HOW TO PLAN AND CONTROL A MODEL STOCK 61 
figures. If the demand for a particular class of goods is 
much greater this season than last, we should obviously 
have a much larger investment but plan wisely for forcing 
such greatly increased sales that the investment is relatively 
smaller. Then the previous season is only a standard from 
which to deviate. 
Our definite operations planning in detail starts from the 
six-months’ plan. Since the figures are set so far in advance, 
obviously they must be elastic enough to stand correction by 
experience from day to day. Competent retailing, however, 
makes deviations from the plan only in accordance with 
necessities arising from unforeseen changed conditions that 
our best endeavors cannot meet in any other way. And 
when we have a Model Stock summary of each department’s 
plans, we know with reasonable accuracy what stocks we 
require and what sales we may expect. 
We have seen in a preceding chapter’ that under the 
Model Stock Plan we should theoretically have an ideal stock 
that is neither too large nor too small. Perhaps, however, 
when we summarize our six-months’ plan, we find that the 
total might be larger and still be within our reach. Since 
we have done away with all in-between prices, it is probable 
that our total stock will not be larger than in the past, but smaller. 
And the Model Stock will be incomparably more complete. 
We may, of course, find the totals larger than we should 
altogether conservatively invest—because of our location, 
our financial position, our plans for the future, economic 
conditions and prospects, or whatnot. The way to remedy 
the total, if it should be too high, is not in arbitrarily cutting 
so that we cannot keep a Model Stock in any department. 
Rather, we should first eliminate such classes of goods as 
are least important to our business. It is clear that we can 
sell more goods by having everything that our customers 
can reasonably expect in most of our lines than by having a 
seriously incomplete stock in all of our lines. The Model 
Stock Plan finds out for us and helps us to eliminate those 
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