The objectives of this study were to compare the costs of service and self-service methods of selling meat and to show the relationship of cost to volume of sales.

Cost data were obtained from 23 self-service and 26 service stores for the period October 6 to 11, 1952. The cost items compared were labor, equipment, market floor space and paper supplies. These costs constitute about 85 percent of the total costs of operating the meat department. The volume of meat sales of the stores in this study ranged from $500 to $7,000 per week. Thus, the following results are applicable only to stores in this range.

Physical hours of labor per dollar of sales averaged lower under. self-service than service methods up to a sales volume of about $2,000 per week. Beyond that point the self-service method required more physical hours of labor.