas 35. 57.
:. Bay 28. Highlands 53. Polk 27. 4 -
Bradford 29. Hillsboro 54. Putnam
5. Brevard 30. Holmes 55. Santa Rosa 51.
6. Broward 31. Indian River 56. Sarasota 49. 5.
7. Calhoun 32. Jackson 57. Seminole 53
8. Charlotte 33. Jefferson 58. St. Johns 29 5
9. Citrus 34. Lafayette 59. St. Lucie 5 31.
10. Clay 35. Lake 60. Sumter 41. 25.
11. Collier 36. Lee 61. Suwannee 28. 7 59.
12. Columbia 37. Leon 62. Taylor 14.
13. Dade 38. Levy 63. Union 56.1
14. De Soto 39. Liberty Volusia B. 22.
15. Dixie 40. Madison 65. Wakulla 50.
16. Duval 41. Manatee 66. Walton 26
17. Escambia 42. Marion 67. Washington 36
18. Flagler 43. Martin
19. Franklin 44. Monroe 6.
20. Gadsden 45. Nassau 11.
21. Gilchrist 46. Okaloosa
22. Glades 47. Okeechobee 13
23. Gulf 48. Orange
24. Hamilton 49. Osceola
25. Hardee 50. Palm Beach

trained on 46 percent for the season of 1924-25, and 41.8 percent
for 1925-26. The percentages of grapefruit, oranges and tan-
gerines to their respective totals are shown in Table I.

TABLE I.-PROPORTION OF THE TOTAL COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION OF THE
STATE COVERED BY THIS STUDY.


G
0
T


1924-25 1925-26
J---
Total Commercial Percent Total Commercial Percent
Boxes of Production for the that pro- Production for the hat produc-
Sduction of tion of
Packing- packing Packing- packing-
houses houses houses houses
State* of this studied is State* of this studied is
study of state's study of state's
total total

rapefruit 8,186,1334,052,084l 49.5 6,492,60012,666,619! 41.2
ranges 110,340,86714,097,6041 39.6 7,749,72012,976,889| 38..4
angerines .-I 644,4401 416,5411 64.6 451,800 276,9841 61.3


Bulk ............. ...........- i... 255,9081 .....- .. 219,5261 ........
--- ^- -- --- - - -- -

Totals and
Averages .. 19,171,44018,822,1371 46.0 14,694,120 6,140,0181 41.8
I I I I


*Data are from reports of the Florida State Marketing Bureau.


......






Florida Agricultural Experiment Station


A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE FLORIDA CITRUS INDUSTRY

The number of grapefruit and orange trees in Florida as re-
ported by the United States census from 1890 to 1925 may be
seen in Table II. Prior to the year 1900 there were but few
grapefruit trees, but since that time there has been a very rapid
increase in the number. In 1890 there were more orange trees
than for any other census year, except 1925. The decrease in
orange trees in 1900 was due to the freezes of 1894-95 and 1899.
The development of a citrus grove is a long-time and an
expensive project. Owing to the length of time, the expense
and the shifting of the industry from the northern part to the
southern part of the state, it was not until after 1920 that the
total number of citrus trees exceeded the number prior to the
freeze of 1894-95.
The large number of non-bearing trees indicates that the
production, with present cultural practices, will probably in-
crease very fast, at least, for the next decade. This expansion
also indicates to some extent the prosperity of the industry in
recent years.
Data on the production of Florida citrus fruit by years are
not available. However, the Florida State Marketing Bureau
has data on the interstate shipments of citrus fruit from the
season 1884-85 to date. These shipments are shown in chart
form in Fig. 70. The increase in shipments has been rapid, con-
siderably faster than the increase in number of trees. For the
season 1909-10 about three times as many boxes of citrus fruit
were shipped as were shipped for the season 1889-90, and from
only a few more bearing trees. On the average the increase in
shipments from the season 1884-85 to 1925-26 has been approxi-
mately 371,000 boxes per year.
It will be noted that the shipments were greater for the sea-
son 1893-94 than for any other season prior to 1909-10. It took
15 years for the industry to fully recover in shipments from the
freeze of 1894-95 and the subsequent freeze of 1899. The ship-
ments increased on the average 698,600 boxes per year from
1901-02 (the year that the industry began to recover in ship-
ments from the freeze) to 1925-26. (Fig. 70.)
To what extent citrus fruit moved prior to 1884 is not known.
Reports from old settlers indicate that probably the first com-
mercial shipments moved from Fernandina by boat about the














TABLE II.-NUMBER OF GRAPEFRUIT AND ORANGE TREES IN FLORIDA.*
1890 1900 1910 1920 1925
Grapefruit Oranges Grapefruitj Oranges Grapefruiti Oranges Grapefruit Oranges IGrapefruit Oranges
Trees Trees Trees Trees Trees Trees Trees Trees Trees Trees

Bearing .... 3,135 2,725,272 117,336 2,552,542 656,213 2,789,852 1,681,481 3,684,327 2,969,910 7,305,722
Non-bear-
ing ...... 11,268 7,408,543 Not given 600,049 1,101,735 963,336 2,341,341 951,909 6,046,261

Total ......1 14,403 10,133,815 __1,256,262 3,891,587 2,644,817 6,025,668 3,921,819 13,351,983
*Data from United States Census Report.










19
18
17
16



12
15#^ffiEfffff#f f





010



+ +-+
5.
7




3 4
2






Seas on
Fig. 70.-Shipments of Florida citrus fruits for the seasons 1884-85 to 1925-26. The two lines show the trend of
shipments from 1884-85 to 1925-26, and from 1901-02 to 1925-26, respectively. It will be remembered that many
citrus trees in Florida were damaged by severe freezes in 1894-95 and 1899.
20~ ; i;" |i "; ;^ ;: ;;| |^ ;; |;; 4 ;;:;; |i~;i : i~:;||;| ; ; ^ |; ;; M \ ; ;^ ; \[ ;;|;;
^ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ o I ;II IIi i li t li 1111;li ^i Ii ; I lili Ill III 1111II ; l1;11
is I H l ;;| ; | l i : ^ \\\ :: \\ \ :i \ 1 \ ;:: ^ : : ^ii ^ ^ ::i :::^ ^ :^








Bulletin 202, Cost of Handling Citrus Fruit


year 1820. Shipment of oranges occurred semi-weekly from
Fernandina and Jacksonville in 1881.*
One of the principal reasons for such a small shipment of
citrus fruit from the state for the large number of trees prior
to 1895, was inadequate transportation facilities. From 1880 to
1900 was a period of railway expansion in the state. Settlers,
especially in the southern part of the state, set out orange groves
during this period with the expectation of having a railroad to
market their fruit by the time it came into full bearing. Al-
though there was a big expansion in railroads, they were not
always built where the orange groves had been developed, con-
sequently many growers had no transportation facilities for
marketing their fruit. That such was the case is evidenced by
the fact that oranges were hauled by ox cart for 50 miles to
Tampa and shipped by boat before railroads entered Tampa.
FLORIDA RAILWAY MILEAGE
(Data are from the 1926 Statistical Abstract of the United States)
Year Mileage Year Mileage
1860 ........................... ............ 402 1910 ..... ..... ..........-....... ...... 4,432
1870 ........................................ .. 446 1915 .... ............ .................. 5,252
1880 ........ ..............-. ..- ... 518 1920 .................. ..... .... ..... 5,212
1890 .................. ......... ............ 2,471 1924 ....... ...................... 5,373
1900 ....................................... 3,299 1925 ...............................- .. 5,452
The first containers used for citrus were probably second-
hand barrels. In some cases the fruit was wrapped with tissue


Fig. 71.-A modern tile and stucco packinghouse. Note the number of win-
dows; also the field boxes stacked on the receiving platform.
*Orange Culture, by Rev. T. W. Moore.


i'71 __-2~-
FI









Florida Agricultural Experiment Station


paper, in others Spanish moss was put between the layers of
oranges and in still others nothing was used to protect the fruit.
Boxes varying in size, and sacks also were used as containers.
The fruit was packed on the farm. Commercial packinghouses
and equipment in use today are of rather recent origin. The
data do not reveal when the first commercial packinghouse be-
gan operation, but commercial packinghouses were not operated
to any great extent prior to 1908. Data on the cost of handling
citrus fruit until recent years are too inadequate to be of value.
The per capital consumption of oranges and grapefruit mov-
ing in interstate commerce from Florida and California is shown
in Fig. 72. The increase in consumption in the past 42 years is
phenomenal. In the year 1884-85 the per capital consumption
was only 0.0109 box. The peak per capital consumption occurred
in the 1923-24 season when 0.3745 box per capital moved in in-
terstate commerce from Florida and California. The average


36
34
33
32
31
29
28






a




08
24
33

3D


















Fig. 72.--Per capital consumption of oranges, grapefruit and tangerines from
season 1884-85 to season 1925-26.
season 1884-85 to season 1925-26.







Bulletin 202, Cost of Handling Citrus Fruit


increase in consumption from 1884 to 1926 has been 0.0073 box
(or about one fruit) per capital per year.
The per capital consumption has not increased to any great
extent since the season 1913-14. For four years only has the
per capital consumption been above three-tenths of a box. The
price index for these four years, when 1916-20 was used as 100,
for both California and Florida oranges was 78, 66, 68 and 105.*
These prices could hardly be considered satisfactory to growers.
It should also be pointed out that during these four years, wages
were high in proportion to other things, a factor which is favor-
able to the consumption of citrus fruit.

COST OF HANDLING CITRUS FRUIT FROM TREE TO CAR

The costs involved in handling citrus fruit for 99 packing-
houses (8,566,229 boxes) for the 1924-25 season and for 95
packinghouses (5,920,492 boxes) for 1925-26, are shown in
Tables III and IV.
The average total cost for packed fruit per packinghouse was
$81,817.20, or $0.95 per box, for the 1924-25 season, and
$64,655.76 per packinghouse, or $1.04 per box for 1925-26. The
most important items and the approximate proportion each con-
stituted of the total cost of handling citrus in the "house cost"
in 1924-25 are: materials, 38 percent; floor labor, 12 percent;
packing labor, 7 percent; light, water, power and house equip-
ment, 6 percent; and management, 4 percent. Total house cost
was nearly four-fifths of the total cost of handling packed fruit.
The remainder was made up of picking cost and hauling cost,
each of which amounted to nearly 11 percent of the total cost
of handling packed fruit. An explanation of the items of cost
and of the methods of computation and allocation is given in
appendix B.
FLOOR LABOR
The floor labor cost per boxt averaged 11.3 cents, or 11.9
percent of the total handling cost for 1924-25, and 13.5 cents, or
13 percent of the total handling cost for 1925-26. Each item in-
cluded in floor labor cost was a little higher in 1925-26 than for
the former season. The floor labor cost per box for individual
packinghouses varied from 5.5 to 31.6 cents for 1924-25, and
*Prices taken from the 1926 Statistical Abstract of the United States.
tin this study "per box" has reference to packed box unless otherwise
.stated.











328 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station


Fig.t .-Varaton n floor labor cost per box by volume groups for 99





















S.30





















.31
.30
.20

.17

.16
.13



.20
.21
.20
.19
.10
.17
.16


















.15
.04

.03




.02
.01
w06






.30





.03
02
0 19













.21










.19













Fig. 74.--Variation in floor labor cost per box by volume groups for 95

packinghouses, season 1925-26.








Bulletin 202, Cost of Handling Citrus Fruit


from 6.7 to 33.2 cents for the 1925-26 season. The items of grad-
ing, box making and nailing tops varied less than foreman's
salary and other floor labor. Variation in floor labor cost by
volume groups is shown in Figs. 73 and 74.
The duties of the packinghouse foreman include the general
supervision over all operation within the house. In large pack-
inghouses, part of the supervision is delegated to responsible
laborers. Some have a packer supervisor, who relieves the fore-
man of most of the packing supervision. Others have a trained
mechanic who supervises the machinery and house equipment.
In small packinghouses, the foreman does all the supervision
and works part of the time as a laborer. The foremen's salaries
varied from $161.57 to $4,000.00, with an average of $1,297.33,
for the 1924-25 season, and from $75.00 to $3,742.93, with an
average of $1,082.52, for 1925-26.
The number of graders employed varied widely, depending
on the size of the business, the efficiency of the graders and the
quality of the fruit. Graders were employed usually by the hour,
the amount paid depending largely on the efficiency of the grad-
ers, varying almost as much in the same packinghouse as for
different packinghouses.
Box makers were paid usually by the piece, the ordinary price
being %, cent per box when a box machine was used, and 2 cents
when made by hand. A few packinghouses that did not have a
box machine could have used one to advantage. No doubt some
of the smaller firms that had box machines found them a burden
because of lack of volume.
The most common practice of paying laborers for nailing tops
on was by the piece, the usual price being 1 cent per box.
Other floor labor cost, which consisted of receiving, loading
in car, checking fruit in and out, dumping, handling field boxes,
handling culls, mechanic hire, putting boxes in chutes, hiring
truck driver for house, and miscellaneous, amounted to about
one-half of the total floor labor cost. Most of this labor was em-
ployed by the day or hour, although some of it was employed oc-
casionally by the piece.

PACKING LABOR COST
The most common practice of employing packers was by the
box, but a few packinghouses employed packers on an hour
basis. It was the opinion of those firms employing packers on








Florida Agricultural Experiment Station


the hour basis that a better pack was obtained. Packing labor
per box varied from 4.3 to 13.9 cents, with an average of 6.6
cents for the 1924-25 season, and from 4.4 to 13.9 cents, with
an average of 7 cents for 1925-26. Firms that employed packers
on the hour basis had a higher cost than those on the box basis.
One manager stated that he got his packing done for 1/2 cent
per box less by not changing packers back and forth from
grapefruit to oranges.

TABLE III.-ITEMIZED COST OF HANDLING CITRUS FRUIT IN 99 PACKING-
HOUSES, SEASON 1924-25.


Total Boxes
for 99
Packing-
houses
Packed boxes grapefruit ..- 4,097,604
Packed boxes oranges........ 4,052,084
Packed boxes tangerines... 416,541
Total packed boxes ......... 8,566,229
Bulk boxes ..-..-..... .....I-- 255,908
Total boxes all fruit .........I 8,822,137


Items of Cost


Floor Labor-
Foreman's salary ......... $
Grading ...........................
Box making ....................
Nailing tops on ..........
Other floor labor .........
Total floor labor ............

Total packing labor .........

Management-
Officers' salary ................
Manager's salary...........
Manager's privileges ...
Travel expense ............
Total management ............-
Office--
Office salaries .................
Office building ...............
Office equipment ...........-
Telephone and telegraph
Office supplies ...............
Total office ........................


128,436.141
162,949.46
88,881.67
82,956.51
502,883.14
966,106.92

568,288.90

32,214.64
274,475.37
3,841.95
42,955.35
353,487.31

126,005.74
3,513.64
12,489.82
10,109.92
13,221.06
165,340.18


Average
Boxes
for 99
Packing-
houses
41,390
40,930
4,207
86,527
2,585
89,112


Percent
That Eac
Average Item is of
Cost Average the Total
Per Pack- Cost Cost for
inghouse Per Box Packed
I Fruit


$ 1,297.33 $0.01499 1.586
1,645.95 .01902 2.012
897.80 .01038 1.097
837.94 .00968 1.024
5,079.63 .05871 6.208
9,758.66 .11278 11.927

5,740.29 .06634 7.016

325.40 .00376 .398
2,772.48 .03204 3.389
38.81 .00045 .047
433.89 .00501 .530
3,570.58 .04126 4.364

1,272.78 .01471 1.556
35.49 .00041 .043
126.16 .00146 .154
102.12 .00118 .125
133.55 .00154 .163
1,670.10 .01930 2.041


h


]









Bulletin 202, Cost of Handling Citrus Fruit


TABLE III.-ITEMIZED COST OF HANDLING CITRUS FRUIT IN 99 PACKING-
HOUSES, SEASON 1924-25.-(Continued)


Items of Cost




Packinghouse building-
Rent and interest ......... i$
Taxes .......-..-- ..................
Depreciation .-....-......- .. |
Insurance .....................--
Repairs ......................---
Warehouse ..---....-...-.....
Total packinghouse bldg. -

Land (total) ...-....-.. .--

Light, water, power and
house equipment-
Rent and interest ...........
Taxes .....................-........-
Depreciation -....--.--.--..-..
Insurance ....-....-...... ..-- --
Repairs ..-.....--... -- ... --
Water, light and power-__
Other cost ....-.--...... ..---
Total, light, water, power
and house equipment-.


Total Cost
for 99
Packing-
houses



110,809.411
21,412.401
72,560.531
25,876.981
13,949.321
450.861
245,059.501

38,788.451



88,091.461
14,577.86
184,652.70
19,478.911
80,484.361
86,291.881
8,912.32!

482,489.49!
1


Average
Cost
Per Pack-
inghouse



$ 1,119.29
216.29
732.93
261.38
140.90
4.56
2,475.35

391.80



889.81
147.25
1,865.18
196.76
812.97
871.64
90.02

4,873.631


Field equipment- ]
Rent and interest ....... 24,612.851 248.62
Taxes ........................-...... 3,918.76 39.58
Depreciation ...-.............. 75,576.45 763.40
Insurance ...................... 5,373.09 54.27
Repairs ..............-........ -- 57,214.29 577.92
Other cost .-.....- ....... ..... 643.37 6.50
Total field equipment ...... 167,338.81 1,690.29
Material (total) ........-....-... 3,069,222.93 31,002.25
Pre-cooling (total) ....--.. 119,509.62 1,207.17
Other direct cost in house I
(total) ................. ...... 190,802.80 1,927.30
Total house cost for $6I
packed fruit .........-.....--$6,366,434.91 $64,307.42
Picking cost for packed I I
fruit ..---.......... ....----- -I 873,733.49 8,825.591
Hauling cost for packed 8,
fruit -....-....-..-....---------............... 859,735.06) 8,684.19
Total handling cost for
packed fruit .-..............$8,099,903.46 $81,817.20
Bulk fruit cost ................... 122,316.83 1,235.53
Total cost of all fruit ..... .]$8,222,220.29 $83,052.731
Percent of total cost charged to packed fruit, 98.512
Percent of total cost charged to bulk fruit, 1.488


A

P


Percent
That Each
Item is of
average the Total
Cost Cost for
er Box Packed
SFruit


$0.01294 1.368
.00250 .264
.00847 .896
.00302 .319
.00163 .172
.00005 .006
.028611 3.025

.004531 .479


.01029
.00170
.02156
.00227
.00940
.01007
.00104

.056331


1.088
.180
2.280
.240
.994
1.065
.110

5.957


.00287 .304
.00046 .049
.008821 .933
.000631 .066
.006681 .706
.00007 .008
.01953 2.066
.35829 37.892
.01395 1.476

.02228 2.356

$0.74320 78.599

.10200 10.787

.10036 10.614

$0.94556 100.00
.47796 ..............
$0.932001..---.......








Florida Agricultural Experiment Station


TABLE IV.-ITEMIZED COST OF HANDLING CITRUS FRUIT IN 95 PACKING-
HOUSES, SEASON 1925-26.
I I Average
1Total Boxes Boxes
for 95 for 95
Packing- Packing-
houses houses
Packed boxes grapefruit .... 2,666,619 28,070
Packed boxes oranges ..-.... 2,976,889 31,336
Packed boxes tangerines_... 276,984 2,915
Total packed boxes .......... 5,920,492 62,321
Bulk boxes .......................... 219,526 2,311
Total boxes all fruit ........ 6,140,018 64,632
SIPercent
That Each
Total Cost Average Item is of
Items of Cost for 99 Cost Average the Total
Packing- Per Pack- Cost Cost for
houses inghouse Per Box Packed
rnuit


Floor labor-
Foreman's salary --.........
Grading .........................
Box making ....-....--
Nailing tops on ............
Other house labor ..........
Total floor labor ...............

Packing labor (total) ........

Management-
Officer's salary .............
Manager's salary ..........
Manager's privileges ....
Travel expense ................
Total management ............

Office-
Office salaries ...... .
Office building ................
Office building ............

Telephone and telegraph
Office supplies ...............
Total office .......................


102,839.54
131,629.84
68,537.87
65,846.18
430,907.75
799,761.18

414,809.66


4,708.31
246,105.68
2,631.68
37,368.95
290,814.62


110,038.13
3,698.23
13,236.57
11,653.89
18,078.55
156,705.37


Packinghouse building-
Rent and interest .......... 96,316.08
Taxes .-- --------------.... 21,911.94
Depreciation .-...-...------.... 58,515.59
Insurance .............-- .......-... 25,310.25
Repairs ...-.............- .......... 6,602.40
W warehouse .............. ......................
Total packinghouse bldg... 208,656.26

Land (total) ...................... 28,988.24!
1


$1,082.52
1,385.58
721.45
693.12
4,535.87
8,418.54

4,366.42


49.56
2,590.59
27.70
393.36
3,061.21


1,158.30
38.93
139.33
122.67
190.30
1,649.531


......$0.01737 1.674
.02223 2.143
.01158 1.116
.01112 1.072
.07278 7.016
.13508 13.021

.07007 6.753


.00080
.04157
.00044
.00631
.04912


.01859
.00062
.00224
.00197
.00305
.02647


1,013.85 .01627
230.65 .00370
615.95 .00988
266.43 .00427
69.50 .00112

2,196.38 .03524

305.14 .00490
I 1


.077
4.007
.043
.608
4.735


1.792
.060
.215
.190
.294
2.551


1.568
.357
.953
.412
.107

3.397


I









Bulletin 202, Cost of Handling Citrus Fruit


TABLE IV.-ITEMIZED COST OF HANDLING CITRUS FRUIT IN 95 PACKING-
HOUSES, SEASON 1925-26.-(Continued)


Items of Cost


Total Cost
for 99
Packing-
houses


Average
Cost
Per Pack-
inghouse


Light, water, power and
house equipment-
Rent and interest ..$... 75,265.531 $ 792.27
Taxes .........................I... 15,480.581 162.95
Depreciation ............... 146,842.94 1,545.71
Insurance...... ...... 19,508.76 205.36
Repairs ...........................! 65,173.80 686.04
Water, light and power 68,252.59 718.45
Other cost ........... ..I 7,466.261 78.59
Total light, water, power
and house equipment 397,990.461 4,189.37

Field equipment-
Rent and interest .-..... 19,705.71 207.43
Taxes ......................... ....j-- 3,708.65 39.04
Depreciation ................... 48,673.26 512.35
Insurance ......................... 5,167.80) 54.40
Repairs .......................... 36,051.63| 379.49
Other cost ...................... 211.94 2.23
Total field equipment ........ 113,518.99 1,194.94
Material (total) ................. 2,086,836.01 21,966.69
Pre-cooling (total) ........... 121,751.72 1,281.60
Other direct cost (total).... 136,011.61 1,431.70
Total house cost for
packed fruit ....-..-...1. $4,755,844.12 $50,061.52
Picking cost for packed
fruit .............................. 762,233.06 8,023.50
Hauling cost for packed I
fruit ............................. 624,220.201 6,570.74
Total handling cost for I
packed fruit ..........-.... $6,142,297.381 $64,655.76
Bulk fruit cost ................... 125,505.081 1,321.11
Total cost of all fruit ........$6,267,802.461 $65,976.87
Percent of cost charged to packed fruit, 97.998.
Percent of cost charged to bulk fruit, 2.002.


Packing cost per box of grapefruit averaged 4.6 cents, oranges
7.7 cents and tangerines 14.8 cents (full strap) for the 1924-25
season, and 4.9, 8.0 and 14.7 cents, respectively, for 1925-26.
A few packinghouses employed packer supervisors and a man
to lift the packed boxes for the women packers. This cost for the
1924-25 season amounted to only 0.04 cent per box, and for
1925-26, only 0.09 cent.


Percent
That Each
Item is of
Average the Total
Cost Cost for
Per Box Packed
Fruit



$0.01271 1.225
.00261 .252
.02480 2.391
.00330 .318
.01101 1.061
.011531 1.111
.00126 .122

.06722 6.480

.00333 .321
.00063 .060
.00822 .793
.00087 .084
.00609 .587
.00003 .003
.01917 1.848
.35248 33.975
.02056 1.982
.02297 2.214

$0.80328 77.428

.12875 12.409

.105431 10.163

$1.037461 100.00
.571661..............
$1.020811... .... ......










Florida Agricultural Experiment Station


MANAGEMENT COST

Only four firms each season had officers who received sala-
ries, whose specific duties were to assist the manager. Ten man-
agers for the 1924-25 season and six for 1925-26 were furnished
a residence, either owned or rented by the firm. Fifty-four of
the firms in the 1924-25 season and 58 for 1925-26 either fur-
nished the manager a car or allowed him mileage for the use
of his own car.

Duties of the manager extend over all operations from the
tree to the car. During the harvest season, he must see that



.17


.14
.13






.12







Fig. 75.-Variation in management cost per box by volume groups for 99
packinghouses, season 1924-25.
.o0
.07

.06




.00

.01
I V&-er 30,000 30,001 60,000 60,001 90,000 90,001 150,000 1 o0e- 150,000













Tolew G romups 15*
Fig. 75.-Variation in management cost per box by volume groups for 99
packinghouses, season 1924-25.

.21
.20
.19

.17
16
.15


.14


.03

.0.

.01
.06Yo 150000




Fig. 76.-Variation in management cost per box by volume groups for 95
packinghouses, season 1925-26.







Bulletin 202, Cost of Handling Citrus Fruit


fruit of the patrons is harvested at the proper time, that costs
are kept down, and that the fruit is sold. Besides this, he must
solicit business from the grower. During the period of the year
that fruit is not harvested, the packinghouse building, house
equipment and field equipment must be made ready for another
season. Growers must be visited in order to obtain their busi-
ness.
Only three firms for the 1924-25 season and four for 1925-26
were able to get along without a hired manager. Some of
the firms employed managers only during the harvest.
For the 96 firms having management cost for the 1924-25 sea-
son the cost varied from $425 to $13,068.04 per packinghouse
and from 0.2 to 18.1 cents per box. The average management-
cost for all firms was $3,570.58 per packinghouse and 4.1 cents
per box. For the 91 firms having management cost for the 1925-
26 season the cost varied from $660 to $9,709.62 per packing-
house and from 1.6 to 21.8 cents per box. The average manage-
ment cost for all firms was $3,061.21 per packinghouse and 4.9
cents per box. Management cost per box for each packinghouse
is shown in Figs. 75 and 76.

OFFICE COST
Office salaries constituted 76.2 percent of the total office cost
for the 1924-25 season, and 70.2 percent for 1925-26. Other
items of office cost were of little significance. Office cost per
box ranged from 0.04 to 5.9 cents, with an average of 1.9 cents
for 1924-25, and from 0.07 to 6.9 cents, with an average of 2.6
cents for 1925-26.

PACKINGHOUSE BUILDING COST
Packinghouse building cost averaged $2,475.35 for the season
1924-25, and $2,196.38 for 1925-26. This was 3.0 and 3.4 per-
cent, respectively, of the total cost. Packinghouse building cost
per box varied from 0.2 to 11 cents, with an average of 2.9
cents for 1924-25, and from 0.4 to 12.1 cents, with an average
of 3.5 cents for 1925-26.

LAND COST
Most of the packinghouses had little invested in land. A few
which were located on lots desirable for other business, had
quite heavy investments in land.










Florida Agricultural Experiment Station


S unar 30,000 30,001 60,000 60.001 90,000 90001 150,000 b r 150.000
Tolume Groups

Fig. 77.-Variation in light, water, power and house equipment cost per box
by volume groups for 99 packinghouses, season 1924-25.





.24
.23


..1
.10
.19

.14



.01




.0,
.01



.02

S under 30000 30.01 000 60,30 90 00 00.0 01 1. 0 I or I
Tolum. oups 150. 00
Fig. 78.-Variation in light, water, power and house equipment cost per
box by volume groups for 95 packinghouses, season 1925-26.







Bulletin 202, Cost of Handling Citrus Fruit


LIGHT, WATER, POWER AND HOUSE EQUIPMENT COST
Light, water, power and house equipment cost per packing-
house averaged $4,873.63, or 6 percent of the total cost for 1924-
25, and $4,189.37, or 6.5 percent, for 1925-26. Because of a
smaller volume for 1925-26 than for 1924-25, some of the firms
charged off a lower depreciation rate on house equipment, but
even then the depreciation cost per box was 0.3 cent greater
for 1925-26 than for the former season. Insurance on packing-
houses carried a high rate. A lower rate was obtained by some
because of the installation of sprinkler systems for fire preven-
tion. Sprinkler systems are rather expensive, as will be noted
in Table VIII.
Light, water and power were often obtained from the city in
which the packinghouse was located. A few packinghouses
owned their own light, water and power plants. One furnished
the town in which it was located with light and water, thereby
receiving a revenue from the power plant. Light, water, power
and house equipment cost per box varied from 2.3 to 31.9 cents,
with an average of 5.6 cents for the 1924-25 season, and from
1.3 to 25.8 cents, with an average of 6.7 cents for 1925-26. This
cost for each packinghouse is shown in Figs. 77 and 78.


Fig. 79.-Interior of packinghouse, showing receiving stacks, washer and
dryer.








Florida Agricultural Experiment Station


Fig. 80.-Interior of packinghouse, showing three sizers, grading belt (in
back), conveyor for packed fruit (see two packed boxes in front center),
and empty boxes in chutes convenient to packers.


Fig. 81.-Washing citrus fruit in a well equipped packinghouse.








Bulletin 202, Cost of Handling Citrus Fruit


Fig. 82.-Packing citrus fruit. Note (1) the windows which afford light and
ventilation, (2) the sizer and bins of fruit, (3) the bulge pack, and (4)
gloves on left hands of packers to prevent injury to fruit by fingernails.

FIELD EQUIPMENT COST
Some of the packinghouses had quite high field equipment cost,
while others had a very low cost. The range in field equipment
cost per box was from 0.2 to 10.5 cents, with an average of 2
cents for the 1924-25 season, and from 0.2 to 9.5 cents, with an
average of 1.9 cents for 1925-26.

MATERIAL COST
Material cost per box was 35.8 cents, or 37.9 percent of the
total cost for 1924-25, and 35.2 cents, or 34 percent of the total
cost for the 1925-26 season. There was not such a wide varia-
tion in material cost as in other items of cost. (Figs. 83 and 84.)
The variation in material cost was due largely to the amount
and quality of material used and the kind of fruit. When a large
percentage of the fruit was oranges and tangerines, and when
the boxes were lined with cardboard or heavy paper and straps
were used all around the box, the material cost per box showed
considerable increase over the average for all packinghouses.








Florida Agricultural Experiment Station


Volume Group.
Fig. 83.-Variation in material cost per box by volume groups for 99 pack-
inghouses, season 1924-25.


Volume Group 150.000
Fig. 84.-Variation in material cost per box by volume groups for 95
packinghouses, season 1925-26.

For 63 packinghouses for the 1924-25 season, and 53 for 1925-
26, it was possible to obtain the material cost for individual
items. The cost for items of material is shown in Table V.

PRE-COOLING COST

Eleven packinghouses for 1924-25 and 10 for 1925-26 had pre-
cooling plants. None of these firms pre-cooled all of their fruit,







Bulletin 202, Cost of Handling Citrus Fruit

TABLE V.-ANALYSIS OF MATERIAL COST.


63 Packinghouses,
~___________ Season 1924-25
Boxes per packinghouse 94,587
Average Cost
Item Per Packing-i Per Box
house
Crates ............................ $23,823.03 $0.25186
Paper .. ..................... ... 8,013.21 .08472
Labe:s and paste ............ 489.48 .00518
Nails, strips, straps, etc.1 1,590.34 .01681

Total material cost... $33,916.06 $0.35857


53 Packinghouses,
Season 1925-26
58,201
Average Cost
Per Packing- Per Box
house


$14,458.94
4,677.16
305.47
941.53


$20,383.10


$0.24843
.08036
.00525
.01618


$0.35022


and some pre-cooled only a small part of


it. The range in pre-


cooling cost per box for all fruit packed in packinghouses hav-
ing pre-cooling plants, was from 0.4 to 20.4 cents, with an aver-
age of 8.5 cents for 1924-25, and from 2.1 to 21.3 cents, with an
average of 11.3 cents, for 1925-26.

OTHER COST IN HOUSE

The items with their amounts included in other cost have
been shown in detail in appendix C, Table LI.

TOTAL HOUSE COST
All house costs per box averaged 74.3 cents, or 78.6 percent of
the total handling cost in 1924-25, and 80.3 cents, or 77.4 per-
cent of the total handling cost, in 1925-26.

PICKING COST
Picking was done usually under the direction of the manager
and field foreman. Only a few of the growers picked their own
fruit. The picking cost per box varied from 4.9 to 22.5 cents,
with an average of 10.2 cents for the 1924-25 season, and from
7 to 25.7 cents, with an average of 12.9 cents in 1925-26. Pick-
ing cost for each packinghouse may be observed in Figs. 85 and
86.


~









Florida Agricultural Experiment Station


Fig. 85.-Variation in picking cost per box by volume groups for 99 pack-
inghouses, season 1924-25.

40.25
i.as


.94
.23
.30









.O5
.19
.o18
.017
8
.13


.10

.08




.03


0 0.000 .001 90.000 90,001 150.000 0-e
To17e aomp. 150,000
Fig. 86.-Variation in picking cost per box by volume groups for 95 pack-
inghouses, season 1925-26.


Picking cost for grapefruit, oranges and tangerines per box is
indicated in Table VI. The cost of picking grapefruit was about
one-half the cost of picking oranges, and about one-third the
cost of picking tangerines. The most important factors affecting
picking cost per box are generally conceded to be kind of fruit,







Bulletin 202, Cost of Handling Citrus Fruit


age of trees, and yield. Data were not available that would
make possible an analysis of the relation of these factors to
cost of picking.

TABLE VI.-PICKING COST OF GRAPEFRUIT, ORANGES AND TANGERINES.


Grapefruit ............
Oranges .............. .....
Tangerines ...........

All fruit ............... .


99 Packinghouses,
Season 1924-25
Packed Cost Per
Boxes Packed Box

4,097,604 $0.07111
4,052,084 0.12258
416,541 0.20570


8,566,229


$0.10200


95 Packinghouses,
Season 1925-26
Packed Cost Per
Boxes Packed Box

2,666,619 $0.08729
2,976,889 0.15713
276,984 0.22307

5,920,492 $0.12875


HAULING COST

It was the usual practice for the packinghouses to hire the
hauling done. A number of packinghouses owned trucks which
were used for hauling, but only a few owned trucks enough to
do all of the hauling. Occasionally a grower hauled all or a part
of his own fruit. A few of the packinghouses had part of the
fruit hauled by rail, but this was only for long distances, usually
greater than 25 miles. The hauling cost per box varied from
4.1 to 23.6 cents, with an average of 10 cents in 1924-25, and
from 3.8 to 23.7 cents, with an average of 10.5 cents in 1925-26.

TOTAL HANDLING COST

The total handling cost per box varied from $0.738 to $1.496,
with an average of $0.946 in 1924-25 and from $0.708 to $1.588,
with an average of $1.037, for 1925-26. The total handling cost
for each packinghouse is shown in Figs. 87 and 88.

BULK FRUIT COST

Forty-four packinghouses for the 1924-25 season and 43 for
1925-26, handled bulk fruit. Bulk fruit cost amounted to 1.5
percent of the total cost of all fruit in 1924-25, and two percent
in 1925-26.


|










344 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station



1.45
1.40
1.25
1.20
1.15
1.10
1.05




1ao
.95
.90









.ao

.20
.80
.15



.0
.55


.50
.15
.20
.15


.10
Under 30,0 00 60,001 90,00M ,MO1 150,000 Over 150,000
Tolme Groupa
Fig. 87.-Variation in total cost per box by volume groups for 99 packing-
houses, season 1924-25. (X-pre-cooling packinghouses.)

1.bo
1.55
1.50

i.45

1.00
1.35
1.30
1.25


1.10
1.05




.85

.75
.T
G5


S-lu.e roup. 150.0000

Fig. 88.-Variation in total cost per box by volume groups for 95 packing-
houses, season 1925-26. (X=pre-cooling packinghouses.)








Bulletin 202, Cost of Handling Citrus Fruit 345

COST OF HANDLING CITRUS FRUIT IN DIFFERENT SECTIONS
OF THE STATE

The cost of handling citrus fruit in different geographic sec-
tions of the state is indicated in Table VII. The total cost per
box for the 1924-25 season was about the same in all sections
except the south-central section, where it was considerably lower
than in the other sections. The south-central section was second
lowest in cost in 1925-26. The floor-labor cost, which is probably
the best indication of the price of labor, shows little variation
except for the west-coast section, which is high both years. This
higher floor-labor cost on the west coast is probably not due to
a higher wage rate, but to other factors that influence cost, such
as volume per packinghouse, volume per grower, use of packing-
house, investment, etc.

TABLE VII.-CosT OF HANDLING CITRUS FRUIT IN DIFFERENT GEOGRAPHIC
SECTIONS OF FLORIDA.
Ninety-Nine Packinghouses-Season 1924-25
North South West East
CCentral central Coast Coast
Section Section Section Section

Number of packinghouses ............ 26 34 18 21

Packed boxes of grapefruit perl
packinghouse ............--............- 24,627 62,870 39,021 29,396
Packed boxes of oranges per pack-
inghouse ..........................---.... 70,606 35,028 25,904 26,623
Packed boxes of tangerines per
packinghouse ..-................. 5,453 4,779 2,558 3,154

Total boxes of packed fruit per
packinghouse .......................... 100,686 102,677 67,483 59,173
Boxes of bulk fruit per packing-
house ...----................................ .... 2,098 5,325 405 620

Total boxes of all fruit per pack-
inghouse ...- .. .......................... 1102,784 108,002 68,888 59,793

Cost of packed fruit per packing-]
house ---.... ........ ...... .. .... 97,888.43 $93,212.84 $65,698.30 $57,285.61
Cost of packed fruit per box.-..-..-. 0.97221 0.90782 0.97355 0.96810
Cost of bulk fruit per packing-
house ...--....... .......................... 1,066.92 2,467.911 245.66 297.43
Cost of bulk fruit per box........... 0.50854 0.46343 0.60657 0.47972
Cost of all fruit per packinghouse 98,955.35 95,680.75 65,943.96 57,583.04
Cost of all fruit per box ............... 0.96275 0.88592 0.95972 0.96304
Floor labor cost of packed fruit
per packinghouse ....................10,790.56 11,027.75 9,472.78 6,671.37
Floor labor cost of packed fruit
per box ..................................... 0.10717 0.10740( 0.14037 0.11274








Florida Agricultural Experiment Station


TABLE VII.-CosT OF HANDLING CITRUS FRUIT IN DIFFERENT GEOGRAPHIC
SECTIONS OF FLORIDA.-(Continued)
Ninety-five Packinghouses-Season 1925-26
North South West East
Central Central Coast Coast
Section Section Section Section

Number of packinghouses .............. 23 34 17 21

Packed boxes of grapefruit peri
packinghouse .........-.................. --17,340 34,310 29,265 28,751
Packed boxes of oranges per pack-
inghouse ......-............................... 44,115 32,516 17,534 26,602
Packed boxes of tangerines per
packinghouse ------....-...-.......-.. -- 3,007 2,544 2,036 4,128


Total boxes of packed fruit perl
packinghouse ................ ... ....
Boxes of bulk fruit per packing-I
house ...........--...................


Total boxes of all fruit per pack-
inghouse ...............-....................


Cost of packed fruit per packing-
house ..................................... ....
Cost of packed fruit per box........
Cost of bulk fruit per packing-
house ....... ... ............. ....
Cost of bulk fruit per box ...........
Cost of all fruit per packing-
house .............................. ..-- ..-
Cost of all fruit per box.......
Floor labor cost of packed fruit
per packinghouse ................
Floor labor cost of packed fruit
per box ...----................ ...-.. --.....


64,462

476



64,938


$70,604.22
1.09528

309.85
0.65095

70,914.07
1.09203

8,667.48

0.13446


69,370

4,731



74,101


48,835

194



49,029


$70,595.24 $52,074.86
1.01766 1.06634


2,683.30
0.56717

73,278.54
0.98889

8,679.25

0.12512


111.88
0.57670

52,186.74
1.06441

7,751.32

0.15872


59,481

2,115



61,596



$58,709.02
0.98704

1,202.12
0.56838

59,911.14
0.97265

8,263.92

0.13294


FACTORS INFLUENCING COST


The principal factors that influenced the cost of handling cit-
rus fruit were investment, volume per packinghouse, volume
per grower, size of packinghouse, use of packinghouse, percent-
age of total fruit in grapefruit, one-story versus two-story pack-
inghouse building, floor area of packinghouse per car capacity,
and per box handled, arrangement of packinghouse building and
house equipment, rented versus owned packinghouse, distance
fruit is hauled to packinghouse and year packinghouse began
business.







Bulletin 202, Cost of Handling Citrus Fruit


INVESTMENTS
INVESTMENT IN PACKINGHOUSES
The total investments by the operating firms are compiled in
Table VIII. For the 1924-25 season, 48 percent of the total in-
vestment was in owned packinghouse building and land, 30 per-
cent in owned house equipment and 7 percent in owned field
equipment. These items amounted to 85 percent of the total in-
vestment, and were the only items of investment common to all
firms, either by owning or by renting.
There was a wide variation in all of the items of investment.
The owned packinghouse buildings and land investment varied
from $444.10 to $91,368.67, with an average of $20,598.96. The
investment in owned house equipment varied from $1,126.80 to
$62,626.44, with an average of $12,274.75. The investment in
owned field equipment varied from $122.90 to $8,000, with an
average of $2,902.52. It will be observed from Table VIII that
many of the firms did not own the other items listed under in-
vestment. The total investment for firms that owned all of their
facilities for handling citrus fruit varied from $1,838.28 to
$222,538.36. The chief reasons for such wide variation in in-
vestment are variation in capacity and kind of houses and equip-
ment.
The items of interest, taxes, depreciation, insurance and re-
pairs amounted to $0.25741 for each dollar invested for 1924-25,
and $0.28212 for 1925-26. (See Table IX.) Depreciation and
repairs on house and field equipment were very high, the de-
preciation on house equipment being from 10 to 15 percent, and
for field equipment from 20 to 38 1/3 percent.
With such a wide variation in the investment for different
firms and such a high investment cost, firms should consider
carefully their needs before making purchases. It was evident
that many of the firms were burdened with plants that were
too large and expensive for the volume of fruit handled.

RELATION OF TYPE OF PACKINGHOUSE BUILDING TO
INVESTMENT IN BUILDING
Packinghouse buildings usually were constructed of wood,
brick, tile or galvanized iron, or a combination of these mate-
rials. Fifty-eight of the packinghouse buildings in 1924-25, and








Florida Agricultural Experiment Station


TABLE VIII.-INVESTMENT FOR FIRMS HANDLING CITRUS FRUIT.
Ninety-nine Packinghouses-Season 1924-25


Items




Packinghouse build-
ing and land........
Office building ........
Manager's house ....
Camp and other
buildings ..............
Packinghouse equip-
m ent .................-....
Field equipment........
Office equipment ...
Pre-cooling plant ....
Sprinkler system ....
Auto touring ........
Auto truck ...............
Side track ..............
Miscellaneous ..........


hMo
SE-
*^I
X"
.s-^"
oRi a


Total




$1,874,505.29
25,621.07
18,358.59

45,849.15

1,166,101.45
281,544.54
56,199.71
183,509.16
86,220.13
13,471.45
83,536.76
35,355.33
6,793.32


Average
Per Pack-
inghouse




S$18,934.40
258.80
185.44

463.12

11,778.80
2,843.88
567.67
1,853.63
870.91
136.08
843.81
S 357.12
S 68.62


Ninety-five Packinghouses-Season 1925-26.


Packinghouse build-
ing and land........
Office building ........
Manager's house ......
Camp and other
buildings ..............
Packinghouse equip-
ment ...............
Field equipment .....
Office equipment ....
Pre-cooling plant......
Sprinkler system ....
Auto touring ...........
Auto truck .............
Side track.........
Miscellaneous .......


$1,567,626.77 $16,501.32
27,628.70 290.83
15,497.86 163.14

41,358.30 435.35

961,337.15 10,119.34
235,578.15 2,479.77
49,254.17 518.46
172,975.661 1,820.80
79,463.051 836.45
10,784.401 113.52
40,999.851 431.58
28,638.49 301.46
1,542.44 16.24


48.493
.855
.479

1.279

29.738
7.287
1.524
5.351
2.458
.334
1.268
.886
.048


Percent
of Total U U
Invest- S, .
ment g
w 0 z;a~


48.348
.661
.474

1.182

30.077
7.262
1.450
4.733
2.224
.347
2.155
.912
.175


TABLE IX.-ANNUAL COST OF INVESTMENT PER DOLLAR INVESTED.
Cost for Each Dollar Invested
Item 1924-25 1925-26

Packinghouse building and land........ $0.14822 $0.15748

Packinghouse equipment ................... .36319 .39914

Field equipment .................................. .57726 .46293

Weighted average .......................... $0.25741 $0.28212


$20,598.96
3,660.15
3,059.76

2,865.57

12,274.75
2,902.52
769.86
16,682.65
9,580.01
614.50
3,093.95
1,071.37
849.16



$19,843.38
3,946.96
3,099.57

2,954.16

11,049.85
2,533.10
746.28
19,219.52
9,932.88
567.60
1,863.63
1,022.80
220.35











TABLE X.-RELATION OF TYPE OF PACKINGHOUSE BUILDING TO INVESTMENT PER CAR CAPACITY IN PACKINGHOUSE BUILDING.


I
Year of Construction
Groups ........... ....


Fifty-eight Packinghouse Buildings,
Season 1924-25

1906-19 1920-24


Investment
Number of Per Car Number of
Type of Building Buildings Capacity Buildings
in Building


Tile and brick ............... 9 $6,063.05 6

Galvanized iron .................. 14 2,934.93 12

W ood .................................... 10 2,136.60 7

Total and weighted av-
erage .......... ....... 33 $3,546.14 25


Forty-e'ght Packinghouse Buildings,
Season 1925-26


1906-19


Investment
Per Car Number of
Capacity Buildings
in Building


$5,236.28 6

3,466.44 8

4,064.19 6


$4.058.57 20


Investment
Per Car
Capacity
in Building


$5,187.36

3,348.12
1,674.65


$3,397.85


1920-25

Investment
Number of Per Car
Buildings Capacity
in Building


$5,488.17

2,794.67

3,689.40


$3,563.58







Florida Agricultural Experiment Station


48 in 1925-26 were definitely of one of these types. Owing to the
small number of the brick and tile packinghouse buildings and
the similarity of these materials, they were placed in one group.
The investment per car capacity for these three classes is indi-
cated in Table X. The tile and brick packinghouse buildings that
were constructed prior to 1919 had about twice as much invested
per car capacity as either of the other types of buildings. Such
great variation did not occur in packinghouse buildings that
were constructed after 1920. Prior to 1920, galvanized iron
packinghouse buildings cost more per car capacity than the
wood. The reverse was the case for those firms that built dur-
ing or after 1920. (Table X.)
The packinghouse building cost was about one cent per box
greater for the brick and tile buildings than for either the wood
or the galvanized iron.

RELATION OF INVESTMENT PER BOX TO COSTS

The total investment per box averaged 53 cents in 1924-25
and 71 cents in 1925-26 for those firms that owned their pack-
inghouse building, house equipment and field equipment and that
did not have any pre-cboling equipment. In 1924-25, the invest-
ment per box varied from $0.15 to $1.43, and in 1925-26 from
$0.10 to $2.45.
The average handling cost for the 1924-25 season for those
firms that had less than 30 cents invested per box was $0.86 per
box, while firms with an investment of over 75 cents per box
had a cost of $1.05. For 1925-26, for the same investment
groups, the costs were $0.93 and $1.11 respectively. (Table XI.)
In general, high investment per box was accompanied by high
handling cost, the coefficient of correlation for these two factors
being, r= + 0.70261 0.03753 for 1924-25, and for 1925-26,
r = + 0.60576 0.05083.*
The relation of investment per box to handling cost per box
is shown graphically in Figs. 89 and 90. Only 10 of the firms
for the 1924-25 season and nine for 1925-26 had costs above the
average when the investment was below the average, while 33
of the firms for the 1924-25 season and 34 for 1925-26 had costs
below the average. For those firms with an investment above
*Correlations with their further treatment are given in appendix A.








Bulletin 202, Cost of Handling Citrus Fruit


TABLE XI.-RELATION OF INVESTMENT PER BOX TO COST OF HANDLING
CITRUS FRUIT.
Eighty-two Packinghouses,* Season 1924-25

Average Cost of Packed Fruit
Number . .
Number of Packed
Investment Groups acking- Boxes er Packing
Packing- Boxes Per Packing-
houses Per Pack- house Per Box
inghouse

$0.15 .30 per box ....... 13 116,275 $99,985.68 $0.85991
.31 .45 per box........ 22 96,239 84,530.74 .87834
.46 .60 per box........ 20 91,196 84,035.36 .92148
.61 .75 per box....... 15 58,500 58,272.14 .99610
.76 -1.43 per box....... 12 44,622 i 46,777.17 1.04830


Total and average .......... 82 1 83,728 $76,531.77 $0.91045
Seventy Packinghouses,* Season 1925-26

$0.10 .30 per box ....... 13 82,370 $76,340.52 $0.92680
.31 .45 per box....... 14 59,078 59,255.52 1.00300
.46 .60 per box........ 11 51,325 50,755.41 .98890
.61 .75 per box....... 8 91,684 95,485.67 1.04146
.76 -2.45 per box....... 24 42,627 47,124.75 1.10551

Total and average ......... 70 60,271 $61,074.18 $1.01333

*Excludes all firms renting packing buildings or equipment, or field
equipment, or operating pre-cooling plants.

the average, only seven in 1924-25 and nine in 1925-26 had cost
of less than the average, while 24 firms in 1924-25 and 18 in
1925-26 had costs above the average.
On the average, for each 10 cents increase in investment per
box, there was an increase in cost per box of approximately 3.8
cents for the 1924-25 season and 2.2 cents for 1925-26.
The data do not indicate that those firms with a high invest-
ment per box had any more labor-saving machinery than those
with a low investment per box. In fact, for the 1924-25 season
the firms with an investment of less than 45 cents per box had
a floor labor cost of about 2 cents less per box than those firms








352 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station

with an investment of above 60 cents per box. There was not so
much difference in 1925-26, but there was a slight difference in
favor of the low investment packinghouse. (Table XII.)

TABLE XII.-RELATION OF INVESTMENT PER BOX TO FLOOR LABOR COST.
Eighty-two Packinghouses-Season 1924-25
Average Floor Labor Cost
Number
Number of Packed P
Investment Groups Pacin- Packed
Investment Groups Packing- Boxes Per Per Packing-
houses Packing- house Per Box
house

$0.15 .30 ................ 13 116,275 $12,587.06 $0.10825
.31 .45 ...-..-......... 22 96,239 10,321.16 .10724
.46 .60 ................ 20 91,196 10,371.82 .11373
.61 .75 ................ 15 58,500 7,401.13 .12652
.76 -1.43 ................ 12 44,622 5,477.48 .12275

Total and average .. 82 83,728 $ 9,449.76 $0.11286

Seventy Packinghouses-Season 1925-26

$0.10 .30 .....------ 13 82,370 $11,103.11 $0.13480
.31 .45 ............... 14 59,078 7,598.36 .12862
.46 .60 ............... 11 51,325 6,611.37 .12881
.61 .75 ............... 8 91,684 12,610.71 .13754
.76 -2.45 ............ 24 42,627 5,732.11 .13447

Total and average ... 70 60,271 $ 8,027.13 $0.13522
1 i _

The effect that investment per box has on the cost of principal
investment items (packinghouse building, house equipment and
field equipment) is shown in Table XIII. As the investment per
box increased, the cost for these items increased, being more
than twice as high in the groups having the highest investment
per box as in those with the smallest investment per box.
There was less variation in field equipment than in the pack-
inghouse building or the house equipment. This is probably be-
cause it is not difficult for a firm to adjust its field equipment





TABLE XIII.-RELATION OF INVESTMENT PER BOX TO PACKINGHOUSE BUILDING; LIGHT, WATER, POWER AND HOUSE EQUIP-
MENT; AND FIELD EQUIPMENT.
Eighty-two Packinghouses-Season 1924-25
Investment groups ..................... $0.15 .30 .31 .45 .46 .60 .61 .75 .76 1.43
Number of packinghouses .......... 13 I 22 2 0 15 | 12 t
Number packed boxes per pack- 44,2
inghouse ............. .......... 116,2751 96,239 91,136 58,500 44,622
Average Cost Average Cost Average Cost Average Cost Average Cost "
Per Per Per Per Per Per Per Per Per Per
Items Packing- Box Packing- Box Packing Box Packing- Box Packing- Box
house house house house house
Packinghouse building cost ...... $2,210.88 $0.01901 $2,370.88 $0.02464 $ 3,218.891$0.03529 $ 2,157.761$0.036881$2,465.171 $0.05524 o
Light, water, power and house 1,05
equipment cost .............. ..... 4,565.07 .03926 4,663.29 .04845 4,908.65 .02295 1,228.4 .02100 1,054.85 02364
Field equipment cost .............--.. 1,740.18 .01497 1,552.83 .01613 2,092.08 .05382 4,613.33 .07886 3,991.37 .08945
Total .................. ... -.-$8,516.131$0.07324 $8,587.001$0.08922)$10,219.621$0.112061$ 7,999.521$0.136741$7,511.391 $0.16833
Seventy Packinghouses-Season 1925-26
Investment groups ..................... $0.10 .30 .31 .45 | .46 .60 .61 --- .75 .76 2.45
Number of packinghouses .......... 13 I 14 I 11 I I I 8 1 24 _
Number packed boxes per pack- I i
inghouse .-----........---------- 82,370 I I 59,078 51,325 I 91,684 42,627
Average Cost Average Cost Average Cost I Average Cost Average Cost
Per Per Per Per Per Per Per Per Per Per
Items Packing. Box Packing- Box Packing- Box Packing Box Packing- Box
house house house house
Packinghouse building cost ..-..... $1,577.55 $0.01915 $1,830.77 $0.03099 $ 1,547.02 $0.03014 $ 4,182.181$0.04562 $2,756.861 $0.06467
Light, water, power and house
equipment cost .................. 3,222.85 .03913 3,200.29 .05417 3,634.57 07082 7,829.31 .08539 4,390.90 .10301
Field equipment cost .............. 1,244.60 .01511 1,083.77 .01834 1,343.36 .02617 1,652.35 .01802 914.85 .02146
Total ....................---- .....--------- --. $6,045.00|$0.073391$6,114.831$0.103501$ 6,524.951 $0.127131$13,663.84 $0.14903 $8,062.611 $0.18914








Florida Agricultural Experiment Station


1.45
1.40 8
1.35 .......... ....
1.30
1.25 i
1.20
1.-15

* L05

S.95
S.90

go # 4 #
.80

.70

0.10 .20 .30 .40 .50 .80 .70 .80 .90 1.00 1.10 1.20 1.30 1.40
Investment per packed box
Fig. 89.-Relation of investment per packed box to cost per box for 82
packinghouses, season 1924-25. Firms renting buildings and equipment
or operating pre-cooling plants not included.

to its volume in a few years. A mistake in the investment in
house equipment or building cannot be adjusted readily to vol-
ume.
VOLUME AND INVESTMENT

The effect that investment has on handling cost for firms with
practically the same volume but different investments, is shown
in Table XIV. In 1924-25, those packinghouses with a volume
of less than 60,000 boxes and an investment of $25,000 or less,
had a cost of 24 cents per box less than those packinghouses in
the same volume group but with an investment of more than
$40,000. In 1925-26, the firms having a volume of less than
32,000 boxes and an investment of $25,000 or less had cost of
30 cents per box less than those firms in the same group but
with an investment of more than $40,000. In both years, the
number of firms included in the highest investment group was
too small to justify confidence in the average cost for this group.
For those firms in the highest volume groups, the cost per box
was lowest for both seasons in the investment group of from
$25,000.01 to $40,000.00. This would seem to indicate that an
investment of less than $25,000 was not sufficient to provide










1.655


1.45 I|I
i.40

1.30
1.25
1.20 .. .. C
1.15
1.10
o 1.05
1.DO

.95
.90.
.85
.80
.75
.70 11
.05
01 .,11 L W 7 U 5 1.00 2.00 2.10 2.20 2.10 :.40 2 .5

Investment per packed box
Fig. 90.-Relation of investment per packed box to cost per box for 70 packinghouses, season 1925-26. Firms renting
building and equipment or operating pre-cooling plants not included.










TABLE XIV.-RELATION OF VOLUME AND INV ESTMENT TO COST OF HANDLING CITRUS FRUIT.
Ninety-nine Packinghouses-Season 1924-25
Volume groups (packed boxes)l 6,801 60,000 1 60,001 110,000 110,001 -


Investment groups ........-..........


Number of packinghouses........

Packed boxes per packing-
house ....... ... ..............

Total investment .................
Cost per packinghouse..............
Cost per box ........ ................


$25,000.00 $25,000.01-
and under 40,000.00


30


29,688


35,695


$13,265.16 $32,209.08
29,994.55 38,946.49
1.01033 1.09109


$40,000.01
and over


48,982

$48,440.00
61,132.30
1.24806


$25,000.00 $25,000.01- $40,000.01
and under 40,000.00 and over

2 10 18


79,928 80,097 82,548

$20,372.091$32,166.80 $54,413.73
67,780.27 69,848.42 79,301.82
0.84802 0.87205 0.96068


277,612


$25,000.00 $25,000.01- $40,000.01
and under 40,000.00 and over

4 9 17


125,466 129,627 188,975

$12,919.96 $33,716.98 $85,993.10
118,060.03 113,903.18 179,195.94
0.94097 0.87870 0.94825


Ninety-five Packinghouses-Season 1925-26


Volume groups (packed boxes) 10,833 32,000 32,001 60,000 60,001 272,522

Investment groups .................25,000.00 $25,000.01- $40,000.01 $25,000.00 $25,000.01-$40,000.01 $25,000.00 $25,000.01- $40,000.01
and under 40,000.00 and over and under 40,000.00 and over and under 40,000.00 and over
Number ofpackinghouses........ 19 7 3 16 I 7 6 I 8 9 20

Packed boxes per packing-
house .......................... 23,535 25,214 25,684 40,390 45,858 41,575 89,746 94,312 121,816

Total investment ....--- ......$10,314.51I$30,415.56 $48,401.18 $11,557.32J$34,113.11 $54,945.33$16,372.06$34,581.52 $78,582.53

Cost per packinghouse............26,032.12 31,162.62 36,259.81 41,186.77 51,391.32 50,076.411 88,649.96 88,551.23 124,771.13

Cost per box ........ 1.10610 1.23596 1.41177 1.01973 1.12066 1.20448 0.98779 0.93892 1.02426


I I I


-------


. r


,


f







Bulletin 202, Cost of Handling Citrus Fruit


adequate buildings and equipment for a volume of 90,000 or
more boxes.
Firms that had similar volumes of fruit but unequal invest-
ments in packinghouse buildings had considerable variation in
packinghouse building cost. In 1924-25, those firms having a
volume of less than 60,000 boxes and an investment in the pack-
inghouse building averaging $4,757.15, had a packinghouse
building cost per box of about one-half of that of the firms with
approximately the same volume but with an average investment
of $14,472.22. In 1925-26, of the firms with a volume of less
than 32,000 boxes, the packinghouse building cost per box was
about one-half as much for firms with an average investment of
$5,996.20 as for the firms with an investment in packinghouse
building of $15,652.09. (Table XV.)
In all groups in both years, the packinghouse building cost
decreased as the volume increased, and in every group except
one. the packinghouse building cost increased as the investment
in the packinghouse building increased. The effect of invest-
ment in packinghouse buildings on packinghouse building cost
per box is greater than is indicated in the table because in most
cases the more expensive packinghouse had a higher average
volume although within the limits of the volume group.

VOLUME

The volume of individual packinghouses ranged from 6,801
to 277,612 packed boxes for the 1924-25 season, and from 10,833
to 272,522 boxes for 1925-26. The average volume per packing-
house for 1924-25 was 86,527 boxes, and 62,321 boxes for 1925-
26. Thirty-nine firms in 1924-25 and 58 in 1925-26 had volumes
of less than 60,000 boxes.

RELATION OF VOLUME TO COST

It will be observed in Table XVI for 1924-25 and Table XVII
for 1925-26, that those packinghouses in the lowest volume
group had a cost per box of about 14 cents in 1924-25 and 33
cents in 1925-26 greater than those in the highest volume group.
The items of cost that were affected most by volume were man-
agement; light, water, power and house equipment; and pack-
inghouse building and land. Other items whose costs were influ-
enced by volume were floor labor and field equipment. Items








TABLE XV.-RELATION OF VOLUME AND INVESTMENT IN PACKINGHOUSE BUILDING TO PACKING HOUSE BUILDING COST.
Ninety Packinghouses-Season 1924-25.
Volume groups (packed boxes)l 6,801 60,000 1 60,001 110,000 I 110,001 277,612
Investment in packinghouse \$10,000.00 $10,000.01- $20,000.01 $10,000.00 $10,000.01- $20,000.01 $10,000.00 $10,000.01- $20,000.01
building groups ................ and under 20,000.00 and over and under! 20,000.00 and over and under 20,000.00 and over
Number of packinghouses........ 23 8 2 6 14 10 3 14 10
Number of packed boxes per
packinghouse ...................... 28,603 32,978 52,992 76,538 77,228 90,627 125,239 147,179 206,225
Investment in packinghouse I
building .....................-.....- $ 4,757.15 $14,472.22 $22,235.26 $ 7,967.571$15,551.20 $27,627.91 $ 5,460.88 $15,069.69 $41,702.99
Investment in packinghouse
building per box ................. 0.16632 0.43884 0.41960 0.10410 0.20137 0.30485 0.04360 0.10239 0.20222
Packinghouse building cost
per packinghouse ............... 807.67 2,087.23 3,005.30 1,636.55 2,424.92 3,541.3 1,232.51 3,284.31 6,436.03
Packinghouse building cost
per box .............................. 0.02824 0.06329 0.05671 0.02138 0.03140 0.03908 0.00984 0.02232 0.03121


Volume groups (packed boxes)!
Investment in packinghouse $
building groups ..................a
Number of packinghouses........
Number of packed boxes per
packinghouse ..... ......... .........
Investment in packinghouse
building ................................
Investment in packinghouse
building per box ...............
Packinghouse building cost
per packinghouse ...............
Packinghouse building cost
per box .................................


Seventy-eight Packinghouses-Season 1925-26.


10,000.00 $10,000.01-
lnd under 20,000.00
14 6
23,009 28,489


5,996.20
0.26060

945.67
0.04110


$15,652.09
0.54941

2,083.20
0.07312


10,833 32,000


I 32,001 60,000


1 60,001 272,522


$20,000.01 $10,000.00!$10,000.01-!$20,000.01 $10,000.00 $10,000.01- $20,000.01
and over and under[ 20,000.00 and over land under 20,000.00 and over
1 10 8 5 6 15 13
21,444 40,023 44,055 42,990 83,500 108,121 125,423

$25,501.16 $ 6,349.73l$14,928.22 $24,342.16 $ 6,874.20 $15,581.60 $35,287.17
1.18920 0.15865 0.33885 0.56623 0.08233 0.14411 0.28135
2,593.56 1,268.24j 2,629.38 3,196.03 1,475.90 2,854.44 5,012.52

0.12095 0.03169 0.05968 0.07434 0.01768 0.02640 0.03996




TABLE XVI.-RELATION OF VOLUME TO COST OF HANDLING CITRUS FRUIT, FOR 99 PACKINGHOUSES, SEASON 1924-25.
Packed boxes per packing-
house ......... .......... 6,801 24,250 24,251 60,000 60,001 110,000 110,001 181,000 181,001 277,612
Number of packinghouses..l 10 .29 30- 20 10
Packed boxes of grapefruit
per packinghouse ........ 5,918 12,439 44,933 66,301 100,368
Packed boxes of oranges
per packinghouse ........ 10,806 22,072 33,365 63,190 103,918
Packed boxes of tangerines 3
per packinghouse ........ 860 2,131 3,258 5,919 13,001
Total boxes of packed
fruit per packinghouse 17,584 36,642 81,556 135,410 217,287
Bulk boxes per packing- t
house ....................... 593 2,193 _2,818 4,000 2,183
Total boxes all fruit per
packinghouse ............... 18,177 38,835 84,374 139,410 219,470
Average Cost Average Cost Average Cost Average Cost Average Cost
Items Per Pack- Per Per Pack- Per Per Pack- Per Per Pack- Per Per Pack- Per
Singhouse Box Iinghouse Box inghouse Box inghouse Box inghouse Box
Floor labor ............................ $ 2,665.26 $0.15158 $ 4,647.15 $0.126831$ 9,167.99 $0.11241 $ 14,277.68 $0.10544 $ 24,409.34 $0.11234
Packing labor ..................... 1,315.50 .07481 2,743.25 .07487 5,178.26 .06349 8,901.32 .06574 14,220.54 .06543
Management ... ..... 1,505.37 .08561 2,009.43 .05484 3,402.25 .04172 5,464.08 .04035 6,881.12 .03167
Office ................ .......... 243.72 .01386 662.59 .01808 1,614.36 .01979 2,769.50 .02045 3,986.72 .01835 Z2
Packinghouse building and .06351
land e ................ 1,116.85 .06351 1,271.95 .03471 3,130.25 .03838 3,655.53 .0270 6,877.46 .03166
Light, water, power and
house equipment ......... 2,026.99 .11527 2,915.07 .07956 4,626.19 .05672 6,639.52 .04903 10,610.66 .04883 -
Field equipment .......-.. .... 775.49 .04410 874.79 .02387 1,671.31 .02049 2,562.93 .01893 3,281.74 .01510
Material ....................... 6,075.89 .34554 13,383.461 .36525 28,739.93 .35240 48,449.00 .35779 78,916.59 .36319
Pre-cooling .....................-...-- .....----399.63! .01091 554.10 .00680 680.81 .00503 7,768.10 .03575
Other cost in house............. 136.63 .00777 1,046.671 .02856] 1,901.23 .02331 2,711.38 .02002 4,781.83 .02201
Total house cost for
packed fruit ................. $15,861.70 $0.90205 $29,953.99 $0.81747 $59,985.87 1$0.735511$ 96,111.75 $0.70978 $161,734.10 $0.74433
Picking ........-.............-- --. 1,979.02 .11255 3,984.80 .1087 7,340.70 .09001 13,054.90 .09641 25,706.51 .11831
Hauling .................................. 1,701.39 .096761 3,968.29 .10832 8,056.01 .09878 12,149.77 .08973 24,296.51 .11182
Total handling cost forl 1
packed fruit .........---. $19,542.11 $1.11136 $37,907.08 $1.03453 $75,382.58$0.92430 $121,316.42 $0.89592 $211,737.12 $0.97446
Bulk fruit cost .................... 455.42 .76799 1,251.45 .570661 1,272.18 .45145 1,640.19 .41005 1,050.14 .48105
Total handling cost for I
all fruit .......................... $19,997.531 $1.09559 $39,158.53 $1.00833 $76,654.761$0.90851 $122,956.611 $0.88198 $212,787.26 $0.96955





TABLE XVII.-RELATION OF VOLUME TO COST OF HANDLING CITRUS FRUIT, FOR 95 PACKINGHOUSES, SEASON 1925-26.
Packed boxes per packing-
house --......-........-...- .... 10,833 22,500 22,501 32,000 32,001 60,000 60,001 95,500 95,501 272,522
Number of packinghouses_. 11 18 29 20 17 c
Packed boxes of grapefruit 0
per packinghouse ...... 6,704 10,871 19,630 32,273 69,557
Packed boxes of oranges
per packinghouse ....... 9,704 15,453 20,539 41,413 68,713
Packed boxes of tangerines
per packinghouse ....... 1,379 1,734 1,787 3,533 6,360
Total boxes of packed d'
fruit per packinghouse 17,787 28,058 41,956 77,219 144,630
Bulk boxes per packing-
house ..........---- ........ 390 930 1,214 4,778 3,983
Total boxes of all fruit
per packinghouse ....... 18,177 28,988 43,170 81,997 148,613
Average Cost Average Cost Average Cost Average Cost Average Cost
Items 1Per Pack- Per Per Pack-I Per Per Pack- Per Per Pack- Per Per Pack- IPer
i__ nghouse Box inghouse Box inghouse Box inghouse Box inghouse Box
Floor labor ......... .....$...... 2,852.20 $0.16035 $ 4,317.681$0.15389 $ 6,175.65 $0.14719 $ 9,904.86 $0.12827 $ 18,439.86 $0.12750
Packing labor .................] 1,279.13 .07191 2,206.75 .07865 3,066.35 .07309 5,285.72 .06845 9,787.00 .06767
Management .................. 2,117.36 .11904 1,614.41 .05754 2,401.20 .05723 4,181.74 .05415 5,011.46 .03465
Office ...................................... 685.91 .03856 512.74 .01828 1,090.90 .02600 2,248.41 .02912 3,725.10 .02576
Packinghouse building and I
land ..--.................... 1,061.04 .05965 1,302.90 .04643 2,183.24 .05203 2,777.04 .03597 4,921.55 .03402
Light, water, power and
house equipment ........ 2,836.41 .15947 2,358.86 .08407 3,191.93 .07608 4,448.27 .05761 8,399.95 .05808
Field equipment ........... 896.83 .05042 605.82 .02159 819.14 .01952 1,393.60 .01804 2,418.95 .01673
Material ................. 6,323.60 .35552 10,268.90 .36599 15,057.36 .35889 26,480.41 .34293 50,930.84 .35228
Pre-cooling ......... .......... 145.34 .00817 622.60 .02219 247.91 .00591 994.01 .01287 4,816.28 .03330
Other cost in house.......... 606.11 .03408 708.021 .02523 1,024.89 .02443 1,761.29 .02281 3,038.37 .02101 .
Total house cost for 5
packed fruit ........... $18,803.93 $1.05717 $24,518.681$0.87386 $35,258.57 $0.84037 $ 59,475.35 $0.77022 $111,509.36 $0.77100
Picking ....... ...................I 2,648.89 .14892 3,785.01 .13490 5,614.80 .13383 10,253.10 .13278 17,474.94 .12083
Hauling .. .... ...... 2,003.31 .11263 3,002.45 .10701 4,615.80 .11001 8,477.66 .10979 14,395.76 .09953
Total handling cost for
packed fruit -...........-.. $23,456.13 $1.31872 $31,306.141$1.11577 $45,489.17 $1.08421 $ 78,206.11 $1.01279 $143,380.06 $0.99136
Bulk fruit cost ............... 323.29 .82895 554.52] .59626 716.63 .59030 2,672.34 .55930 2,219.92 .55735

all fruit ......................... $23,779.42 $1.30821 $31,860.66 $1.09910 $46,205.80 $1.07032 $ 80,878.45 $0.98636$145,599.98 $0.97973







Bulletin 202, Cost of Handling Citrus Fruit


whose cost were affected little, if any, by volume were packing
labor, general office, material, picking and hauling.
In 1924-25, those firms with a volume averaging only 17,584
boxes had an average cost per box of approximately 4 cents for
floor labor; 5 cents for management; 3 cents for packinghouse
building; 7 cents for light, water, power and house equipment;
and 3 cents for field equipment, higher than those firms with an
average volume of 217,287 boxes. In 1925-26, for those firms
which had an average volume of only 17,787 boxes, the average
cost per box was 3 cents for floor labor; 8 cents for manage-
ment; 3 cents for packinghouse building; 10 cents for light, wa-
ter, power and house equipment; and 3 cents for field equipment,
more than those firms that had an average volume of 144,630
boxes.
When volume was correlated with cost per box for 88 pack-
inghouses for the 1924-25 season, and 85 for 1925-26, without
pre-cooling, the coefficients were 0.45612 0.05683 and
0.42562 0.06004, respectively.
Of 60 packinghouses for the 1924-25 season, and 37 for 1925-
26 with a volume of over 60,000 boxes, only 37 percent in 1924-
25 and 35 percent in 1925-26 had floor labor cost greater than
the average. It will be noted in figures 73 and 74 that the varia-
tion in floor labor cost was considerably less in the large volume
groups than in the small volume groups. Although the floor
labor force can be adjusted approximately to the volume of fruit
handled, the houses with a large volume were able to use this
labor more efficiently. This is increased specialization made pos-
sible by large volume.
Of the 60 packinghouses for the 1924-25 season, and 37 for
1925-26, that had a volume of more than 60,000 boxes, only 33.3
percent in 1924-25 and 32.4 percent in 1925-26 had a total cost
per packed box above the average. Of those packinghouses with
60,000 packed boxes or less, 65 percent for the 1924-25 season
and 72.4 percent for 1925-26 had a total cost above the average.
The range in management cost was much greater in the pack-
inghouses with small volume than for large volume. (Figs. 75
and 76.)
Variation in light, water, power and house equipment cost by
volume groups is shown in Figs. 77 and 78. For each year, as
the volume increased, there was less variation in cost.







Florida Agricultural Experiment Station


The variation in total handling cost by volume groups, for
all packinghouses, is shown in Figs. 87 and 88. The effect of
volume on total handling cost per box for packinghouses without
pre-cooling plants is shown by scatter charts. (Fig. 91 for 1924-
25 and Fig. 92 for 1925-26.) Of the 39 firms for the 1924-25
season that had a volume above the average, only eight had cost
per box above the average, while 31 had cost below the average.
Of the 31 firms in 1925-26 that had a volume above the average,
four had cost per box above the average, while 27 had cost be-
low the average. A few of the firms in the small volume groups
were able to handle fruit at a cost per box about as low as any
of the firms in the large volume groups, but the percentage of
firms having cost above the average was much greater in the
small volume groups than in the large volume groups.

$1.50
1.45
1.35
1.30
1.25
1.20
1: 15
S1.10I


t 95
.o
o .90
.gO
.75
.70... .. .,1,

S o o 0 1oo 120 1i0 160 180 200 220 24 260 280
Thousands of Boxes
Fig. 91.-Relation of volume to cost per box for 88 packinghouses, season
1924-25. Firms operating pre-cooling plants not included.

For the firms without pre-cooling systems, the cost decreased
on the average 1.1 cents per box in 1924-25, and 1.8 cents per
box in 1925-26, for each increase in volume of 10,000 boxes. The
line in figures 91 and 92 represents this trend.
The effect of volume on house labor and management cost is
shown in greater detail in Tables XVIII and XIX. Those items
of house labor cost per box that were influenced by volume were





TABLE XVIII.-RELATION OF VOLUME TO PACKINGHOUSE LABOR COST.
Ninety-nine Packinghouses-Season 1924-25
Boxes per packinghouse .......... 6,801 24,250 | 24,451 60,0001 60,001 110,000 110,001 181,000 181,001 277,612
Number of packinghouses ........ 10 29 30 20 10
Number of packed boxes .......... 17,584 36,642 81,556 135,410 217,287
SAverage Cost [ Average Cost | Average Cost Average Cost I Average Cost
Per Per Per I Per Per
Items Packing- Per Packing- Per Packing- Per Packing- Per Packing- Per
house Box house Box house Box house Box house Box
Foreman's salary ..-----........-- $ 583.75 0.03320$ 716.441$0.01955 $ 1,245.88 $0.01528 $ 1,947.09 $0.01438 $ 2,550.35 $0.01174
Grading ..........-........ .-.-.--..- 429.97 .02445 799.75 .02182 1,587.28 .01946 2,348.63 .01734 4,086.59 .01881
Packing ..........................- ..... 1,315.50 .07481 2,743.25 .07487 5,178.26 .06349 8,901.32 .06574 14,220.54 .06545
Box Making ........................ 367.83 .02092 510.08 .01392 876.67 .01075 1,208.84 .00893 1,993.40 .00917
Nailing tops on ................. 225.32 .01281 391.17 .01068 780.26 .00956 1,198.86 .00885 2,197.44 .01011
Other house labor ........ ..... 1,058.40 .06019 2,229.71 .06085 4,677.89 .05736 7,574.26 .05594 13,581.56 .06250
Total ....................................... $3,980.77I$0.22638I$7,390.40I$0.20169$14,346.24$0.17590|$23,179.00|$0.17118$38,629.881 $0.17778
Ninety-five Packinghouses-Season 1925-26


Boxes per packinghouse ............ 10,833 21,500
Number of packinghouses.... .... 11
Number of packed boxes .......... 17,787
Average Cost


21,501 36,7001
28
30,349___
Average Cost


36,701 60,000


Average Cost


IPer Per Per
Items Packinack ing- acking- Per Packing- Per
I house Box house Box house Box
Foreman's salary .................... $ 541.13 $0.03042 $ 745.74 $0.02457 $ 1,316.58 $0.028
Grading ............- .... 458.69 .02579 827.72 .02727 1,386.48 .030.
Packing ..-- ---- -... .... 1,279.13 .07191 2,325.50 .07663 3,343.77 .072
Box Making ..-...... .... 239.60 .01347 463.31 .01527 696.73 .015
Nailing tops on ......................... 194.64 .01094 397.74 .01311 523.44 .011
Other house labor ................... 1,418.14 .07973 2,272.76 .07489 2,656.20 .057
Total ............ ........... ......... $4,131.33$0.23226$7,032.77$0.23174!$ 9,923.201$0.216:


60,001 95,500 1 95,501 272,522


20
77,219
Average Cost
Per
Packing- Per
house Box


17
S144,6301
Average Cost
Per
Packing- Per
house Box


69 $ 1,290.79 $0.01672 $ 1,480.92 $0.01024
21 1,507.10 .01952 2,760.18 .01908
86 5,285.72 .06845 9,787.00 .06767
18 800.20 .01036 1,393.40 .00963
41 801.96 .01039 1,563.75 .01081
88 5,504.80 .07129 11,241.60 .07773
231$15,190.57]$0.19673l$28,226.851 $0.19516


--------------- ----









TABLE XIX.-RELATION OF VOLUME TO MANAGEMENT COST.
Ninety-nine Packinghouses-Season 1924-25


Boxes per packinghouse .......... 6,8
Number of packinghouses ........
Number of boxes per packing-
house ....... ... ............. 22
A

Items Pac
Sho
Manager's salary ..... ....... 1,4
Railroad and travel expense .. 2
Privileges -...........- ....-.. .... -- ......
Other management costs .........
Total ................. .......... ..... $1,8


01 29,545 29,546 60,7501 60,751 85,000 85,001 137,000 137,001 -
20 20 20 20 1 19
,479 42,477 1 73,920 1112,345 186,411
average Cost Average Cost I Average Cost I Average Cost Average
'er Per Per Per I Per
king- Per Packing- Per Packing- Per Packing- Per Packing-
use Box house Box house Box house Box house
75.92 $0.06566 $1,658.311$0.039041$ 2,659.64 $0.03598 $ 3,883.55 $0.034571$ 4,226.95(
29.10 .01019 313.02 .00737 312.39 .00423 504.53 .00449 654.951
8.28 .00037 14.40 .00034 3.75 .00005 80.88 .00072 49.74|
91.71 .00408 26.511 .00062 40.89 .00055 51.12 .00045 1,759.24
05.01$0.080301$2,012.241$0.047371$ 3,016.671$0.040811$ 4,520.08 $0.04023 $ 6,690.881


Ninety-five Packinghouses-Season 1925-26
Boxes per packinghouse ....... 10,833 21,600 ( 21,601 36,7001 36,701 60,000 60,001 95,500 95,501 272522
Number of packinghouses ........ 11 28 I 19 20 17
Number of boxes per packing- I
house ........ ............. 17,787 30,349 45,893 77,219 144,630
SAverage Cost Average Cost ( Average Cost Average Cost | Average Cost
Per Per Per Per Per
Items Packing- Per Packing- Per Packing- Per Packing- Per Packing- Per
I house Box house Box house Box house Box house Box
Manager's salary ................... 1,792.681$0.10079 $1,561.63 $0.05146 $ 1,245.6 $0.04675 $ 3,526.590.04567$ 4,474.67 0.03094
Railroad and travel expense.... 324.68 .01825 267.73 .00882 265.74 .00579 488.44 .00633 513.76 .00355
Privileges ................ ................................. 54.66 .00180 6.57 .00014 11.22 .00015 10.38 .00007
Other management costs ........ ....... .... .............. ................ ..... ............ 155.49 .00201 12.64 .00009
Total ........................................$2,117.361$0.119041$1,884.021$0.062081$ 2,417.961$0.05268 $ 4,181.74$0.054161$ 5,011.451 $0.03465


277,612



Cost

Per
Box
$0.02267
.00351
.00027
.00944
$0.03589









Bulletin 202, Cost of Handling Citrus Fruit


foreman's salary, grading, and box making. The items of pack-
ing and nailing tops were usually done by the piece, and were
therefore not affected by volume. Other floor labor cost per
box, such as receiving, dumping, loading on cars, etcetera, was
not decreased with increased volume.


A,


. .. . .. . . . . .
. . . . .
. . . . . . . .
v +++tH+H --------- ....... ------------ ----

# : t ......... - - - #

#
--- . . ..... .... ...
- - - - -
- - ----
-T M

- ------
... - -----






---------- -- ---- --------
--- . 111:: M IX

TIT

. . ...


Thousands of boxes
Fig. 92.-Relation of volume to cost per box for 85 packinghouses, season
1925-26. Firms operating pre-cooling plants not included.


Although manager's salaries and traveling expenses increase
in general with increasing volume, the average cost per box
shows a rapid decrease. (Table XIX.)


RELATION OF USE OF PACKINGHOUSE AND VOLUME TO COST

The effect that use of packinghouse and volume have on total
handling cost is shown in Table XX. Firms that operated their
packinghouses at about the same proportion of capacity, but

with different volumes, had considerable variation in cost. For
the 1924-25 season, packinghouses that operated at less than
35 percent of full capacity and with an average volume of 25,961
boxes, had cost of 18 cents per box more than those firms that
operated at 35 percent or over of full capacity and with 154,299











TABLE XX.-RELATION OF PERCENT OF TIME PACKINGHOUSES WERE OPERATED AT FULL CAPACITY AND VOLUME TO TOTAL
AND FLOOR LABOR COST OF HANDLING CITRUS FRUIT.
Eighty-eight Packinghouses-Season 1924-25.
Percent of time ran at full capacity Less than 35 percent 35 percent and over
Boxes per packinghouse I Boxes per packinghouse
42,000 and 42,001- 83,501and 42,000 and 42,001-1 83,501and
under 83,500 over under 83,500 over
Number of Packinghouses.... ...................... ..... ..... 21 16 14 7 11 19
Number of boxes per packinghouse.............................. 25,961 62,074 124,985 26,120 68,192 154,299
Cost per packinghouse..................... ....... .......... $27,792.67 $57,994.5 $113,422.25 $25,620.43 $62,510.68 $137,053.36
Cost per box ........................----- .... ..-..-- ....... 1.07055 0.93428 0.90749 0.98087 0.91669 0.88823
Floor labor cost per packinghouse....... ...................-- 3,881.57 7,227.11 12,823.01 3,536.25 7,718.63 16,902.57
Floor labor cost per box..............-............. .................. 0.14952 0.11643 0.10260 0.13538 0.11319 0.10954
Eighty-five Packinghouses-Season 1925-26.
Percent of time ran at full capacity ] Less than 25 percent I 25 percent and over
I Boxes per packinghouse I Boxes per packinghouse '
32,000 andl 32,001- 60,001 and 32,000 and 32,001- 60,001 and
I under 60,000 over under 60,000 over
Number of packinghouses 16 I 15 11 I 11 13 19 t
Number of boxes per packinghouse....................... .... 22,522 40,207 -95,100 25,616 44,042 106,696 i
Cost per packinghouse....................... .... $27,511.44 $44,107.60 $93,530.70 $26,750.06 6,051.36 $102,969.27
Cost per box.................. ..-... ..-.......-..- 1.22154 1.09701 0.98350 1.04427 1.04562 0.96507
Floor labor cost per packinghouse........-................. ........- 3,502.38 5,637.06 13,489.56 4,011.27 6,829.48 13,337.09
Floor labor cost per box. ............................ 0.15551 0.14020 0.14185 0.15659 0.15507 0.12500







Bulletin 202, Cost of Handling Citrus Fruit


boxes per packinghouse. The difference in total handling cost
per box between firms in the same volume group but with dif-
ferent proportions of full capacity utilized, is greater in the
small volume groups than in the large volume groups. Similar
relations of these factors to costs were found for 1925-26.
Floor labor cost per box decreased each year as the volume
increased.
RELATION OF INVESTMENT PER BOX AND VOLUME TO COST
The combined effect of volume and investment per box on
cost is shown in Table XXI.
The variation in cost per box between volume groups was not
so great for firms having less than 50 cents invested per box as
it was for firms having 50 cents or over invested per box.
For the 1924-25 season, firms that had a volume of less than
42,000 boxes and an investment of over 50 cents per box, had
cost of 23 cents per box more than firms with a volume of more
than 100,000 boxes and an investment of less than 50 cents per
box. For 1925-26, the firms with an investment of 50 cents or
more per box and a volume of less than 32,000 boxes, the cost
was 22 cents per box greater than with firms with a volume of
over 60,000 boxes and an investment of 50 cents or more per
box.
VOLUME PER GROWER
When each grower's fruit is kept separate until it is packed,
the volume per grower becomes an important factor in the cost of
handling citrus fruit. Only 42 packinghouses for the 1924-25 sea-
son, and 35 for 1925-26, kept each grower's fruit separate until it
was packed. Most of the other packinghouses kept some of the
growers' fruit separate until it was packed. Six of the packing-
houses studied for 1924-25 and seven of those studied for 1925-26
had an average volume of fruit per grower of less than 400 boxes.
The cost for these firms was 25 cents per box for the 1924-25
season, and 27 cents for 1925-26, more than for those packing-
houses that had an average volume per grower of more than
2,500 boxes. (Table XXII.) Any other factor that would neces-
sitate the handling of fruit in small quantities would have a
similar effect. A grower may have a good volume, but if he has
several varieties which must be moved at different times, the











TABLE XXI.-RELATION OF INVESTMENT PER BOX AND VOLUME TO COST OF HANDLING CITRUS FRUIT.
Eighty-two Packinghouses-Season 1924-25.


Under 50 Cents 50 Cents and Over

Number of Number of Average Cost Number Number of Average Cost
Packing- Boxes Per of Pack- Boxes Per
Boxes Per Packinghouse houses Packing- Per Pack- Per inghouses Packing- Per Pack- Per Box
house inghouse Box house inghouse

ider 42,000 .............................. 7 27,219 $ 24,790.52 $0.91078 17 24,624 $ 27,238.03 $1.10616
,000-100,000 ................. 16 71,134 63,183.30 .88823 15 68,104 65,260.53 .95825
0,001 and over ................ 21 151,944 132,930.64 .87487 6 151,004 142,940.17 .94660


Total and average ............


44 102,716 $ 90,363.86 $0.87974 38


Seventy Packinghouses-Season 1925-26

Under 32,000 ........................... 7 25,868 $ 25,988.68 $1.00466 13 22,526 $ 27,416.67 $1.21711
32,001-60,000 ............................ 7 41,840 43,360.48 1.03634 15 42,247 46,477.85 1.10014
60,001 and over ........................ 15 103,350 97,866.63 .94694 13 98,122 97,551.14 .99418

Total and average ........ 29 69,800 $ 67,360.12 $0.96504 41 53,710 $ 56,628.03 $1.05433


Ur
42,
10(


61,742


$ 60,515.67


$0.98014








TABLE XXII.-RELATION OF NUMBER OF BOXES PER GROWER TO COST OF HANDLING CITRUS FRUIT.
Forty-two Packinghouses-Season 1924-25

Number of boxes per grower groups ........-........- Under 400 400 800 801 2,500 2,501 and over
Number of packinghouses ........................... ..... ------- .6 17 15 4

Number of boxes per grower* .................. ....... 306 618 1,310 37,166

Number of boxes per packinghouse ...... .................... 45,987 96,039 86,892 83,834

Cost per packinghouse .................................. $49,395.47 $86,623.19 $76,952.12 $68,879.82
Cost per box ... .............. ...... 1.07412 0.90196 0.88561 0.82162
Thirty-five Packinghouses-Season 1925-26

Number of packinghouses ....................-..... .... ........ 7 _13 11 4

Number of boxes per grower* ... ............... .... ................ 280 541 1,163 26,951

Number of boxes per packinghouse ............................ 40,079 75,693 66,179 48,261
Cost per packinghouse ............ .. ............... ........... $45,326.23 $76,466.39 $66,667.87 $41,590.08
Cost per box ....- .................................. 1.13092 1.01022 1.00739 0.86177

*The average number of boxes per grower for each packinghouse was obtained. These averages for all packing-
houses in any one group were then totaled and divided by the number of packinghouses in the group to get the figures
given under that group.







Florida Agricultural Experiment Station


cost would be affected to about the same degree as a number of
small growers with the same volume, but only one variety.
When volume per grower was correlated with cost per box,
the coefficient was 0.41510 0.08589 for the 1924-25 season,
and 0.14778 0.70996 for 1925-26.
In both 1924-25 and 1925-26, all of the firms that had an
average volume per grower of under 400 boxes had costs above
95 cents per box, the average of all firms for 1924-25. Of four
firms each season that had a volume of over 2,500 boxes per
grower, only one had a cost above 95 cents per box.
The lowest cost for any firm for the 1924-25 season was 74
cents per box, and for 1925-26, 71 cents per box. Each of these
packinghouses handled fruit from one grove only.
On the average, the cost decreased 2.8 cents per box for 1924-
25, and 0.6 cent per box for the 1925-26 season, for each 1,000
boxes increase in average volume per grower.

CAPACITY OF PACKINGHOUSES
Although the volume of fruit handled per packinghouse varied
from 6,801 to 277,612 boxes for the 1924-25 season, and from
10,833 to 272,522 boxes for 1925-26, the capacities of packing-
houses both seasons varied from one to twelve "car capacity"
per day.* The average was about four cars capacity. Large
packinghouses were in a position to render more services than
small houses. Of the packinghouses with a capacity per day of
six cars or more, 28 percent for the 1924-25 season, and 27 per-
cent for 1925-26, had pre-cooling plants, while only 5 percent
and 4 percent, respectively, of the packinghouses with a capacity
of less than six cars per day had pre-cooling plants.
Large packinghouses were open for a longer time than small
packinghouses. (Fig. 93 and 94.) For the two seasons in-
cluded in this study, 88 percent and 95 percent, respectively, of
the packinghouses with a capacity of more than four cars per
day, were open for over 150 days, while only 55 and 53 percent,
respectively, of the packinghouses with a capacity of less than
four and one-half cars per day, were open for more than 150
days.
*The car capacity has reference to the number of cars (360 boxes) that
the packinghouse can handle in a normal day's operation.






NUMBER OF DAYS, EXCLUDING SUNDAYS, FROM DATE OF OPENING TO DATE OF CLOSING PACKINGHOUSE.


1 11
to to
10 20


21 31
to to
30 40


1. ...

1 ..

..::


41 51
to to
50 60


- -- -


1
1%
2
2%
3
3%
4
4%
5
5
6
6%
6
7
7%
8
8%
9
9%
10
10%
11
11%
12


........................ ...... i--



..................... ... I ......
--------- .. .. _.. ...... _.....
... -----. -- .
- -- .. .. -- -

.. .....
_....... .. ...
.. ..........


... ... ...... .... .. .
... ... ... .......... .... .......
--. ... I. .... ------- -------
----- ----- ----- --. -.... ....... .
------------------ .. .... .
-- -- -- _.. ....... ...... ......
.. ........... ....... ...... ] .... *---
............ ... ....... ...... ....


201 211
to to
210220


Totals


81 91 101
to to to
90 100 110

...... ...... ..





- -I---- -- -- ------
..... ......
- - -


..... ...... .. ..... .. ....... -... ..
------ I..: ------ ------ ------ 1: ----- :::: :-:.. .....: ..... ---- -


1 ...


, 1.......11:


Co


:::1.::1


ITotal ........................... 1...... 1 I...... ............. 12 1 .... .1 2 2 1 2 (111 10 112 117 (12 I10 1 3 1 8 1 14 1 1 1 99 (
Fig. 93.-Size of packinghouses classified by the number of days (Sundays excluded) from date of opening to date of clos-
ing. Ninety-nine packinghouses, season 1924-25.


' t I I '


2


- ---- ------
:::I11: ii1 iiii iii ii1











NUMBER OF DAYS, EXCLUDING SUNDAYS, FROM DATE OF OPENING TO DATE OF CLOSING PACKINGHOUSE.


1 11 21 31 41 51 61 71 81 91 101111
tto to to to to to to to to to to
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110120


..-...--..-.- ... ...... .... .. ...... ...... .... ...... ... .. ..... ..... .. .... 1

...... ...... .. .. .... ........... 1 ...... .... ... ..... 1
. ... ......... .. ...... ...... .... .. ..... ..... ...... ... ..... 1 ......
................... ..... .. ...... ... ... 1 ... ..... .. .... ...... 2 ....
... ...... .. ... ... ..... ...... ....



.. ...... .. ................. ... .....













.. I ..... 1 ...----. ..I 4
..... -..... -........... .-..- ...... ..... ..... ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... 1 .....


-- -- -- -- -- ------ -- -- -- -- ..... .. . - -





-. -. ---.. -.. -.. I.... .. ...... ..... .. ...I I ..... ... ... .. 1 _...- 4
-- -- -- .. .. .. ..- ---.--. .--... .


121
to
130


131141
to to
140 150




1 4
......I


1 4
------ ------
1 2
------ ------

......



- -


151 161 171
to to to
160 170 180


1 ------ .-- --
1 .
'1 -- -- -- -
1 1....
3 .... 1


1 -4 1
1 ..... 1
...6 2
2 1
-1 -3


181 191
to to
190 200


1
1%
2
2%
3
3
4
41/
5
51/2
6
6Y2
7
7/2
8
8Y2
9
9%
10
101
11
112
12
Total


Fig. 94.-Size of Packinghouses classified by the number of days (Sundays excluded) from date of opening to date of clos-
ing. Ninety-five Packinghouses, season 1925-26.


221 231
to to
230 240


.......ii i ..... .. .... ........ ....


....... ........2.... ......... 1. 1



..... 12 15 115 1319 S 4
F4 _J4 T1TT5-5113 19 1 8 14


Totals



2
5
13
2
19
3
13
1
11

14

1
1
3

1

5


2 .




TABLE XXIII.-RELATION OF CAPACITY OF PACKINGHOUSE TO COST OF HANDLING CITRUS FRUIT, FOR 99 PACKINGHOUSES,
Season 1924-25.

Car capacity of packinghouse ......... .. .... i, 11 and 2 2% and 3 3%, 4 and 4% 5 and 5M 6 and 6 A 7 and over
Number of packinghouses ................................ 21 24 14 15 13 12
Packed boxes per packinghouse .............. 29,764 61,231 79,829 125,284 127,506 151,432
Bulk boxes per packinghouse ................ 1,396 3,163 2,591 1,620 4,226 2,929
Total boxes per packinghouse ................ 31,160 64,394 82,420 126,904 131,732 1 154,361
SAverage Cost Average Cost Average Cost Average Cot Average Co Average Cost
Items Per Pack- I Per Pack- I jPer Pack-1 Per Pack- I Per Pack- I Per Pack-
inghouse Per Boxj inghouse Per Box inghouse Per Box inghouse Per Boxi inghouse Per Box inghouse Per Box

Floor labor ..... ............. .. ........ ........... $ 4,116.77 $0.13831 $ 6,758.93 0.1108 $ 8,641.87 $0.10825 $ 14,216.39 $0.11347 $ 12,900.15 $0.10117 17,958.87 $0.11859
Packing labor .................. ...................... 2,059.03 .06918 4,209.20 .06874 5,065.41 .06345 7,205.76 .05752 9,132.92 .07163 10,524.86 .06950
Management .................. ................... 1,477.97 .04966 3,132.36 .05116 3,141.80 .03936 5,326.27 .04251 4,827.37 .03786 5,053.20 .03337
Office ............ ...... .......... ................. 410.46 .01379 1,358.78 .02219 1,344.66 .01684 2,939.30 .02346 1,968.59 .01544 2,966.96 .01959
Packinghouse building and land................ 871.04 .02927 2,071.72 .083 2,526.88 03166 4,04. .03 435 ,593.80 .02819 5,764.31 .03807
Light, water, power and house equipment.. 2,396.36 .08051 3,571.15 .05832 4,005.03 .05017 5,889.84 .04701 6,372.96 .04998 9,932.67 .06559
Field equipment ........................ .................. 710.40 .02387 1,218.32 .01990 1,244.26 .01559 2,240.66 .01789 2,847.86 .02234 2,927.42 .01933
Material .................................... .. ........... 10,671.75 .35855 22,121.22 .361 2 28,674.7 .35920 44,079.36 .35184 45,605.43 .35767 54,891.61 .36249
Pre-cooling ................... ....... ........... ................. .......... 993.20 .01622 ................... ....... ............................... 3,118.46 .02446 4,594.40 .03034
Other cost in house ........................................ 581.14 .01952 1,784.04 .02914 2,211.48 .02770 2,167.37 .01730 2,035.53 .01596 3,820.74 .02523
Total house cost for packed fruit............ $23,294.92 $078266 $47,218.92 $0.77116 $56,856.12 $0.71222 $ 88,369.45 $0.70535 $ 92,403.07 $0.72470 $118,435.041$0.78210
Picking ........... ..... ................... 3,215.51 .10803 6,105.69 .09972 8,688.56 .10884 11,513.22 .09190 13,641.22 .10698 15,666.43 .10346
Hauling ......................... .................... ........... ....... 2,937.24 .09868 5,780.03 .09440 7,412.56 .09286 12,930.26 .10321 13,064.17 .10246 15,872.35 .10481
Total handling cost for packed fruit ... $29,447.67 $0.98937 $59,104.64 $0.96528 $72,957.24 $0.91392 $112,812.93 $0.90046 $119,108.46 $0.93414 $149,973.821$0.99037
Bulk fruit cost .................... ............ ............... 727.61 .52121 1,439.08 .45407 1,341.04 .51758 779.59 .48121 1,729.76 .40931 1,628.65 .55604


Total handling cost for all fruit.............. $30,175.281$0.968401 $60543.721$0.94021 $74,298.28 $0.89711 $113,592.52 $0.89511|$120,838.22$.0.91730o$151,602.47|$0.98213







TABLE XXIV.-RELATION OF CAPACITY OF PACKINGHOUSE TO COST OF HANDLING CITRUS FRUIT, FOR 95 PACKINGHOUSES,
Season 1925-26.

Car capacity of packinghouse .................. 1, 1 and 2 j 2/ and 3 31,, 4 and 4/ 5 and 51/2 6 and 6% 7 ana over
Number of packinghouses ..................... ..._ 20 ) 21 17 11 14 12
Packed boxes per packinghouse .................... 26,669 42,170 53,969 70,112 75,081 146,809
Bulk boxes per packinghouse ............. 233 1.943 2,432 1,938 3,120 5,643
Total boxes per packinghouse .... .......... 26,902 144,113 56,401 72,050 78,201 152,452
Average Cost Average Cost Average Cost Average Cost Average Cost Average Cost
Items Per Pack-1 Per Pack- Per Pack- Per Pack- Per Pack- I Per Pack-
inghouse [Per BoxI inghouse Per Box inghcuse Per Box inghouse iPer Box in-house Per Box inghouse Per Box
Floor labor $...................... 4,503.80 $0.16888 $ 6,171.22 $0.14634 $ 6,965.44 $0.12906 $ 8,995.81 $0.12831 $ 9,720.37$0.12947 $ 18,886.51 $0.12865
Packing labor ... .. 1,999.50 .07497 3,077.39 .07298 3,910.78 .07246 4,230.37 .06034 5,514.30 .07345 9,998.07 .06810
Management ...................................... ...... 1,819.19 .06821 2,448.04 .05805 2,510.50 .04652 3,690.69 .05264 4,366.23 .05815 4,884.88 .03327
Office ...... ............. ............... 521.18 .01954 1,034.32 .02453 1,204.47 .02232 2,588.56 .03692 2,269.02 .03022 3,653.72 .02489
Packinghouse building and land ................ 815.66 .03058 1,981.28 .04698 2,244.44 .04158 3,107.28 .04432 3,064.90 .04082 5,373.36 .03660
Light, water, power and house equipment.... 1,961.77 .07356 3,091.07 .07330 3,285.40 .06088 5,365.16 .07652 4,774.56 .06359 9,344.18 .06365
Field equipment ............ ........................... 501.39 .01880 927.72 .02200 798.31 .01479 1,626.97 .02320 1,526.93 .02034 2,597.01 .01769
Material .. ....................................... .. 9,357.31 .35087 15,358.74 .36421 19,047.63 .35294 22,885.47 .32641 26,460.85 .35243 52,596.21 .35826
Pre-cooling ....................... ................ 79.93 .00300 673.74 .01598 21.08 .00039 18.64 .00027 1,849.45 .02463 6,629.06 .04516
Other cost in house ......................................... 541.78 .02032 1,095.72 .02598 1,120.99 .02077 1,954.94 .027881 1,851.78 .02466 2,973.31 .02025
Total house cost for packed fruit............ $22,101.$0.82873 $35,859.24 $0.85035 41,109.04 0.76171 $54,463.890.77681 $61,398.39 $0.81776$116,936.31 $0.79652
Picking ............. ............................... 3,941.28 .14779 5,049.04 .11973 7,194.54 .13331 7,927.42 .11307 11,028.15 .14688 17,789.58 .12117
Hauling ..------------ ------ .......................... 3,002.45 .11258 4,834.13 .11463 5,642.02 .10454 7,513.131 .10716 8,104.70 .107951 14,219.16 .09685
I I I
Total handling cost for packed fruit...... $29,045.24 1.08910 $45,742.41 $1.0847153,945.60 $0.99956 $69,904.44 $0.99704 $0,531.24$1.07259 $148,945.05 $1.01454
Bulk fruit cost ...................................... 134.9 .57910 1,117.89 .575341 1,272.88 .52339 1,234.06 .63677 1,884.17 .60390 3,144.89 .55731
Total handling cost for all fruit............. $29.180.171$1.08468 $46,860.301$1.06228 $55,218.481$0.979031 $71,138.501$0.98735 $82,415.41 $1.053891$152,089.94 $0.99762








Bulletin 202, Cost of Handling Citrus Fruit


RELATION OF CAPACITY OF PACKINGHOUSES TO COST
The total costs of handling citrus fruit for packinghouses of
different sizes are shown in Tables XXIII and XXIV. If pre-
cooling costs are excluded for all packinghouses, the total re-
maining cost per box is greater for packinghouses with a capacity
of three cars or less per day than for packinghouses larger than
this.
Volume increased in about the same proportion as capacity of
packinghouse, indicating that large packinghouses were used to
about the same proportion of capacity as small packinghouses.
Hauling cost is approximately the same for all groups, which
signifies that on the average, the large packinghouses did not
haul their fruit greater distances than the small packinghouses.
The data do not reveal anything that would indicate that large
packinghouses had more difficulty in obtaining volume than
small packinghouses.

RELATION OF CAPACITY OF PACKINGHOUSE TO INVESTMENT
PER CAR CAPACITY IN PACKINGHOUSE BUILDINGS
Investment in packinghouse building per car capacity de-
creased as the capacity of the packinghouse increased. Table
XXV. The difference, however, was not very great, being only
15 percent for the 1924-25 season and about 19 percent for
1925-26, less for packinghouse buildings with a capacity of six

TABLE XXV.-RELATION OF CAPACITY OF PACKINGHOUSE TO INVESTMENT
IN PACKINGHOUSE BUILDING PER CAR CAPACITY.

66 Packinghouses, 60 Packinghouses,
Season 1924-25 Season 1925-26
Car Capacity of
Packinghouse Investment Investment
Groups Number of in Packing- Number of in Packing-
Packing- house Build- Packing- house Build-
houses ing Per houses ing Per
ICar Capacity Car Capacity

1-38% ....................... .. 26 $4,106.32 22 $3,872.22
4-512 ....................... 22 3,534.21 21 3,359.85
6-12 ...........................-. 18 3,469.62 17 3,123.69

Total and average 66 $3,741.97 60 $3,480.81







Florida Agricultural Experiment Station


cars and over than for packinghouse buildings with a car ca-
pacity of under four cars.

USE OF PACKINGHOUSES
There are two important measures of the use of packing-
houses: (1) The percentage of time that the packinghouse ran
at full capacity from the date of opening to closing; (2) The
number of boxes handled per car capacity of packinghouse for
the season. The first method is perhaps the better for measur-
ing the effect that variation in use of packinghouse has on the
cost of labor that is employed only for the time that the pack-
inghouse is open. For most items, the latter is the better meth-
od of measuring the effect of variation in use of packinghouse
on cost.

PERCENT OF TIME PACKINGHOUSES RAN AT FULL CAPACITY
FROM DATE OF OPENING TO CLOSING
The harvest period for citrus fruit for most regions in Flor-
ida averages about six or seven months. This is a much longer
harvest season than for most crops. Since neither the demand
nor the supply is uniform during the harvest season, it is desir-
able that the facilities for handling citrus fruit be elastic. It is
questionable whether so great a degree of elasticity as now ex-
ists is economical for the industry.
For the 1924-25 season, the packinghouses operated, on the
average, 120.9 days, and for 1925-26 113.1 days. If the packing-
houses had operated every day except Sunday from the date of
opening to the date of closing, they would have operated on the
average 162.5 days for 1924-25 and 160.3 days for 1925-26. If
the packinghouses had operated every day at full capacity from
the date they were opened to the date they were closed, they
could have handled a total of 213,498 boxes per packinghouse
for the 1924-25 season and 244,434 boxes for 1925-26. This is
about 2 1/3 times as much as actually was handled for 1924-25,
and 33/, times as much as for 1925-26. By operating at night,
production could have been increased even more.
A frequency distribution of the percentage of time that the
packinghouses were operated at full capacity is shown in Table
XXVI. Only 25 percent of the packinghouses operated at more








Bulletin 202, Cost of Handling Citrus Fruit 377

TABLE XXVI.-FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION OF PERCENTAGE OF TIME PACK-
INGHOUSES WERE OPERATED AT FULL CAPACITY.

Percentage of Time
Operated at Full 99 Packinghouses, 95 Packinghouses,
Capacity Season 1924-25 Season 1925-26


0.1- 5 ...... .... .................. 0 0

5.1- 10 ... ........................ .. 0 1

10.1- 15 .......... ............ .. ... .... 2 11

15.1- 20 ........................... ...10 17

20.1- 25 ............................... 9 16

25.1- 30 ........................-. 13 18

30.1- 35 ...................... ........ 21 7

35.1- 40 ................................ 12 8

40.1- 45 .... ......... ...- ...... 7 3

45.1- 50 ............................. 4 5
50.1- 55 .............................. 7 4

55.1- 60 ............................ 5 0

60.1- 65 ........................... ...... 2 4

65.1- 70 ............. .......... ...... 1 0

70.1- 75 ......... ..........-....- ...- 1 0

75.1- 80 .............................. 1 0

80.1- 85 .......................... ...... 1 0

85.1- 90 ......................- .... 2 0

90.1- 95 ......... ...............-..... 0 0

95.1-100 ..............-...............- 0 1

100.1-105 ................................. 0 0

105.1-110 .. ......... ..... -.. .... 1 0


than 45 percent of full capacity for the 1924-25 season, and 14
percent for 1925-26. Twenty-one packinghouses for 1924-25 and
45 for 1925-26 operated at 25 percent or less of full capacity.
Such variation in the use of the packinghouse shows that a large







Florida Agricultural Experiment Station


percentage of the packinghouses was burdened with a plant too
large for the quantity of fruit handled. The 1924-25 crop of
citrus was about normal for the present number of bearing
trees in Florida. The crop of 1925-26 was below normal.
A few packinghouses had a volume of fruit too large to be
handled economically in their present plants. In order to take
care of the peak movement economically, the capacity of a pack-
inghouse should be about double the average output. This would
give an average use of 50 percent of capacity for the entire sea-
son with an average crop.
There seems to be no grounds for believing that the small
packinghouses are used a greater percent of full capacity than
the large. (Figs. 95 and 96.) The percentage of time that the
small packinghouses ran at full capacity had a greater variation
than the large packinghouses. For 1924-25, three-car capacity
packinghouses varied in percentage of time run at full capacity
from 10 percent to 85 percent, while 10-car capacity packing-
houses varied from 15 to 40 percent. When the car capacity of
packinghouses was correlated with percentage of time run at
full capacity, the correlation was r = -0.00499 0.06806 for
the 1924-25 season. This indicates that there is no significant
relation between these factors.
The relation that the percentage of time the packinghouses
ran at full capacity to cost of handling citrus fruit, is shown in
Table XXVII for 1924-25, and Table XXVIII for 1925-26. In
1924-25, as the percentage of use of packinghouses increased,
the total volume of fruit handled increased. In 1925-26, total
volume increased with increases in use up to 30 percent only.
If pre-cooling cost is deducted from the total average cost per
box, the remaining cost decreases each year as the percentage
of time the packinghouse runs at full capacity is increased.
Packinghouse buildings; light, water, power and house equip-
ment; general office; management and field equipment costs,
were influenced more by the percentage of time the packing-
house ran at full capacity than other items of cost. These costs
do not vary much in any particular packinghouse with changes
in the proportion of the time that the house runs at capacity.
Consequently they show marked decreases per box as the pro-
portion of use increases.







PERCENT OF TIME PACKINGHOUSE RAN AT FULL CAPACITY.


1 1
2 1 .....

S 1% ....
3 ....





S ....
6 1/2 ---
0 7


81
o 9
S91/
10
101/2 --
11
111/2 .
12 --
Totals ..


1 5.1 10.11 15.1 20.1 25.1 30.1
to to to to to to to
5 10 15 20 25 30 35


---- ... .. -.....- ..- ... 1
...- .... .. 2 ... 1
..... 2 2 1 3
-- --- --- ---- --- -_ _-- ---- ---- ----- -
1 4 1 4 3
... ... ... ..-- .. ...- ... 1 1 .
1 ... 3 2
...-.. .1- .- .. 1 .. ..... .I .... ..
1

1 .. 1 5

... .. ----1 1 3--












.... ................. .... 1
...... ........ 10 9 13 2 1
- --^ - - - | -


40.1 45.1
to to
45 50


50. 1 55.1 60.1
to to to
55 60 65


.. ... 5. .
--4---- 7-- ------
-------- ------ --------
--- --- ----


65.1 70.1
to to
70 75


75.1 80.1
to to
80 85


S90.1 95.1
to to
95 100




















.. "Z


100.1|105.1


to
105


1 1_ 1 1 2 ................. 1 1 99 I


*Ran some at night.
Fig. 95.-Size of packinghouses classified by percent of time each house ran at full capacity. Ninety-nine packinghouses,
season 1924-25.


12
12


Lto IoIai
110


.... ... 3
........ 5
13
1* 2
........ 22
3
........ 31
....... 10

...... 15

........ 13



3



------*-- ---------
1

5



.. 1


t'


m .. '











PERCENT OF TIME PACKINGHOUSE RAN AT FULL CAPACITY.


. 2. i ..... ......
....... 1 2 ....... .....


...... ...... .


.. ... .. ......

....... .... ...
... ........





.... ......

...~i ..... ...









....... .......


40.1 45.1
to to
45 50


2 .


1
........




ii.i.iii.i


........ ...... ..
1.......



1 I I

-----)---- ---



........ i -





1
.ii


1iii~ i:ii


55.1 60.1
to to
60 65


..i.. .......


70.1 75.1
to to
75 80


80.1 85.1
to to
85 90


........ ... ... .. .
........ ....... ........
........ ...... .
- ...... ....... .. .
........ ....... .. .

. ... ... ... ...




.......... ....

..... ....... .
. ... .


90.1 95.1100.11105.1
to to to to Total
95 100 105 110


...I.. 2
.. 5
13

........ 19
........ 3
........ 13
... 1


.14


1

..... 1.


- 15

......


. -... -..-.. ..1.
-- .


.Totals .......... 1 11 ) 17 16 18 1 7 8 1 3 5 1 4 ....... 4 -............... ............................. 1 ........).. ......) 95
Figure 96.-Size of packinghouses classified by percent of time each house ran at full capacity. Ninety-five packinghouses.
Season 1925-26.


75 8


'...... ..... ........









W


TABLE XXVII.-RELATION OF PERCENT OF TIME PACKINGHOUSE RAN AT FULL CAPACITY TO COST OF HANDLING CITRUS
FRUIT, FOR 99 PACKINGHOUSES, SEASON 1924-25.
Percent of time packinghouse ran at Less than
full capacity groups .................... 20 percent 20 to 29.9 percent 30 to 39.9 percent 140 to 49.9 percent 50 to 59.9 percent 60 percent and over

Number of packinghouses ......................... 12 22 32 12 12 9

Packed boxes per packinghouse .......... 32,177 66,124 93,494 101,779 96,011 151,122
Bulk boxes per packinghouse ........ 1571 2,416 1,862 4,367 1,460 6,042

Total boxes per packinghouse .... 33,748 68,540 95,356 106,146 97,471 157,164

SAverage Cost Average Cost Average Cost Average Cost Average Cost Average Cost
Items Per Pack- Per Pack-1 Per Pack-I Per Pack- Per Pack- Per Pack- I
inghouse Per Box! inghouse Per Box( inghouse jPer Box inghouse Per Box inghouse Per Box inghouse \Per Box
loor labor .............................. .. .................. $ 4,199.69 $0.1052$ 7,846.02 $01186 $10,546.67$0.11280 11,062.04 $0.10869 $12,388.27 $012903 $ 13,800.11 $0.09132
Packing labor ....... ..... ....... .......... 2,441.69 .07588 4,702.27 .07111 6,224.64 .06658 6,180.42 .06072 5,880.22 .06124 10,180.31 .06736
Management ................ ............. 2,254.29 .07006 3,004.37 .04544 3,596.13 .03846 5,157.64 .05067 2,850.46 .02969 5,462.91 .03615
Office .................. .............................. 723.14 .02247 1,274.57 .01928 1,818.26 .01945 2,210.05 .02171 1,856.61 .01934 2,404.20 .01591
Packinghouse building and land ......... 1,845.05 .05734 2,882.57 .04359 2,767.73 .02961 3,274.96 .03218 3,043.29 .03270 3,767.16 .02493
Light, water, power and house equipment, 3,026.59 .09406 4,398.13 .06651 6,138.84 .06566 4,465.67 .04388 3,711.83 .03866 6,093.17 .04032
Field equipment ....................................... 841.53 .02615 1,838.32 .02780 1,808.96 .01935 1,826.08 .01794 1,374.02 .01431 2,278.82 .01508
Material .......................... .................. 11,480.06 .35678 23,232.63 .35135 33,630.77 .35971 35,369.22 .34751 34,771.40 .36216 55,830.26 .36944
Pre-cooling .................... .... .............. ...... 458.25 .01424 754.62 .01141 1,848.72 .01977 623.18 .00612............. ............. 3,419.10 .02262
Other costs in house .......................... 918.98 .02856 1,506.59 .02278 1,851.20 .01980 2,698.81 .02652 1,087.04 .01132 4,662.30 .03085

Total cost in hLuse for packed fruit.. $28,189.27 $0.87606 $51,440.09 $0.77793 $70,231.92 $0.75119 $72,868.07 $0.71594 $66,963.14 $0.69745 $107,898.341$0.71398
Picking ............... .. 3,283.94 .10206 5,973.55 .09034 9,750.32 .10429 8,936.76 .08781 9,641.62 .10042 18,661.92 .12349
Hauling ....................................................... 3,555.09 .11049 7,170.63 .10844 9,903.13 .10592 8,200.9 .08057 8,911.88 .09282 15,230.32 .10078

Total handling cost for packed fruit$35,028.30 $1.08861 $64,584.27 $0.97671 $89,885.37 $0.96140$90005.2 88432 5,516.64 $0.89069 $141,790.58 $0.93825
/ .05.2$
Bulk fruit cost ........................................... 1,182.43 .7266 1,244.38 .51506 866.71 .46547 1,89.07 .42571 647.34 .44338 2,548.86 .42186

Total cost for all fruit ....................... ..$35.522.20$1.05257$65,828.651 0.96044$90,752.08 50.95172 $91,864.29 10.86545 $86,163.98$0.88400 $144,339.44 $0.91840









TABLE XXVIII.-RELATION OF PERCENT OF TIME PACKINGHOUSE RAN AT FULL CAPACITY TO COST OF HANDLING CITRUS FRUIT, FOR
95 PACKINGHOUSES, SEASON 1925-26.

Percent of time packinghouse ran at Less than
full capacity ............................. 20 percent 20 to 29.9 percent 30 to 39.9 percent 40 to 49.9 percent 50 pet. and over
Number of packinghouses ................... 29 2 34 I 15 8 9
Number of packed boxes per packing- I 356
house .......... ........ ..... 39,218 73,767 73,565 58,674 78,024
Number of bulk boxes per packinghouse..l 1,151 | 2,719 2,826 2,264 3,685
Total boxes per packinghouse ........... 40,369 | -76,487 76,391 60,938 81,709
I Average Cost Average Cost Average Cost IAverage Cost Average Cost
Items Per Pack- Per Pack- I Per Pack- Per Pack- Per Pack-
_inghouse Per Box inghouse IPer Box inghouse Per Box inghouse Per Boxj inghouse Per Box

Floor labor ........ ....................... $ 5,573.39 $0.14211 $ 9,802.09 $0.13288$ 9,917.39 $0.13481 $ 8,200.34 $0.13976 $10,055.37 $0.12888
Packing labor .............. ........... 2,743.73 .06996 5,117.89 .06938 5,384.23 .07319 4,068.11 .06933 5,324.99 .06825
Management ... ....... .......... 2,450.84 .06249 3,836.30 .05201 2,797.77 .03803 2,416.86 .04119 3,111.64 .03988
Office ......... .............. ...... 1,165.04 .02971 2,063.88 .02798 1,938.62 .02635 1,120.96 .01911 1,633.35 .02093
Packinghouse building and land ............ 2,252.02 .057421 3,199.18 .04337 2,001.03 .02720 1,397.49 .02382 2,485.38 .03185
Light, water, power and hous2 equ pment 3,988.07 .10169 4,962.28 .06727 4,157.59 .05652 2,384.21 .04064 3,575.72 .04583
Field equipment ......... ... .. .................. 1,133.57 .02891 1,400.92 .01899 1,161.66 .01579 558.49 .00952 1,235.73 .01584
Material ...-...... ..... ...... 13,325.19 .34487; 26,050.09 .35314 26,432.74 .35931 21,039.45 .35858 27,121.72 .34761
Pre-cooling ......... ............ 692.68 .01766 806.86 .01094 3,264.56 .04438 361.87 .00617 2,485.27 .03185
Other cost in house ............. ........................ 1,123.78 .02866 1,626.89 .022051 1,780.17 .02420 1,018.23 .01735 1,473.25 .01888

Total house cost for packed fruit.... $34,648.31 $0.88348 $58,866.38 $0.79801 $58,835.76 $0.79978 $42,566.01 $0.72547 $58,502.42 $0.74980
Picking ................. ....... ......... 5,160.23 .13158 9,353.87 .12680 9,886.30 .13439 7,351.42 .12529 9,716.51 .12453
Hauling ----........ ......... .......................... 3,962.08 .10103 8,110.01 .10994 7,461.10 .10142 7,008.22 .11944 7,288.61 .09342

Total handling cost for packed fruit.. $43,770.62 $1.11609! $76,330.26 $1.03475 $76,183.16 $1.03559 $56,925.65 $0.97020 $75,507.54 $0.96775
Bulk fruit cost ..................................... 730.36 .634541 1,575.06 .57928 1,530.55 .54160 1,456.66 .64340 1.795.67 .48729

Total handling cost for all fruit.......... $44,500.981$1.10236 $77,905.321$1.01854 $77,713.71 $1.01731 $58,382.31 $0.95806 $77,303.21 $0.94608








Bulletin 202, Cost of Handling Citrus Fruit


Floor labor cost was the highest each year in the group of
packinghouses that operated at less than 20 percent of full ca-
pacity and lowest each year in the group that operated at the
highest percent of capacity but did not show a cons stent rela-
tion to this factor. Since floor labor can be hired as needed, this
result would be expected.
Packing labor, picking, hauling and material costs were not
influenced by the percentage of the time that the packinghouses
ran at full capacity.


1.40
1.35
1.30
1.25
I.?0
1.15
1.10
1.05
i.oo
.95
) .90


.75
.70
.05
510 15 2 5 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 5 90 95 100 110
Percent of time packinghouse ran at full capacity
Fig. 97.-Relation of percent of time packinghouse ran at full capacity
to cost per box for 88 packinghouses, season 1924-25. Firms oper-
ating pre-cooling plants not included.

When the percentage of time that the packinghouse ran at
full capacity was correlated with cost per box, the coefficient
was -0.35302 0.06281 for 88 packinghouses without pre-cool-
ing for the 1924-25 season, and -0.32036 0.06579 for 85 pack-
inghouses for 1925-26.
The influence that the percentage of time the packinghouse
ran at full capacity has to cost of handling citrus fruit per box
is shown for each year by dot charts, Figs. 97 and 98.
Of those firms that operated for a higher percentage of the
time than the average, only five for 1924-25 and seven for 1925-








Florida Agricultural Experiment Station


H
0
P4
0
a
op
43
a


11.60
1.55
1.50
1.45
1.40
1.35
1.30



1.15
'1.10
1.05
1.00
,95
.90
.85
.80
.75
.70
.05
10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 s5 90 95 100
Percent of time packilngouse ran at full capacity
Percent~~~~~~ ------ tiepcH+-h-~e tfllcpct


Fig. 98.-Relation of percent of time the packinghouse ran at full capacity
to cost per box for 85 packinghouses, season 1925-26. Firms operating
pre-coohng plants not included.

26, had a cost above the average, while 26 for 1924-25 and 22
for 1925-26 had a cost below the average.
On the average, for each 10 percent increase in the percentage
of time that the packinghouse operated at full capacity for
1924-25, for 88 packinghouses, without pre-cooling, the handling
cost per box decreased 2.9 cents, and for 85 packinghouses for
1925-26, the cost decreased 3.7 cents.
The effect that the percentage of time the packinghouse ran
at full capacity has on handling cost for packinghouses of ap-
proximately the same size, is indicated in Table XXIX. In both
years, the cost per box decreased as the use of the packinghouse
increased for each size group of packinghouses. For the 1924-
25 season for those packinghouses of three-car capacity or less,
the cost was 17 cents per box less for firms that operated at over


384






TABLE XXIX.-RELATION OF SIZE OF PACKINGHOUSE AND PERCENT OF TIME THE PACKINGHOUSE RAN AT FULL CAPACITY TO COST OF
HANDLING CITRUS FRUIT.
Eighty-eight Packinghouses-Season 1924-25.


Size of packinghouse groups (car
capacity ) .......................................

Percent of time packinghouse oper- 30
ated at full capacity groups ....-- and under


Number of packinghouses .................

Number of boxes ...............................

Cost per packinghouse .................

Cost per box ................... ..... ..........


15

28,129

$30,383.43

1.08015


Size of packinghouse groups (car
capacity) ......... ........ ............ __.. .....

Percent of time packinghouse oper- 20
ated at full capacity groups........ and under

Number of packinghouses .............. 8

Number of boxes ........................ 20,219

Cost per packinghouse .................. $25,146.26

Cost per box ................................ 1.24370


1 to 3 31 5

30.1 50 50.1 30 30.1 50 50.1
Sand over and under and over

14 12 8 14 7

36,331 72,114 54,866 99,748 165,925

$35,052.57 $65,594.80 $51,440.21 $90,543.22 $147,966.96I

0.96481 0.90950 0.93756 0.90772 0.89074

Eighty-five Packinghouses-Season 1925-26.


1 to 3 3/2 5

20.1 35 35.1 20 20.1 35 35.1
3 and over and under and over

26 4 13 12 3

36,847 45,106 44,255 71,788 83,975

$38,702.46 $45,399.75 $46,348.31 $70,866.63 $77,698.83

1.05036 1.00651 1.04730 0.98717 0.92526


51/2 12

30 130.1 50 50.1
and under j and over

8 9 1

105,056 147,294 183,873

$99,853.191$129,281.94 $159,564.01

0.95048 0.87771 0.86779


512 12

20 20.1 35
and under

5 13

60,128 115,822

$63,930.22 $115,491.23

1.06324 0.997141


35.1
and over

1

95,895

$83,874.87

0.87465







Florida Agricultural Experiment Station


50 percent of full capacity, than for those that operated less than
30 percent of full capacity. For 1925-26, with packinghouses of
similar capacity, the cost was 24 cents less for firms that oper-
ated at over 35 percent of full capacity than for those that oper-
ated at 20 percent or less of full capacity. When size and use
are both considered, the difference in cost is very great. In 1924-
25, for packinghouses of less than three-car capacity, which
were operated at less than 30 percent of full capacity, the cost
was 21 cents per box more than for the one firm with a packing-
house of five and one-half car capacity or over, which operated
at more than 50 percent of full capacity. In 1925-26, firms with
packinghouses of three-car capacity or less which operated at
20 percent or less of full capacity, the cost was 37 cents per box
more than for the one firm that had a packinghouse of 51/2-car
capacity or more, which operated at more than 35 percent of
full capacity. Although the number of firms in some of these
groups is too small to justify great faith in their accuracy, the
uniformity of the results indicates that the conclusions drawn
are substantially correct.

NUMBER OF BOXES HANDLED PER CAR CAPACITY
OF PACKINGHOUSES
The percentage of time that packinghouses were operated at
full capacity is a good measure of the use of the packinghouse
for the time it is open, but some packinghouses were open but
a short time. Volume per car capacity measures the total use
of the packinghouse, regardless of the length of time it was
open. Fourteen packinghouses for 1924-25 and 28 for 1925-26
had a volume of 10,000 boxes or less per car capacity, while 14
for 1924-25 and two only for 1925-26 had a volume of over
30,000 boxes per car capacity. Total volume per packinghouse
increased as volume per car capacity increased.
The items of cost that were affected most by volume per car
capacity were light, water, power and house equipment; man-
agement; packinghouse building and land; floor labor; and field
equipment, Tables XXX and XXXI. With few exceptions, the
cost per box decreased for each of these items for each group
as the volume per car capacity increased. The average total
handling cost per box of packed fruit was 25 cents greater for
1924-25, and 23 cents for 1925-26 for packinghouses with 10,000








TABLE XXX.-RELATION OF VOLUME PER CAR CAPACITY TO COST OF HANDLING CITRUS FRUIT FOR 99 PACKINGHOUSES,
SEASON 1924-25.

Car capacity groups ...-.........-........................-. 10,000 and under 10,001 20,000 20,001 -30,000 30,001 60,166
Number of packinghouses ..................... 14 42 29 14
Packed boxes of grapefruit per packinghouse 8,269 32,670 53,593 75,393
Packed boxes of oranges per packinghouse... 15,341 32,521 48,676 75,702
Packed boxes of tangerines per packinghouse 1,917 2,893 6,003 6,721
Total boxes packed fruit per packinghouse 25,527 68,084 108,272 157,816
Bulk boxes per packinghouse...................... 1,590 2,561 2,235 4,374
Total boxes all fruit per packinghouse....... 27,117 70,645 110,507 162,190
Average Cost Average Cost Average Cost Average Cost 0
Items Per Pack- Per Pack-[ Per Pack- I Per Pack-
inghouse PerBox inghouse jPer Box{ inghouse Per Box| inghouse Per Box
Floor labor ................... .... ............... $ 3,471.91 $0.13601 $ 7,864.45 $0.11551 $ 12,269.51 $0.11332 $ 16,526.97 $0.10472
Packing labor .. ......... ..... ... .... ..... 2,035.80 .07975 4,766.73 .07001 6,910.21 .06382 9,942.08 .06300
Management .... ......... ..... ............. 1,866.72 .07313 2,831.19 .04158 4,763.57 .04400 5,021.40 .03182 :
Office ................. ....... ....... ... ................... 514.98 .02017 1,190.45 .01749 2,276.00 .02102 3,009.09 .01907 &
Packinghouse building and land.................... 1,546.67 .06059 2,631.18 .03865 3,260.11 .03011 4,081.54 .02586 *
Light, water, power and house equ'pment..... 2,777.11 .10879 4,060.55 .05964 6,534.98 .06036 5,968.03 .03781 (4
Field equipment .. .. ...................... .. 985.76 .03862 1,596.33 .02345 1,899.741 .01754 2,242.86 .01421
Material ........-. ....... .......... ............. 9,503.48 .37229 24,142.82 .35460 38,503.151 .35561 57,541.73 .36461 .
Pre-cooling ........ ....... .......---... ...... 392.79 .015391 427.81 .00628 2,250.72 .02079 2,198.00 .01393
Other cost in house .............. ................... 666.85 .026121 1,481.41 .02176 2,367.63 .021871 3,613.31 .02290
Total house cost for packed fruit.............. $23,762.07 $0.93086 $50,992.92 $0.748971$ 81,035.62 $0.74844 $110,145.01$0.69793 $
Picking ............... ......................... 2,892.53 .11331 6,448.74 .094721 10,911.29 .10078j 17,602.53 .11164 -
Hauling ............. .... ......... .. 2,791.89 .10937 6,737.00 .098951 11,422.13 .105494 14,712.92 .09323 .
Total handling cost for packed fruit ............ $29,446.491$1.15354 $64,178.66 $0.94264 $103,369.04|$0.95471 $142,460.46 $0.90270 "
Bulk fruit cost .................-.. .... ................. 1,108.251 .69701 1,280.36 .49995 952.31: .42609 1,814.96 .41494
Total handling cost for all frut .................$30,554.74$1.12677$65,459.02$0.92659$104,321.35$0.94402$144,275.42 8955










TABLE XXXI.-RELATION OF VOLUME PER CAR CAPACITY TO COST OF HANDLING CITRUS FRUIT FOR 95 PACKINGHOUSES,
SEASON 1925-26.


Car capacity groups ............... -- -............. 10,000 and under 10,001 20,000
Number of packinghouses ........................... 28 50
Packed boxes of grapefruit per packinghouse) 15,271 29,142
Packed boxes of oranges per packinghouse... 14,849 35,114
Packed boxes of tangerines per packinghouse 1,639 2,933
Total boxes packed fruit per packinghouse.- 31,759 67,189
Bulk boxes per packinghouse...............-............. 1,956 2,374
Total boxes all fruit per packinghouse...... 33,715 69,563
Average Cost Average Cost
Items Per Pack- Per Pack-I
inghouse Per Box inghouse Per Box
Floor labor .........- ............. ......... ......... $ 4,528.591$0.14259 $ 9,262.72 $0.13786
Packing labor ................................... 2,208.081 .06953 4,832.56 .07192
Management ........... ....... ...........-..... 2,155.911 .06788 3,361.87 .05004
Office ... ..................-.. .... ......... 912.121 .02872 1,760.62 .02620
Packinghouse building and land....................-... 2,069.68 .06517 2,720.31 .04049
Light, water, power and house equipment..... 3,476.57 .10947 4,316.14 .06424
Field equipment .............. ... ....... ................. 960.66 .03025 1,220.47 .01816
Material ........................................ 11,263.99 .35467 23,722.87 .35308
Pre-cooling ........_.......... ....-.............. 599.86 .01889 715.59 .01065
Other cost in house ................................... ..-.... 862.26 .02715 1,522.89 .02267
Total house cost for packed fruit..............$29,037.72 $0.91432 $53,436.04 $0.79531
Picking .. .. ........................... 4,066.56 .12804 9,092.27 .13532
Hauling ...................... ....................... 3,288.08 .10353 7,306.39 .10874
Total handling cost for packed fruit....$...... 36,392.36{$1.14589 $69,834.70 $1.03937
Bulk fruit cost ............................................. 1,115.771 .570431 1,324.03 .55772
Total handling cost for all fruit............. $37,508.131$1.112511$71,158.731$1.022941


20,001 30,000
15 I
47,811
43,557
3,323


94,691
2,520
97,211
Average Cost
Per Pack-Pr
inghouse Per Boxi


30,001 39,472
2
32,384
76,040
17,290


125,714 I
4,122
129,836 ]
Average Cost
Per Pack-
inghouse I Per Box


$12,199.85 $0.12884 $13,413.531$0.10670
6,092.22 .06434 9,985.92 .07944
3,656.49 .03861 3,754.05 .02986
2,464.31 .02603 3,085.16 .02454
2,473.17 .02612 3,290.14 .02617
4,909.02 .05184 5,602.20 .04456
1,513.34 .01598 1,448.34 .01152
32,857.68 .34700 46,217.68 .36765
4,611.75 .04870 .....--...........
2,096.60 .02214 2,137.50 .01700
$72,874.43 $0.76960 $88,934.52 $0.70744
10,877.24 .11487 15,298.70 .12169
9,652.85 .10194 11,020.79 .08767
$93,404.52 $0.98641 $115,254.01 $0.91680
1,604.41 .63667 1,997.92J .48470
$95,008.931$0.977351$117,251.93 $0.90308


_ ___7___







Bulletin 202, Cost of Handling Citrus Fruit


boxes or less per car capacity than for packinghouses with over
30,000 boxes per car capacity. When volume per car capacity
was correlated with cost per box, the coefficient was -0.45543
0.05687 for 1924-25 and -0.48991 0.05572 for 1925-26.
Pre-cooling packinghouses were excluded in the correlation.
For individual packinghouses, the volume per car capacity
varied from 2,617 boxes, with a cost of $1.28 per box, to 60,166,
with a cost of $0.88 for the 1924-25 season, and from 4,632


3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 27 30 33 36 39 42 45 48 51 54 57 60
Thousands of boxes per car capacity
Fig. 99.-Relation of volume per car capacity to cost per box for 88 pack-
inghouses, season 1924-25. Firms operating pre-cooling plants not in-
cluded.

boxes with a cost per box of $1.28 to 39,472 boxes with a cost
of $0.91 for 1925-26. Only five packinghouses the first season
and seven the second season had a cost above the average when
the volume per car capacity was above the average, but 29 and
26 packinghouses, respectively, had a cost below the average
when the volume per car capacity was more than the average.
On the average, the cost decreased at the rate of 0.6 cent per







Florida Agricultural Experiment Station


$1,60
1.55
1.50
1.45
1.40
1.35
1.30
1.25
1.20
1.15
1.10
1.05
1.00


.90
.85
.80
.75
.70
.05


3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 27 30 33 36 39 42
Thousands of boxes


Fig. 100.-Relation of volume per car capacity to cost per box for 85 pack-
inghouses, season 1925-26. Firms operating pre-cooling plants not in-
cluded.
box for 1924-25 and 1.3 cents for the 1925-26 season for each
increase in volume per car capacity of 1,000 boxes (Figs. 99
and 100).


390













TABLE XXXII.-RELATION OF PERCENT OF TOTAL FRUIT IN GRAPEFRUIT TO COST OF HANDLING CITRUS FRUIT,
FOR 99 PACKINGHOUSES, SEASON 1924-25.

------------^^ ,f Soa ri n~ ,i,;~---,--- -
Number of Boxes Packing Labor Picking Material Other Cost Total Cost
Percent of Total Fruit in of Pack- Per _
Grapefruit inhouse Packing- Per Pack- Per Pack Per Pack- I Per Pack- Per Pack- I
house inghouse Per Box inghouse Per Box inghouse I Per Box inghouse Per Box inghouse Per Box

20 and under.......................... 20 63,164 $ 5,005.84 $0.07925 $ 7,651.68 $0.12114 $23,942.30 $0.37906 $26,765.58 $0.42373 $ 63,365.40 $1.00318
20-29.9.............................. 18 77,010 6,066.06 .07878 9,021.69 .11715 27,751.61 .36036 33,859.11 .43966 76,698.47 .99596
30- 39.9 ........................... 14 102,144 7,694.26 .07533 11,732.77 .11486 36,996.3 .36220 46,154.36 .4518 102,577.74 1.00425
40- 49.9 ....................... ........... 5 45,151 2,688.09 .0594 4,203.91 .09311 1,637.07 .34633 18,064.08 .40007 40,593.1 .89905
50- 59.9 ........................................ 8 100,284 5,995.62 .05979 10103.84 .1007 35,650.39 .35548 40,926.3 .40812 92,676.181 .92414
60- 69.9 .......................... 9 128,125 7,380.54 .0576 12,339.06 .09630 45,908.44 .3831 1,687.27 .4042 117,315.31 .91563
70- 79.9 ................................ 16 95,963 5,101.52 .05316 7,902.86 .08235 32,997.29 .84385 36,423.11 .379561 82,424.78 .85892
80 and over ............................... 9 85,578 4,645.42 .05428 6,078.10 .07102| 29,819.78 .34845 36,892.63 .43110| 77,435.931 .90485
Total and average 99 86,27 $ ,740.29 $0.06634 $ 8,825.59 $0.10200 $31,002.25 $0.829 $36,249.07 $0.41893 $ 81,817.20 $0.94556
8652 $ I.4.9 I $ I I.O$lO22 ~ ~ ~ .







Florida Agricultural Experiment Station


PERCENT OF GRAPEFRUIT TO TOTAL FRUIT
The total number of boxes of grapefruit and oranges for all
packinghouses was about the same each year. Some of the pack-
inghouses ran quite heavily to grapefruit, while others ran to
oranges. For 1924-25, 20 packinghouses had 20 per cent or less
of the total fruit in grapefruit, and nine had over 80 percent in
grapefruit. One packinghouse had 100 percent grapefruit, while
another had only 0.2 percent.

TABLE XXXIII.-RELATION OF PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL FRUIT IN GRAPE-
FRUIT TO PAPER COST.
Sixty-nine Packinghouses-Season 1924-25

Average Q
Percentage of Total Number Percentage ; 1 Average Cost Per
Fruit in Grapefruit of Pack- of Total '
Groups inghouses Fruit in g Packing-
Grapefruit FA 4. house

25 and under ................ 18 15.7 76,253 $7628.49 $0.10004
25.1-50 ...................... 17 35.2 89,067 8016.36 .09000
50.1-75 ............--- 22 65.1 120,604 9460.43 .07844
75.1 and over ........... 12 82.5 88,766 6345.22 .07148

Total and average.... 69 47.9 95,727 $8084.97 $0.08446
Sixty-two Packinghouses-Season 1925-26.

25 and under .......... 15 15.8 60,109 $5871.18 $0.09768
25.1-50 ........................... 23 37.6 67,867 6147.11 .09058
50.1-75 ......................... 18 63.6 67,734 4784.99 .07064
75.1 and over ..........._ 6 84.3 85,057 5063.22 .05953

Total and average.... 62 44.4 67,615 $5580.011 $0.08253

In Table XXXII is indicated the influence on cost of per-
centage of total fruit in grapefruit. Three items, packing labor,
material and picking, were affected by variation in the propor-
tion of grapefruit and oranges. Packinghouses having 20 per-
cent or less of the total fruit in grapefruit had an average cost
per box of 2 cents more for packing labor, 3 cents more for
material, and 5 cents more for picking, than those packing-
houses that had 80 percent or more of the total fruit in grape-







Bulletin 202, Cost of Handling Citrus Fruit


fruit. The first and third groups had a pre-cooling cost per box
of 2 and 4 cents, respectively, higher than any other groups,
which partially accounts for the total cost being higher in these
groups than for the others.
All items of material were practically the same for grapefruit
and oranges, except paper. Paper cost per box was somewhat
less for grapefruit than for oranges. Firms that had more than
75 percent of the total volume in grapefruit had a paper cost of
about 4 cents per box less than firms that had less than 25 per-
cent of the total volume in grapefruit, Table XXXIII. One
packinghouse that had all grapefruit, had a paper cost of 3 cents
per box, while one house that had but .2 percent in grapefruit,
had a paper cost of 10 cents per box. Size of fruit is an import-
ant factor affecting the paper cost per box. For the same qual-
ity paper, the paper cost per box increases as the size of the
fruit decreases.
PRE-COOLING
Of the 99 packinghouses for the 1924-25 season, 11 had pre-
cooling plants, and of the 95 for 1925-26, 10 had pre-cooling
plants. The firms having pre-cooling plants did not pre-cool all
of the fruit that was handled. The exact number of boxes pre-
cooled was not available. The volume handled by pre-cooling
packinghouses was considerably larger than the volume for pack-
inghouses without pre-cooling. One pre-cooling packinghouse,
however, for the 1924-25 season, had only 29,541 boxes, and one
for 1925-26 had only 27,815 boxes. The cost for these packing-
houses was $1.43 and $1.47 per box, respectively. The costs of
installing and operating pre-cooling equipment are so great
that unless a good volume of fruit is available, the costs are apt
to be prohibitive. It will be seen from Tables XXXIV and
XXXV that the house cost for packinghouses having pre-cool-
ing was about 13 cents for the 1924-25 season, and 11 cents for
1925-26, greater than for packinghouses without pre-cooling
plants. Each year, the pre-cooling packinghouses had a larger
average volume than the packinghouses without pre-cooling,
which would be favorable for low operation cost, but to counter-
balance this, the pre-cooling packinghouses had a higher per-
centage of the total fruit in oranges than the packinghouses
without pre-cooling.
For the years covered by this study 11.0 percent and 13.9 per-
cent, respectively, of the carlot shipments of citrus fruit was







'94 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station

TABLE XXXIV.-HANDLING COST FOR PACKINGHOUSES WITH AND
WITHOUT PRE-COOLING, FOR 99 PACKINGHOUSES, SEASON 1924-25.


Number of packinghouses ..............

Packed boxes of grapefruit per
packinghouse ............................ 4
Packed boxes of oranges per pack-
inghouse ............................... ......
Packed boxes of tangerines per
packinghouse ...... ..... ...................

Total boxes of packed fruit per
packinghouse .......................... 8
Bulk boxes per packinghouse ........
Total boxes all fruit per pack-
inghouse .......... .....-..............

Items
Pe
iF

Floor labor .....--..........- ........_--.- ........... $


Packing labor ........................... .....

Management ..............-............-...|
Office ........................... ..............

Packinghouse building and land....
Light, water, power and house
equipment ....................... .....

Field equipment ........................

M material ......................... .... .........

Pre-cooling ...............................
Other cost in house ..................

Total house cost for packed fruit
Picking .............................. .............-

Hauling ..............................-..- ....- .

Total handling cost for packed I
fruit ................. ...............- ......

Bulk fruit cost .................. ..............

Total handling cost for all fruit|


Packinghouses Packinghouses
Without Pre- With Pre-cooling
cooling Pi-eooling

88 11


L2,173 35,127

i5,661 83,083

3,448 10,283


!1,282 128,493
2,728 1,438

!4,010 129,931 _
Average Cost Average Cost
er Pack- Per Pack-
nghouse Per Box inghouse Per Box

9,175.87 $0.11289 $ 14,420.93 $0.11229

5,177.93 .06370 10,239.15 .07968

3,249.771 .03998 6,137.04 .04776
1,586.201 .01952 2,341.33 .01822

2,770.63 .03409 3,639.33 .02831

4,502.61 .05539 7,841.83 .06102

1,559.50 .01919 2,736.61| .02129

28,954.59 .35622 47,383.56 .36876

...... ...... 10,864.511 .08455

1,645.12 .02024 4,184.781 .03256


$58,622.22 $0.72122 $109,789.07 $0.85444

8,002.26 .0984 15,412.20 .11994
8,039.69 .09891 13,840.20 .10771


$74,664.17 $0.91858 $139,041.47 $1.08209

1,292.54 .47380 779.38 .54199

$75,956.71 $0.904141 $139,820.85 $1.07612








Bulletin 202, Cost of Handling Citrus Fruit


TABLE XXXV.-HANDLING COST FOR PACKINGHOUSES WITH AND WITHOUT
PRE-COOLING, FOR 95 PACKINGHOUSES, SEASON 1925-26.


Number of packinghouses ............-

Packed boxes of grapefruit per
packinghouse ..............
Packed boxes of oranges per
packinghouse ..---....-..... ...
Packed boxes of tangerines per
packinghouse ............... ..-.....

Total boxes of packed fruit per
packinghouse ...........................
Bulk boxes per packinghouse....-.....

Total boxes all fruit per pack-
inghouse ........... ............ ....- .......


Packinghouses
Without Pre-
cooling

85 I


27,785

27,173

2,584


57,542
2,100 I


59,642
Average Cost


Items ~ -- --1 ---
Per Pack- Per Pack-
inghouse ;PerBox inghouse PerBox
-- ---------- ^-^--
Floor labor ........... ...............-- --- $ 7,944.601$0.13807 $ 12,447.034$0.12092

Packing labor ............................... 3,964.18 .06889 7,785.41 .07563

Management ..--.-........------- 2,871.74 .04991 4,671.66 .04538

Office .-..-..--..---------.----------- 1,479.921 .02572 3,091.19 .03003

Packinghouse building and land.... 2,401.371 .04173 3,352.82 .03257
Light, water, power and house
equipment ---...-.. --.....---- 3,874.70 .06734 6,864.06 .06668

Field equipment .....-........ -----.... 1,113.08 .01934 1,890.75 .01837

Material ............... ............... -------- 20,202.93 .35110 36,958.70 .35904

Pre-cooling --....-- ...------------ --..----- ---------------- 11,667.05 .11334

Other cost in house ... --.................... 1,316.32 .02287 2,920.54 .02837
Total house cost for packed I
fruit ...............---............-- ---- $45,168.84 0.78497 $ 1,649.21 $0.89033

Picking .................-- --------------------- 7,195.11 .12504 15,064.92 .14635

Hauling .........................-----------.......... 6,223.921 .10816 9,518.68 .09247

Total handling cost for packed
fruit ----------- ------ $58,587.87 $1.01817 $116,232.81 $1.12915
Bulk fruit cost ...........................-... 1,157.90 .55138 2,708.38 .66042

Total handling cost for all fruit( $59,745.77 $1.001741 $118,941.19 $1.11119


Packinghouses
With Pre-cooling

10 1


30,487

66,716

5,735


102,938
4,101


107,039
Average Cost







Florida Agricultural Experiment Station


pre-cooled and, or, pre-iced; 39.0 percent and 44.3 percent was
shipped standard refrigeration and 50 percent and 41.8 per-
cent was shipped open ventilation.* The cost from Florida to
New York City for pre-icing is about $20 per car less than
standard refrigeration. In addition to this saving in refrigera-
tion, most of the managers of packinghouses operating pre-
cooling plants were of the opinion that there was less decay
when fruit was pre-cooled. It is probable when the saving in
refrigeration and less decay is considered that the higher pack-
ing cost of the pre-cooling packinghouses is justified. The rapid
increase in pre-cooling plants further indicates that extra cost
of pre-cooling is justified.

ONE-STORY VERSUS TWO-STORY PACKINGHOUSE BUILDING
Managers of packinghouses were very much interested in
knowing whether one-story or two-story buildings for packing-
houses were more economical. In making this study, it was nec-
essary to exclude all packinghouses having pre-cooling, and to
use packinghouses of approximately the same volume. The re-
sults of this study are shown in Table XXXVI.
The one-story packinghouses had a house cost of 5 cents per
box less than the two-story packinghouses. Five cents in 74
cents does not seem very significant, however, three items only-
floor labor; packinghouse building; and light, water, power and
house equipment-would be affected by the type of building.
There was practically no difference in the packinghouse building
cost for one and two-story buildings. Floor labor cost was 2.2
cents per box, or 17 percent, less in one-story buildings than in
two-story buildings. Light, water, power and house equipment
cost was 1 cent per box, or 18 percent, less in the one-story build-
ing than in the two-story building.

FLOOR AREA OF PACKINGHOUSE BUILDING
The floor area of the packinghouse building was obtained for
72 buildings in 1924-25. and 66 for 1925-26. The floor area of
the packinghouse buildings amounted to less than 2,000 square
feet per car capacity for 11 firms for the 1924-25 season and
for 10 firms for 1925-26. Twelve firms for the 1924-25 season

*Unpublished data of M. A. Brooker, Fla. Expt. Sta.








Bulletin 202, Cost of Handling Citrus Fruit


TABLE XXXVI.-CosT OF HANDLING CITRUS FRUIT FOR 35 ONE-STORY
PACKINGHOUSE BUILDINGS AND 16 TWO-STORY PACKINGHOUSE BUILDINGS,
SEASON 1924-25.


Number of packinghouses .............

Packed boxes of grapefruit per
packinghouse ..............................
Packed boxes of oranges per
packinghouse .............................
Packed boxes of tangerines per
packinghouse ...........................

Total boxes packed fruit per
packinghouse ..........................
Bulk boxes per packinghouse..........


Total boxes all fruit per pack-
inghouse ..........-............ ....... ....

Items


One-Story
Packinghouse
Buildings

35


66,905

49,295

4,407


120,607
2,903



123,510
Average Cost


Two-Story
Packinghouse
Buildings

16


60,904

44,350

5,056


110,310
4,346



114,656


Average Cost


Per Pack- Per Pack-
inghouse Per Box inghouse Per Box


Floor labor ...-..-..-.............-.......-----....-----. $13,002.29 $0.10781 $ 14,373.15 $0.13030

Packing labor .................................... 7,552.48 .06262 6,749.19 .06118

Management ........-...-..-..-.... .......------ 3,975.10 .03296 4,996.81 .04530

Office .............................................. 2,209.45 .01832 2,652.32 .02404

Packinghouse building and land-.... 4,076.46 .03380 3,608.80 .03272

Light, water, power and house
equipment ................................. 5,664.19 .04696 6,354.05 .05760

Field equipment ......-...................... 2,128.28 .01765 1,964.98 .01781

Material .........-..........-- ........-......... 42,496.15 .35235 39,809.37 .36089

Other cost in house .................-..-..-. 2,593.39 .02150 1,604.671 .01455

Total house cost for packed fruit$ 83,697.79 $0.69397 82,113.34 $0.74439
Picking .....................................--..-- .. 11,713.84 .09712 10,307.66 .09344
Hauling ............................................ 10,870.21 .09013 12,606.57 .11428

Total handling cost for packed
fruit .......................................... $106,281.84 $0.88122 $105,027.57 $0.95211
Bulk fruit cost .................................. 1,192.71 .41085 1,980.27 .45565

Total handling cost for all fruitl$107,474.55 $0.87017 $107,007.84 $0.93329








Florida Agricultural Experiment Station


and eight for 1925-26 had more than 6,000 square feet floor area
per car capacity. Floor labor cost per box increased as the floor
area per car capacity increased for the 1924-25 season (Table
XXXVII). For the season 1925-26 floor area per car capacity
had less influence on cost than for 1924-25, the cost per box be-
ing 1.2 cents greater for those firms that had 6,000 square feet
or over of floor area per car capacity, than for any other group.

XXXVII.-RELATION OF SQUARE FEET OF FLOOR AREA IN PACKINGHOUSE
BUILDING PER CAR CAPACITY TO FLOOR LABOR COST.
Seventy-two Packinghouses, Season 1924-25.


Square Feet of Floor
Area in Packinghouse
Building Per Car
Capacity



2,000 and under............

2,001-4,000 ....................

4,001-6,000 ..-...............

6,001 and over .............

Total and average-.


00





11

31

18

12

72


"". Floor Labor Cost
0l-S 00

"3''3 Per Pack-
' 0S C d / inghouse Per Box


1,856 74,434 $7,736.01 $0.10393


3,030

4,754

9,558

4,370


97,458

88,186

92,799

90,846


10,401.45

10,146.40

11,980.97

$10,193.72


Sixty-six Packinghouses, Season 1925-26.


2,000 and under ............

2,001-4,000 ......................

4,001-6,000 ...................

6,001 and over ...........

Total and average ..


10

29

19

8

66


1,835

2,931

4,733

8,780

3,993


55,329

61,923

65,132

74,689

63,395


$ 7,732.24

8,594.29

8,032.10

11,343.12

1$ 8,635.03


.10673

.11506

.12911

$0.11221




$0.13975

.13879

.12332

.15187

$0.13621


Twelve firms for 1924-25 and three for 1925-26 had less than
one-tenth of a square foot of floor area in the packinghouse
building per box handled. Seven firms for 1924-25 and 22 for
1925-26 had over four-tenths of a square foot of floor area per
box handled. The relation of floor area in packinghouse build-
ing per box to cost per box may be seen in Table XXXVIII. For
both seasons, the floor labor cost per box was lowest for the








Bulletin 202, Cost of Handling Citrus Fruit


TABLE XXXVIII.-RELATION OF SQUARE FEET OF FLOOR AREA IN PACK-
INGHOUSE BUILDING PER BOX HANDLED TO FLOOR LABOR COST.
Seventy-two Packinghouses, Season 1924-25.


Square Feet of Floor
Area in Packinghouse
Building Per Box



Under 0.100 ...........
.100-.199 ........... ..........
.200-.299 ........................
.300-.399 ......................
.400 and over ..............

Total and average


Number
of Pack-
inghouses


Average
Number
Square Feet
Floor Area
in Packing-
house
Building
Per Box


i
P.,
gs-1
p 5


Floor La


Per Pack-
inghouse


12 .079 132,474 $13,879.35
21 .151 90,036 9,192.58
24 .242 92,190 10,870.21
8 .355 73,484 8,968.28
7 .732 37,149 5,960.03

72 .248 90,846 $10,193.72


bor Cost



Per Box


$0.10477
.10210

.11791
.12204
.16044

$0.11221


Sixty-six Packinghouses, Season 1925-26.

Under 0.100 ............. 3 .081 l113,549 $14,974.85 $0.13188
.100-.199 ....................... 16 .155 71,169 9,277.28 .13036
.200-.299 .................... 16 .247 73,040 9,787.60 .13400
.300-.399 ..................I 9 .333 40,674 5,609.87 .13792
.400 and over .............. 22 .691 53,184 7,702.74 .14483

Total and average 66 .377 63,395 $ 8,635.03|$0.13621


group of packinghouses with one-tenth to two-tenths of a square
foot of floor space per box handled. Above this area, there was
a regular increase in floor labor cost with increasing floor
space per box capacity. It is probable that the firms with less
than one-tenth square foot per box were handicapped because
of not having enough floor area. One manager with a small
packinghouse but a large volume stated that in years of low
volume, his floor labor cost per box was less than when the
volume was large. The optimum floor area per box would
probably vary, depending upon the arrangement of the equip-
ment and services rendered. The data indicate that one
should not have more than four-tenths of a square foot per box.








400 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station

The largest floor area per box among the packinghouses studied
was 1.6 square feet for 1924-25 and 1.4 for 1925-26.










Sale: 1 inoh 35 feet



Loading space












Dryer

-Washer -- 4m r -




Receiving space




Receiving platform


Fig. 101.-Floor plan of a five-car capacity packinghouse which had a low
floor labor cost, season 1924-25.

ARRANGEMENT OF PACKINGHOUSE BUILDING AND
HOUSE EQUIPMENT

In general the packinghouse building and house equipment
should be arranged so that there will be as little handling of
fruit by hand as possible. Floor plans of a 5-car capacity pack-








Bulletin 202, Cost of Handling Citrus Fruit


inghouse building and house equipment which had low floor
labor cost for the 1924-25 season are shown in Fig. 101. In
Fig. 102 are shown floor plans of a 5-car capacity packinghouse
building and house equipment which had high floor labor cost
for the 1924-25 season. The similarity and differences of these
two packinghouses are shown in Table XXXIX, and should be
referred to in studying the two floor plans.


Paper

Half sizer


Sizer I e


Sizer


IIS
01 0~ 0 Peet_



SH alf size
I I- onveynr i,













Fig. 102-Floor plan of a five-car capacity
labor cost 2-car capacity packinghouse buildings and house
packinghouse which had a high floor la-
bor cost, season 1924-25.



eceivinla platform Office



ig. 2.-Floor plan of a five-en prepared also for high and low floorpacity
labor cost 2-car capacity packinghouse buildingshich had a high floor la-house





labor cost 2-car capacity packinghouse buildings and house
























Scale
1 inch
24 feet


Receiving space


Paper space
I
!- ....


I I \__ I __.I .i
Fig. 103.-Floor plan of a two-car capacity packinghouse which had a low floor labor cost, season 1924-25.


veYoT


, |,


/I. 1\








. 1 I I I I I I I I I I l 1 1 I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I 1 1 I I I


:i l i I j i; l 1 5 ; 1 f i l i l i i i l i i i i i i l I f l f i l l I 1 1 1 1 f11 1I I i 1i i i i l1 1i i l I I I I I I i ii


Loading platform




Loading space Paper


-- -- r-


I iI I 0






0 I



Sna : g






P N W l asher 0
,)





Fig. 104.-Floor plan of a two-car capacity packing house which had a high floor labor cost, season 1924-25.
0


. s i I i a al i I I o I









404 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station







S8oale: 1 inhob 35 feet



Pre- Pre- tPre- 1 Pre- 'Pre-
cooling cooling cooling cooling cooling t,
room room room room room


:r ,




SColoring
Room


M I
SColoring
room

hr Grder- D








ig. 105.-Floor plan of same packinghouse as in Fig. 101, after coloring
T Washer Dm uBiI




Coloring Coloring Coloring
room room room \



Receiving platform


fig. 105.-Floor plan of same packinghouse as in Fig. 101, after coloring
and pre-cooling plants had been installed.


equipment. Table XL should be referred to in studying these
floor plans. The firm whose floor plans are represented by Fig.
104 would be expected to have a higher floor labor cost than the
one represented by Fig. 103 because of a smaller volume and a
somewhat higher percent of tangerines. This, however, could
not account for all of the difference in floor labor cost.








Bulletin 202, Cost of Handling Citrus Fruit


Fig. 106.-A packinghouse with loading space to accommodate four cars.

TABLE XXXIX.-CONTRAST OF FLOOR PLAN OF Two FIVE-CAR CAPACITY
PACKINGHOUSES, SEASON 1924-25.


I


Volume-
Grapefruit ..-....................
Oranges ..........................
Tangerines .......................
Total volume ...-....................
Total handling cost ..............
Floor labor cost ...................

Distance from center of
receiving space to dump
and washer .................-.......


low Cost Packing-
house Figure 101

Boxes Percent
of Total

110,177 72
39,749 26
3,122 2
153,048 100


76 cents
8 cents


22 feet


High Cost Packing-
house Figure 102

Boxes Percent
of Total

156,165 69
65,403 29
4,643 2
226,211 100
84 cents
14 cents


55 feet


Distance fruit travels if 75 feet
colored to get to dump
when received by railroad 235 feet
Fruit colored before Fruit passes by dump
Location of coloring opera- reaching dump and to get to coloring
tion .................................. washer. Heavy can- room, then retraced to
vas used for coloring get to dump and
washer


Fruit received and exit
from same door? ........
Does fruit ever retrace it-
self ? ..... .......... ..---------
Location of railroad switch..


No
Two sides of build-
ing. Makes it pos-
sible to load or re-
ceive from either
side


Yes when received by
railroad

Always when colored
One side








Florida Agricultural Experiment Station


TABLE XL.-CONTRAST OF FLOOR PLANS OF TWO TWO-CAR CAPACITY
PACKINGHOUSES, SEASON 1924-25.

Low Cost Packing- High Cost Packing-
house Figure 103 house Figure 104

Boxes Percent Boxes Percent
of Total of Total

Volume-
Grapefruit ...................... 1,982 7 1,116 7
Oranges .......------................ 25,705 91 11,123 72
Tangerines .---..-....-........... 623 2 3,173 21

Total volume .......................... 28,310 100 15,412 100
Total handling cost .............. $1.04 per box $1.26 per box
Floor labor cost ...................... .09 per box .20 per box

Elevation of packinghouse Floor about 3 feet Floor on level of
building ................................ above ground ground. Makes un-
Sloading difficult

Distance from center of re-
ceiving space to dump
and washer ...................---- 23 feet 52 feet

Distance fruit travels to I
dump and washer when I
fruit is colored .-..----.......... 80 feet 104 feet

Does fruit ever retrace it- Slightly when col-I When colored and
self? .. .--.---....--..-......------. ..-- ored considerable w h e n
I Inot colored

Location of materials............ I Above loading space. At one side. Difficult
IEasy to get boxes to to get boxes to pack-
Spackers (ers

Location of dump and Near center of re- In narrow space at
washer ...---....---.................... I ceiving space. Easy one corner of receiv-
Sto get to dump. Con- ing space. Difficult to
Sgestion around dump get to. Easily con-
Sdifficult Igested

When building a packinghouse building or installing house
equipment, future needs should always be considered. Since the
1924-25 season the packinghouse represented by Fig. 101 has
installed coloring rooms and a pre-cooling plant. By referring to
Fig. 105 one may observe with what little expense, excepting the
actual equipment, these additions were made and at the same
time a well arranged and economical plant was maintained.







Bulletin 202, Cost of Handling Citrus Fruit


RENTED VERSUS OWNED PACKINGHOUSES
Most firms owned their packinghouse buildings, only eight in
1924-25 and 17 in 1925-26 renting. The packinghouse building
cost per box for owned buildings was approximately 1.5 cents
greater than for packinghouse buildings rented (Table XLI).
Only four firms for the 1924-25 season and nine for 1925-26
rented their house equipment. The light, water, power and
house equipment cost for firms owning their packinghouse equip-
ment was 6.9 cents per box and for firms renting it was 4.7 cents
per box for the 1925-26 season and for 1924-25 it was 5.7 and 5
cents, respectively. (Table XLII.)
There were only two firms for the 1924-25 season and only
three for 1925-26 that rented field equipment. There was practi-
cally no difference in the cost for field equipment when owned
or rented (Table XLIII).
It is doubtful if the savings made by renting equipment
counterbalance the uncertainty of having access to equipment
when needed. It affords, however, an opportunity for those with
limited capital to get started in the business of handling citrus
fruit.
DISTANCE FRUIT WAS HAULED
The average cost of hauling citrus was shown in tables
III and IV. Table XLIV has been prepared to show the varia-
tion in the miles that citrus fruit was hauled by different firms
and the cost for hauling. Twenty-five packinghouses for the
1924-25 season and 15 for 1925-26 hauled their fruit an average
of three miles or less. Only nine packinghouses in 1924-25 and
eight in 1925-26 hauled their fruit an average of more than nine
miles. Hauling cost increased each year as the number of miles
fruit was hauled increased.

YEAR PACKINGHOUSES BEGAN OPERATION
The year of beginning business for the firms now operating
each of 93 packinghouses studied for 1924-25, and 80 for 1925-
26, is shown in Table XLV. In some cases the packinghouses
were built and in others they were rented or purchased from
firms that operated them prior to this date. Of the seven firms
that operated for the first time for the season 1925-26, six
either purchased or rented from former operators. Of these six,
three had operated for two years only.









Florida Agricultural Experiment Station


TABLE XLI.-BUILDING COST FOR PACKINGHOUSE BUILDINGS OWNED AND
PACKINGHOUSE BUILDINGS RENTED.
Ninety-nine Packinghouses, Season 1924-25.
Packing- Packing-
house house
Buildings Buildings
Owned Rented

Number of packinghouses ............... ...........-..... 91 8

Number of boxes per packinghouse......--.....-....- ... 88,151 68,060

Packinghouse building cost per packinghouse ..$2,602.53 $1,028.66

Packinghouse building cost per box........... -----............ 0.02952 0.01511
Ninety-five Packinghouses, Season 1925-26.

Number of packinghouses ----....................--- ... .... 78 17

Number of boxes per packinghouse......................I 67,143 40,194

Packinghouse building cost per packinghouse .... $2,488.02 $ 858.30

Packinghouse building cost per box......... ........ 0.03706 0.02135


TABLE XLII.-PACKINGHOUSE EQUIPMENT COST FOR HOUSE EQUIPMENT
OWNED AND HOUSE EQUIPMENT RENTED.
Ninety-nine Packinghouses, Season 1924-25.
House House
Equipment Equipment
_Owned Rented

Number of packinghouses ..................--.........--- ........ 95 4

Number of boxes per packinghouse---..................... 86,860 78,626

Packinghouse equipment cost per packinghouse.... $4,912.99 $3,939.76

Packinghouse equipment cost per box.................... 0.05656 0.05009

Ninety-five Packinghouses, Season 1925-26.


Number of packinghouses ........--......-..-- .-----

Number of boxes per packinghouse ............-..........

Packinghouse equipment cost per packinghouse.

Packinghouse equipment cost per box---................


86

64,055

$4,403.36

0.06874


9

45,754

$2,144.57

0.04687









Bulletin 202, Cost of Handling Citrus Fruit


TABLE XLIII.-FIELD EQUIPMENT COST FOR FIELD EQUIPMENT OWNED
AND FIELD EQUIPMENT RENTED.
Ninety-nine Packinghouses, Season 1924-25.
Field Field
Equipment Equipment
Owned Rented


Number of packinghouses ..................-..............

Number of boxes per packinghouse...................

Field equipment cost per packinghouse.................I

Field equipment cost per box ............- ................


97

85,658

$1,672.49

0.01952


Ninety-five Packinghouses, Season 1925-26.

Number of packinghouses .............................. 92

Number of boxes per packinghouse ..........--............. 61,976

Field equipment cost per packinghouse ............... $1,192.53

Field equipment cost per box........-................ 0.01924


2

128,690

$2,553.81

0.01984



3

72,901

$1,268.64

0.01740


TABLE XLIV.-RELATION OF MILES CITRUS FRUIT WAS HAULED TO
HAULING COST
Eighty two Packinghouses, Season 1924-25.


-f


Miles Hauled


3 and under .......

3.1-4 ................... I


6.1-9 ....-......-.

9.1 and over .........


Number
of Pack-
inghouses


25

13

27


Average
Number
Miles
Hauled


Boxes Per
Packing-
house


107,751

55,543

84,363

106,664

154,792


Hauling Cost
Per Pack-' Per
inghouse 1 Box

$ 9,437.661$0.08759

4,629.59 .08335

7,861.48 .09319

11,971.48 .11224

18,424.37 .11903


Seventy-two Packinghouses, Season 1925-26.


3 and under ..........

3.1-4 .................

4.1-6 --................ ...

6.1-9 .. ........

9.1 and over .........


2.2

3.6

5.2

7.5

10.8


59,091

52,811

63,782

84,450

86,123


$ 4,631.77 $0.07838

4,681.15 .08864

6,659.59 .10441

8,907.30 .10547

10,083.00, .11708









410


Florida Agricultural Experiment Station


TABLE XLV.-FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION OF YEAR PACKINGHOUSES
BEGAN BUSINESS.


Ninety-three Packinghouses,
Season 1924-25
Year Began Number of Cumulative
Operation Packing- Percent
houses

1902 ............ 1 1.1

1903 .......... 0 1.1

1904 ...-...-...-.. 0 1.1

1905 ...-... .... 0 1.1

1906 ............ 0 1.1

1907 ............ 1 2.2 !

1908 .-.......... 1 3.2

1909 ............. 10 14.0

1910 .......... 0 14.0

1911 ............ 3 17.2

1912 ............. 2 19.4

1913 .............. 2 21.5

1914 ........ 8 30.1

1915 ............ 2 32.3

1916 ............ 3 35.5

1917 ........... 1 36.6

1918 .........--... 3 39.8

1919 ............ 9 49.5

1920 .............. 11 61.3

1921 ......... .... 12 74.2

1922 ............ 9 83.9

1923 ........-.... 8 92.5

1924 ............. 7 100.0

1925 ........... 0 100.0 1


ii
)II


Eighty Pac
Season
Number of
Packing-
houses

0

0

0

0

0

1

1

9

0

3

2
1

4

1

1

1

3

7

9

7

7

7
9

7


80


:kinghouses,
1925-26
Cumulative
Percent


0

0

0

0

0

1.2

2.5

13.8

13.8

17.5

20.0

21.2

26.2

27.5

28.8

30.0

33.8

42.5

53.8

62.5

71.2

80.0

91.2

100.0








Bulletin 202, Cost of Handling Citrus Fruit


No effort was made to obtain data on the mortality of pack-
inghouses. Competition is keen and the inefficient are constant-
ly being eliminated. Fifty-six, or 60 percent, of the packing-
houses for the 1924-25 season, and 53, or 66 percent, for
1925-26, had been in business less than eight years. Ten for
1924-25 and nine for the 1925-26 season, began business in 1909,
the first year of operation of the Florida Citrus Exchange.
An effort was made to ascertain the effect that the number of
years a packinghouse had operated had on cost. The results in-
dicate that packinghouses which began operation from 1916 to
1920 had the lowest cost per box, and that packinghouses that
began operation prior to 1910 had the highest cost per box,
Table XLVI. Probably one reason for this is that the packing-
houses that began operations prior to 1910 are not as well
equipped as those that began operations from 1916 to 1920. One
reason that packinghouses which began operations after 1920
had an average cost higher than those from 1916 to 1920 might
be attributed to lack of experience.

TABLE XLVI.-RELATION OF NUMBER OF YEARS THAT PACKINGHOUSES
HAVE OPERATED TO COST OF HANDLING CITRUS FRUIT.
Eighty-two Packinghouses, Season 1924-25.


Year Packinghouses
Began Operation


1902-09 ................
1910-15 .. ...........
1916-20 .......... ......
1921-24 .... .........


Total and average .


Number of Number of Boxes Average Cost
Packing- Years Per
houses Operated Packing- Per Pack- Per Box
houses Opert house inghouse

8 16 115,098 $109,639.55 $0.95258

14 11 59,070 56,146.87 .95051
26 6 76,810 69,430.51 .90393
34 2 87,152 79,696.99 .91446


82 6 81,805 $75,342.241 $0.92100


Seventy-one Packinghouses, Season 1925-26.


1902-09 ......................
1910-15 ..... -..............
1916-20 ........... ....
1921-25 ...........-


Total and average .l


8
11
18
34


71


16
11
7
3


8


100,364
75,350
57,595
52,910


$104,067.63
76,245.51
57,377.16
54,723.46


$1.03690
1.01188
.99622
1.03427


62,921 1$ 64,290.56 $1.02177







Florida Agricultural Experiment Station


SUMMARY

Citrus plantings are increasing at a rapid rate. In 1925, about
75 percent of the grapefruit trees and 55 percent of the orange
trees were bearing, Table II.
The interstate shipments of citrus fruit from Florida in-
creased on the average from 1884-1885 to 1925-26, 371,000 boxes
per year, Fig. 70. From the season 1901-02 to 1925-26, ship-
ments increased at the average rate of 698,000 boxes per year,
Fig. 70.
The per capital consumption of grapefruit, oranges and tan-
gerines from the season 1884-85 to 1925-26 increased, on the
average, 0.0073 of a box, or about one fruit, per year, Fig. 72.
In the four years during which the per capital consumption was
more than 0.3 of a box, the prices received were not favorable
to the growers.
The average cost per box of handling citrus fruit from the
tree to the car was $0.95 for the 1924-25 season, and $1.04 for
1925-26. The various items of cost are shown in Tables III
and IV.
The cost per box for handling citrus fruit for different sec-
tions of the state varied little, Table VII.
The investment of individual firms in packinghouse building
and land varied from $444.10 to $91,368.67, with an average of
$20,598.96. House equipment value varied from $1,126.80 to
$62,626.44, with an average of $12,274.75. Field equipment in-
vestment varied from $122.90 to $8,000.00, with an average of
$2,902.52.
The items of interest on investment, insurance, depreciation,
taxes and repairs on packinghouse building and land averaged
26 cents for each dollar invested for the 1924-25 season and 2S
cents for 1925-26, Table IX.
For packinghouses with approximately the same volume but
different total investments, the average cost per box increased
as the investment increased, Table XIV.
Excluding firms that rented property or owned pre-cooling
plants, as the average investment per box increased, the average
cost per box increased, Table XI and Figs. 89 and 90.
The volume of fruit handled by individual packinghouses
varied from 6,801 to 277,612 boxes, with an average of 86,527
boxes for the 1924-25 season, and from 10,833 to 272,522 boxes,







Bulletin 202, Cost of Handling Citrus Fruit


with an average of 62,321 boxes, for 1925-26. The average cost
per box decreased as volume increased, Tables XVI and XVII
and Figs. 91 and 92.
The combination of large volume and full use of packing-
houses greatly decreased the cost per box, Table XX.
Large packinghouses were able to render more service than
small packinghouses, pages 370 and 375.
As the use of the packinghouse was increased, the average
cost per box decreased, Tables XXVII, XXVIII, XXX and XXXI
and Figs. 97 and 98.
The combination of large capacity packinghouses and high
percentage use greatly decreased cost per box, Table XXIX.
Packinghouses in which grapefruit constituted a large per-
centage of the total fruit operated at a lower cost per box than
those in which grapefruit represented only a small percentage
of the total fruit, Table XXXII.
The average total cost per box in packinghouses with pre-cool-
ing plants was 13 cents higher in 1924-25 and 11 cents higher
in 1925-26, than in packinghouses without pre-cooling plants.
One-story packinghouses had an average floor labor cost of
about 21/2 cents less per box and light, water, power and house
equipment cost of 1 cent less than two-story packinghouses,
Table XXXVI.
As the floor areas of the packinghouses per car capacity and
per box handled increased, the average cost per box increased,
Tables XXXVII and XXXVIII.
Arrangement of the packinghouse building and house equip-
ment affected floor labor cost per box, Tables XXXIX and XL
and Figs. 101 to 105.
The cost per box for packinghouse building, and light, water,
power and house equipment, was a little less for rented packing-
houses than for owned packinghouses. There was no difference
in field equipment cost between rented and owned field equip-
ment, Tables XLI to XLIII.
The hauling cost per box increased as the number of miles
fruit was hauled increased, Table XLIV.
Packinghouses that began business prior to 1910 had a higher
average cost per box than packinghouses that began business
after 1910, Table XLVI.







Florida Agricultural Experiment Station


This study indicates that some of the important factors in the
efficient handling of citrus fruits from the tree to the car are:
1. A reasonable investment per box. For packinghouses
without pre-cooling plants, the total investment should not ex-
ceed 50 cents per box with a normal crop. Pre-cooling plants re-
sult in a very high cost unless a large volume of fruit is handled.
2. Adequate volume. In general, a volume of at least 75,000
boxes is necessary for efficient operation.
3. Large volume per car capacity. For efficient operation, at
least 15,000 boxes per season should be handled per car capacity.
4. Large volume per grower. If the fruit of individual grow-
ers is to be kept separate until packed, a volume of at least 400
boxes per grower is necessary if costs are to be kept at a reason-
able level. A large number of varieties results in increased costs.
5. Efficient arrangement of packinghouses. The best ar-
rangement is a one-story house with conveniently arranged
equipment and from 0.1 to 0.4 square feet of floor area per box
handled.







Bulletin 202, Cost of Handling Citrus Fruit


APPENDIX A
CORRELATION AND REGRESSION STUDIES*

It was shown in Tables XVI and XVII that packinghouses
with a large volume had a lower average cost per box than pack-
inghouses with a small volume. It is important, however, to
know the relation between volume per packinghouse and cost
per box; the percentage of all causes affecting cost per box that
were measured by volume; and the relationship between volume
and cost for another group of packinghouses under similar con-
ditions. By statistical methods, these problems may be ascer-
tained for the factors of volume per packinghouse and cost per
box, as well as for other factors.
Considering the following:
r, is relation of two variables, or simple correlation.
R, is relation of more than two variables, or multiple correla-
tion.
r12.34, is relation of two variables when the effect of other
variables is held constant, or partial correlation.
X1, is cost per box of handling citrus fruit.
X2, is volume of fruit handled per packinghouse.
X3, is the percentage of time that the packinghouse was oper-
ated at full capacity from the date of opening to the date of
closing.
X, is volume of fruit handled per car capacity.
X5, is investment per box for fruit handled.
XM, is volume of fruit per grower.
Table XLVII has been prepared for the consideration of the
factors listed above. In the first column are given the fac-
tors considered, and in the second, the number of packinghouses
used. The third column gives the coefficient of correlation which
indicates the degree of relation between the factors. In the case
of volume per packinghouse and cost per box, the coefficient for
the 1924-25 season was .45612 .05683. A coefficient of zero
would have indicated no relation between the two factors. If the
coefficient had been 1.0, the relation would have been perfect,
that is, for each increase in volume per packinghouse, there
*All formulae used in arriving at the following results were taken
from a mimeographed report by Mordecai Ezekiel. For a thorough treat-
ment of correlation and regression coefficients, consult Statistical Methods,
by F. C. Mills.








Florida Agricultural Experiment Station


would have been a proportional increase in cost per box. Had it
been 1.0, the relation would have been the reverse; that is,
for each increase in volume per packinghouse, there would have
been a proportional decrease in cost per box. The actual cor-
relation given indicates a significant negative relation between
volume per packinghouse and cost per box of handling citrus.
The relation of these two factors measures only 20.805 percent
of all the causes affecting cost, column 4. In the last column is
given the range in which the relationship between volume per

TABLE XLVII.-RELATIONSHIP OF Two VARIABLES.
Season 1924-25.


Coefficient of
Correlation





- .45612 .05683

- .35302 .0628]

- .45543 .05687

+ .70261 .0375M

- .41510 .0858.


Percent of
all the causes
which af-
fected the
cost of
handling
citrus fruit
measured
by the con-
sidered
factors

3 20.805

1 12.462

S 20.742

S 49.366

S 17.231


The range in rela-
tionship that would
be expected one
time out of two for
a similar group of
packinghouses



- .39929 to .51295

- .29021 to .41583

- .39856 to .51230

+ .66508 to + .74014

- .32921 to .50099


Season 1925-26.


- .42562 .06004

- .32036 .06579

- .48991 .05572

+ .60576 .05083

- .14778 .10996


18.115

10.263

24.001

36.695

2,184


- .36558 to .48566

- .25457 to .38615

- .43419 to .54563

+ .55493 to + .65659

- .03782 to .25774


X-=Cost per box for handling citrus fruit.
X2=Volume of fruit handled per packinghouse.
X3=Percentage of time that packinghouse was operated at full capacity
from date of opening to date of closing.
X4=Volume of fruit handled per car capacity.
X5=Investment per box of fruit handled.
X8=Volume of fruit per grower.


Factors
Considered





rXiX2 ..........

rXiXs ..........

rXIX, ..........

rXlX, ..........

rX1X, .........


Number of
Packing-
houses





88

88

88

82

42


rXiX2 ..........

rXX3 ..........

rXiX4 ..........

rXiX, ..........

rX1X, ..........