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The clinics are part of a program introduced by Governor Dewey in 1945 when he appointed the New York Woman's Council—a group of thirty-four women from the fields of business, industry, labor, education, and women's organizations—to work with the New York State Department of Commerce to widen job opportunities for women. Jane H. Todd, Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Commerce and the first woman to hold such a post, was appointed Chairman. All services of the Woman's Program are available free of charge. This program is unique in the country. Women in New York State may write or call the Woman's Program for advice on starting or expanding a business. The Albany address is Miss Jane H. Todd, Deputy Commissioner, New York State Department of Commerce, 112 State St., Albany, N.Y. The New York City address is 342 Madison Ave., New York 17, N.Y.

The information given below was supplied in speeches by Mildred O. Meskil, Food Specialist, New York State Department of Commerce; Helen Ridley, Publicity Department, J. Walter Thompson Advertising Company; Mary Dunston, formerly Instructor in Merchandising, Russell Sage College; Edwina Hogadone, Supervisor of Retailing Courses, Rochester Institute of Technology; and Pearl Hagens, Managing Editor of Modern Packaging. Other clinic experts have contributed background material.

The label must show what you have put into your product, whether you have colored it, how you have flavored it, how much it weighs, and the name and address of the manufacturer, packer, or distributor. If a product is labeled "Butter Cooky" it must be a butter cooky, not made with other shortening. Neither words nor pictures on the label can be misleading.

Don't buy up a bargain lot of material without knowing its origin. Be sure of your materials. Have enough space to work in. Keep it for business only. Keep children and pets out. Have room, help, and time enough to deal with the clean-up operations. Machinery must be easy to disconnect and clean thoroughly. Floors must be smooth, unbroken, and easily cleaned. Have enough covered containers to take care of all refuse. Provide additional toilet and hand-washing facilities for your extra help. Make sure that air, light, and refrigeration are furnished in abundance, but that flies and rodents are strictly shut out. Have extra storage space for boxes, labels, and outside clothes.

Many food preparations have had a specific standard set up for them. Check to know whether this is true of your product. When no official standard exists, the label must list the ingredients used in the order of their preponderance. Spices, flavoring, and coloring may be listed in just that way as "spices, flavoring, and coloring." If the flavor used is imitation, be sure to say so. If you have used a preservative, it must be an accepted one and noted on the label. Saccharin is not a preservative, is not accepted, and may not be used as a sugar substitute. Be sure your label includes such information as "added pectin."

All commodities must be sold by net weight, standard measure, or numerical count. The weight must be the net weight as it is normally sold. Reasonable tolerances are allowed for aging, shrinking, and so on. With cookies, if you sell individually or in units of less than six, no weight is required. In units of six or more, weight is necessary. If the weight is three ounces or less, either weight or numerical count must be given. If over three ounces, net weight must be declared. Bread has a special law. If regular bread, not raisin, gluten, or any other that comes under the heading of "fancy," then it must show net weight unless it is a so-called "standard loaf." Standard loaves are one pound, one and one-half pounds, or even multiples, two pounds, three pounds, and so on. If you are making a little six-ounce loaf, put a sticker on the bottom or mark it on the wrapping.

In New York State, the Woman's Program of the State Department" of Commerce can tell you where to write to make sure of any regulation pertaining to the food business. Check with local authorities for zoning regulations, manufacturing and vending licenses, or other restrictions. Local governmental agencies should be consulted in other states.

With any name (except your own or a name in the public domain like tomato soup, potholders, and other everyday expressions) be careful that someone has not already used it for a trade-mark and left you open to a law suit. The way to find out is to hire a trade-mark lawyer and have him make a search in Washington. Then, if it has not been registered among previous trade-marks, you should have it registered. This costs fifteen dollars plus the lawyer's fee.

Talk to local editors and radio women. Tell them your story, take them a sample of your product, make them like you, and see if they won't print a little piece on you or interview you on the air.

Find out how much it costs to have a notice thrown on the local movie screen. Try to get notices in church or club papers. Maybe you can arrange with local stores to give out samples. Or offer to provide a sample of your service free for a woman's club or other organization of potential customers. Figure the cost of samples into your final price. One publicity contact leads to another. Add each new name and idea to your written publicity plan. It will then be ready for repeat campaigns later on.

Present Christmas ideas in early fall, spring items in early winter, and so on. Offer a good value—the buyer will look for a product with a high competitive value and a fast turnover—something that will sell quickly. Show how your package and label help the salesperson make the sale. Don't price yourself out of the market. Shop around in the store to which you wish to sell, and get a line on the retail price at which they are selling goods similar to yours. Then figure your own prices at about 50 per cent of the retail price, if it is a gift store, or between 55 and 65 per cent for most department stores.

Avoid busy days. These are usually Friday, Saturday, and often Monday. Avoid peak selling hours—usually from eleven-thirty through the noon rush, and again from about three o'clock to closing. Choose the buyer's office hours or make an appointment by telephone. Have a sample prepared to leave for inspection, with selling points and the price neatly attached. Make follow-up calls if you don't succeed in seeing the buyer the first time. Ask the buyer for suggestions for improvements you can make or ideas for similar merchandise, if you don't make a sale the first time. Possibly you have chosen the wrong store and the buyer may suggest more suitable outlets for your products. Assure the buyer that you understand that she will want her store to be the only one in that trading area that carries your product. Remember that the buyer is looking for merchandise to draw customers into her store. If what you have is the right thing for her store, you are doing her a service by bringing it to her attention. Go in the spirit of service rather than in the spirit of asking her a favor.

Attach an invoice to your package. Get a businesslike form and fill in complete information including (a) your name and address; (b) the store's name and address; (c) the department's name and number; (d) the store's order number and its date; (e) the quantity of items; (f) a brief description of the items, including style numbers, if any; (g) your price per item; (h) the total price; and (i) the terms—usually 2 per cent discount for payment within ten days after the end of the month, written "2-10 EOM, 30 Net." Attach the invoice to the outside of the package in an adhesive envelope boldly lettered "INVOICE ENCLOSED." This envelope may also serve as the address label. Wrap carefully. Use heavy paper, twine, gummed tape, labels, and so on, that look professional, protect your goods in transit, and ensure their arrival in perfect condition. If mailing, be sure to follow postal regulations. If you are not given specific shipping instructions, use the cheapest, safest means of transportation that will deliver your goods on time.

1. Protection. Whatever materials you use, they must protect your product from the time it leaves your plant until it reaches the home of the user, so that it gets there fresh, clean, and in the same condition as when it was made. In the case of foods, protection means many things. It may mean retention of moisture or protection against moisture. It means maintenance of taste, aroma, color. It means protection against rough handling and breakage. All of these factors, and many more, make packaging a science that you must study as carefully as you do the processing of your product.

2. Convenience. Your package must be easy to open, the right height to store on kitchen and refrigerator shelves, easy to handle. It must also be tough enough to stand shipment and handling in the store by stock clerks and sales people. Packages that are too fancy, too flimsy, or with labels that don't stay on are a hazard and may mean lost sales and lost prestige.

3. Economy. Your package must bear a definite relationship to the selling price of your product. Sometimes the package you might like to have is way out of line as far as cost is concerned. You must study these costs carefully and adapt the packaging materials and equipment for filling it to your particular product; then develop the most attractive package you can design within those limits.

4. Eye-Appeal. Remember that your package is your advertising at the point of sale. The way it looks has a great deal of influence on its sale. You are, for the most part, dealing in specialties—items that will be sold as gift items and in specialty food departments. For that reason your package should be something extra special and have a little more eye-appeal and originality than the mass-production items that people buy as essentials. For that reason, also, you can afford to spend a little more on your packaging—the use of a pottery jar, or a transparent box, or a brilliant foil that will take your product out of the ordinary. You may even capitalize on the geographic interest of your section of New York State or Ohio, as the women of the Southwest who make barbecue sauces have used miniature chuck boxes as the package design, or the praline makers of New Orleans have devised a box that looks like a tiny bale of cotton.