WRAPPING COSTS TOO HIGH

Chronicle (Levin), 19 December 1947, Page 4

WRAPPING COSTS TOO HIGH

BRE^fU RETAILERS' VIEW OP NEW REG ULATIONS Retailers in Levin stated today that the cost of wrapping bread to conform with the new regulations would force them to stop all saies. They only received a £d on a 6d loaf of bread and half of this would be taken up with the cost of paper. As a 3d loaf costs as much to wrap as a 6d one, this would mean that the profit on the smaller . loaf would be absorbed in the cost of paper. One retailer who sells 5-700 loaves of bread a week claimed that it. would cost him £100 ' a year for paper. "In any cass it is impossible to get stocks of wrappers in sufficient quantities," he said. "I would just as soon throw the bread out. It will mean having to give up this line if it is enforced," Because the retailing of hread would not pay if he had to wrap it, another proprietor said that he was going to "cut out" the commodity after December. It was difficult to make it pay without the' added cost of paper. He felt that' the Government should have sub;sidised the cost of the paper. All the retailers interviewed agreed that the bread should be wrapped but none could afford it : even if the paper was obtainable. ! The size of the paper, when it is i .procurable, would not quite cover a 6d loaf. 1 It was explained that it is not 'possible to wrap the bread at the 'bakehouse, as when it is wrapped hot it goes sour.