62 
THE MODEL STOCK PLAN 
stocks which exist in almost every store, stocks that do not 
turn more than twice a year and then do not turn except at a 
loss.! 
It is only possible in this book to outline briefly the general 
facts that records should give the merchant who uses the 
Model Stock Plan. Obviously, no set of forms can be devised 
that will fit all classes or sizes of stores. A large department 
store requires extremely detailed information in order that 
each department may be planned for and adequately con- 
trolled, both as a unit and as part of a coordinated whole. 
A small, single-line store, such as, say, a store doing an annual 
volume of $350,000, requires few records, if the proprietor 
is on the job every day. A large, metropolitan store may 
require, to yield the greatest total profits, departmental 
records comparable in their completeness to those used in a 
department store of comparable volume. Almost every 
line of business has its distinctive method of keeping records 
to fit its peculiar needs. Many retail trade associations have 
developed standard methods of accounting and planning 
which can readily be adapted to the Model Stock Plan. 
The Model Stock Plan, as has repeatedly been pointed out 
in these pages, is a planning and control method rather 
than a set of forms and store systems. Any merchant who 
absorbs the principles underlying the plan can devise or 
find the forms to supply the operating facts he needs. We 
shall, therefore, consider here merely the general outlines of 
the records of the Model Stock Plan in terms of the informa- 
tion they must yield. Because the department store problem 
is the more complex, we shall illustrate our principles in 
general terms applicable to department stores. The mer- 
chant whose record problem is simpler can easily simplify 
and eliminate for himself to reduce the statement to terms 
applicable to his specific merchandising problem. 
1 The Louisville Grocery Survey, made in 1928 to 1929 under joint auspices 
of the U. S. Department of Commerce and local and national grocery inter- 
ests, disclosed by inventorying typical independent grocery stores that prac- 
tically all of them had on hand important quantities of merchandise that had 
been in stock anywhere from many months up to several years. Some of 
its Vande found had been discontinued by the packers three or four years