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[[preprinted]]
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
BUREAU OF THE CENSUS
WASHINGTON [[/preprinted]] 25

January 10, 1946.

Gentlemen:

You, along with all other retailers, are having to make decisions regarding the effect of the end of the war and the resumption of civilian production on your business and on the future scope of your operations.  You probably are facing such problems as the extent to which you should stock up when deliveries are made in volume, the desirability of adding new post-war lines and of discontinuing war-time items.  Your ability to make informed decisions will go a long way in determining your success or failure in the post-war world.  Accordingly, it is important that you be able to "take stock" of your position as the year 1946 gets under way.

Certain key facts for making this appraisal will be provided by the Bureau of the Census from a timely survey it is now conducting.  Retailers throughout the country will pool their experience by furnishing the few figures requested on a brief report form.  Your copy is enclosed together with a pre-addressed postage-free envelope for your convenience in replying.

The results of this survey will make it possible for you to compare your operations with the average of other concerns in the same kind of business.  For example, you will be able to determine whether or not your sales in 1945 kept pace with the average of similar establishments and whether or not your inventory position compares favorably. The importance of appeasing inventory position will be appreciated by businessmen who remember the disastrous developments which followed World War I and who recognize the points of similarity in the present business situation.

Your report, of course, will be accorded the regular confidential treatment which the Bureau of the Census customarily provides, with the results of the survey published so as not to reveal the figures reported by any individual firm.  This survey has been authorized by the Bureau of the Budget.  We are requesting return of this report form by January 31, 1946.  Providing that the forms are returned on schedule, we will be able to give you the results of the survey early this year.

Please write us if you have any questions on the survey or if you would like a duplicate report form for you files.

Sincerely yours,
[[signed]] J C Capt [[/signed]]
J. C. Capt
Director

Enclosures