Bags that have become torn in transit, and parts of their contents spilled, are called "slacks." These are weighed as they arrive on the dock by a licensed public weigher; and a sufficient quantity of the coffee remaining on the floor of the ship's hold is put into the bag to make it of the proper weight. The expense of reconditioning and rebagging is generally borne by the marine insurance companies. When the entire cargo is unloaded, and the slacks and bad-order bags are weighed and marked, the warehouseman tallies up the records of his clerks, and renders a corrected chop list to the consignee.
Motor Tractor Moving Coffee at the Bush Terminal Docks, Brooklyn
Electric Tractors and Trailers
Another district along the water front of Brooklyn where coffee is discharged in large quantities is that between Thirty-third and Forty-fourth Streets, south Brooklyn, occupied by the Bush Terminal Stores. This plant is laid out with railroad spurs on every pier, so that its own transfer cars, or the cars of the railroads running out of New York, can be run into the sheds of the docks where coffee is being discharged from the ships. The methods employed by the Bush Terminal are similar to those just described, except that all the coffee is handled by electrically-manipulated cars or trucks, in some instances the powerful little tractors hauling many "trailers" to various parts of the yards.
Handling Charges at New York
Before the World War, it cost approximately one-half cent a bag to handle green coffee from the vessel to warehouse and in storage in New York. The rate advanced nearly one hundred percent in the latter part of 1919, then dropped slightly, although it is still (1922) above the pre-war price. Other handling charges are shown in the following tabulation:
| Coffee Handling Charges at New York | ||
| Pre-war prices Cents per bag (132 lbs.) | Present prices Cents per bag (132 lbs.) | |
| Storage | 3 to 4 | 5 to 8 |
| Labor | 3 to 4 | 5 to 8 |
| Sampling for damage | 1 | 1 |
| Cleaning | 35 | 20 |
| Dumping and mixing | 10 | 15 |
| Dumping and airing | 10 | 15 |
| Shoveling and airing | 10 | 15 |
| Transferring coffee from floor to floor | 4 | 8 |
| Marking | 1 | 1 |
| Labor at vessel | $9 per M | $12.50 to $15 per M |
The warehousemen in 1919 charged four cents per bag for loading into railroad cars. This charge was discontinued in 1921. The cost of weighing increased from two and one-half cents per bag in 1914 to four and one-half cents in 1919, and then dropped to the present price of three to three and one-half cents. Other handling charges at the port of New York are: