A New Fcrrm-Building Merchondising Progrqm

Lumber Deqlers Gqn Gosh ln on Demond

By Formers for 'One-price Buildings'

By A. A. ZANDER

West Coast Lumbermen's Association

Some entirely new, but at the same time practical, helps for the merchandising of packaged farm buildings are being sent to all retail lumber dealers in the United States by the West Coast Lumbermen's Association.

In the farm building market, the demand is for complete buildings. The time may be approach.ing when the only ryay a retail lumber dealer can stay in business is to sell packaged buildings. On the modern, mechanized, high investment farms, farmers can no longer afford to take time off and gather all the materials together for a building. They need a source where they can get the buildings they need in one trip for one price. Retail lumber dealers, convenient everywhere, can cash in on the demand if they can sell "one-price buildings."

The helps contained in the new packaged farm building program, available free from the West Coast Lumbermen's Association, may well be the most worthwhile, profitmaking aids retail lumber dealers can find.

Despite a general agreement on the merits of packaged selling, to actually start the selling of "buildings instead of boards" is a difficult step for many lumber yard crews.

Cooperating with the Agricultural Engineering Depart- ment of Michigan State University, the West Coast Lumbermen's Association has developed a complete kit of material to help lumber dealers overcome this difrficulty and take advantage of the rapidly increasing demand for "oneprice buildings" in the farm building market.

The kit contains free newspaper mats, direct-mail advertising helps and radio advertising spots for the dealer to use in promoting and selling the farm building. But the most important item is the step-by-step set of instructions and illustrations for cost-estimating, precutting and erecting the buildings-in other words, the recipe for converting stock items on his shelves into a complete Utility Farm Building: the type of building that is in most demand on the modern farm.

There are separate sets of instructions, or so-called "plans," for each of the four building sizes, 24 feet,30 feet, 36 feet and 40 feet. The size designation refers to the clearspan widths. Any of the buildings may be built to any length the customer desires in multiples of four feet.

Here is what the plan contains:

Page one is for the salesman to use. A space is provided to draw the actual foundation plan of the building that is decided upon. This space is divided by horizontal and vertical lines, and dimensions are given so that it will be a simple matter to sketch in foundation plans, including door openings and extra items such as partitions, etc. Several sample foundation plans with various door arrangements are shown as guides. Each one of these buildings has a