Cost of living in German towns

Bibliographic data

Monograph

Identifikator:: 866449027

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-93831

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Cost of living in German towns

Place of publication:: London

Publisher:: Stat. Off.

Year of publication:: 1908

Scope:: 1 Online-Ressource (LXI, 548 Seiten)

Collection:: Economics Books

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ESSEN. 243 Retail Prices. Groceries and other Commodities. In the matter of the food supply, as in other respects, the conditions in Essen are abnormal. A short account has already been given of the “ Supply Stores ” founded by the Krupp firm for its employees, and limited to them. The purchasers receive a dividend at the end of each year’s trading, but in other respects the stores are not co-operative in the ordinary sense of the term, since they are run entirely by the firm itself, the workmen have no voice in the management, and (as the trading accounts are not published) there is no evidence as to the extent of the profits or the proportion thereof which is returned to the purchasers in the form of dividends. There is a real Co-operative Society in the town, which is large and important, for in August, 1906, it had 15 shops and 5,882 members, while its turnover in the year 1905-6 was £77,000. It is stated that nearly half of the members are Krupp workmen, who prefer to deal with a society in whose management they can have some share. The Krupp Supply Stores were founded in 1868, and were originally intended only for the employees of the firm, but this restriction, which was never completely enforced, was abandoned a few years later. For nearly 20 years the shops were opened to all inhabitants of Essen, but the shopkeepers of the town constantly complained of what they regarded as unfair competition. In the ’nineties the dividend system was introduced, but only for the Krupp workmen ; other purchasers were not to be entitled to share in the profits. Then in 1897 the sales were limited solely to the Krupp employees, and on this basis the stores are still conducted. Nevertheless, the prices charged in the Krupp stores to a large extent regulate the prices of private traders. Thus the officials of the Co-operative Society admitted that they have to direct their efforts towards keeping their prices on a level with those charged by the Krupp stores ; and they added that for some commodities—those purchased by the poorer classes of workmen—the Krupp prices were not infrequently below “ normal ” market prices, and that in any case the quality of the commodities sold by the Krupp stores was always good. With the 36 general Krupp shops (in 1905) setting prices which are closely followed by the 15 shops of the Co-operative Society, the other working- class shops in Essen must make the same charges, or lower ones ; at any rate they cannot charge higher prices. There are a number of shops which do charge distinctly lower prices, but the quality of the goods sold by them to the poorest classes of the community is very inferior. The Krupp stores sell almost everything needed in a household, while the Co-operative Society deals only in " colonial produce,” bread, miscellaneous household stores, and preserved meats of various kinds. The only other example of the " multiple shop ” system is furnished by a large firm with ten branches in various parts of the town. Bread is sold in all qualities, shapes, and sizes, and both according to weight and at fixed prices, in which latter case the quantity varies with the ruling price of flour, whether rye or wheat. Loaves as small as 2 and 3 lb. and as large as 8, 9, and 10 lb. are sold. The usual retail trader’s price for the coarsest black rye bread in October, 1905, was 4\d. for 4 lb., grey bread cost 6£d., and white (pure wheat) bread 7\d. to 8fc/. for 4 lb. The price of black bread at Krupp’s stores was about 3d. for 4 lb. and of white bread 7\d. in October, 1905. The qualities of coffee chiefly sold cost from 9fd. to 1 Ad. per lb., but there are inferior qualities, and among the poor roasted barley, sold from 2\d. to 2Id. per lb., is much used as a substitute. Sugar here, as elsewhere, varies much in qualitv and price, and is the favourite subject of competition between grocers. The usual price of sugar bought by working people was 2^d. per lb. Fresh butter cost from Is. Id. to Is. 3Jd., and margarine, of which there was a large sale, from Gd. to 8£d. The kinds of cheese mostly eaten are Dutch, Limburg at öd. 2 H 2 29088

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