Tobacco Wholesale Merchant

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Smokers sorting mink skins into furrier assortments

The tobacco wholesale merchant , Austrian rough goods wholesaler , colloquially tobacco merchant for short , is a profession in the fur industry . He trades in raw and prepared (tanned) hides. Due to his knowledge of goods, he can also work in the fur wholesale industry.

Tobacco goods , in Austria also rough goods, are prepared, tanned animal skins that have not yet been processed into fur. They are the subject of worldwide trade, also known as the fur trade in common parlance.

The main focus of the German tobacco trade is in the Frankfurt am Main area. The fur trade center Niddastraße , near Frankfurt Main Station, was after the Second World War (1939-1945) bedeutendster for several decades the world trade center for tobacco and furs, the Federal Republic the main consumption country for furs. It thus succeeded the Leipziger Brühl , who held the same importance until the persecution of the Jewish population at the beginning of National Socialist rule (1933).

history

The exact time of the appearance of the tobacco wholesale merchant as a specialist dealing only with skins is difficult to determine. Foreign skins were imported by merchants or companies that also dealt in other articles, such as the medieval Hanseatic League . In European countries it was individual furriers who, in addition to their craft, increasingly devoted themselves to the more lucrative buying up and reselling of local furs.

The main supplier of high quality skins was initially Russia. With the development of America, driven primarily by the fur trade in North America , the establishment of fur auction and fur trading companies as well as tobacco goods wholesaling began, mainly from America and London. Main trading places for the tobacco trade formed, where tobacco goods trading companies and tobacco goods auction companies, sometimes in a small area, met. These included Garlick Hill in London, the Fur District in New York , Saint Petersburg with the auction house Sojuzpushnina , the Leipziger Brühl and the fur trading center Niddastraße in Frankfurt am Main, for products made from fur scraps , Kastoria in Greece. The largest amount of fur is currently being handled by the Danish auction company Copenhagen Fur , Copenhagen. There they are bought by the tobacco wholesalers or bought as commission orders for customers; large fur producers also buy there directly. Since the mid-2010s, this has also been possible without being personally present at the auction through online bids.

Training in Germany

Stretching a mink fur in a Frankfurt tobacco shop

The training period to become a tobacco wholesaler is usually three years. The following is the learning content as it was formulated in the 1970s. Some points that only concern larger companies are omitted for correspondingly smaller companies, which are more common in Germany today. The time schedule can be changed for operational reasons or for reasons inherent in the trainee.

1st year of training

  • introduction
In the first year of his training, the trainee general basic knowledge of how the tasks and structure of the Fur Wholesale and Foreign Trade acquires, in addition to the general knowledge of his training company, and so the industry organizations He learns the function of fur wholesale between auction purchasing and furriers know that Tasks of the fur commission business and fur finishing .
  • General commercial administration
He is involved in simple office work, checking appointments and receiving goods, he labels the goods himself and helps with booking. He gains initial knowledge of the types of fur , the structure and value of the fur, its origin, the possibilities of fur refinement and the change from raw to refined fur, as well as basic knowledge of the intermediate ranges in fur refinement. He experiences the work processes in fur trimming theoretically and practically in a fur finishing company.
  • Knowledge of goods, receiving of goods, storage and dispensing, purchasing
Other specific fur-related knowledge and work to be carried out, if possible in the first year, include:
Participation in damage and loss reports; Knowledge of the organization of the fur camp; Knowledge of raw material storage; pest control in theory and practice; the storage and care of the refined goods; Independent processing of goods movements in the warehouse and outside the home; Assistance in keeping the camp files; Basic knowledge of the provision and packaging of goods; Knowledge of stockpiling; Participation in determining the stock level of individual articles (warehouse statistics) and in the inventory ; Knowledge of the notification of defects and knowledge of arbitrage as well as basic knowledge of other trade customs in the industry that are individually listed in the training plan.

2nd year of training

The main specific subject areas of the training in the second year are:

  • Knowledge of goods
Knowledge of quality features; Fur damage and its causes; the honest names of the goods ( RAL regulations ); About fur trading places and the independent bundling of fur.
  • In the sale
Knowledge of the cooperation between sales, warehouse and dispatch; about the cooperation with the field service, the sales offices and sales representatives; Basic knowledge of all general commercial activities.
  • expedition
Basic knowledge and knowledge of the types of transport and cargo hold and all costs, regulations, insurance, etc. associated with shipping.
  • Basic knowledge and knowledge of accounting .

3rd year of training

  • Accounting, bookkeeping and taxation, human resources, data processing
Participation in the preparation of the thesis; Basic knowledge of the meaning and structure of the balance sheet; the tasks of cost accounting; Calculation of cost types and cost centers as a basis for calculation. Knowledge of bookkeeping; Booking of business transactions; Basic knowledge of commission accounting and other things. Legal and procedural knowledge of human resources and payroll. Digital data processing.
  • Purchasing, calculation
Participation in obtaining, evaluating and comparing samples and offers; Participation in negotiations with suppliers; when writing correspondence; when ordering goods; Independent comparison of order confirmation and order; Independent processing of complaints and monitoring of deliveries and reminders; Basic knowledge of canceling orders, handling cancellation and reducing orders; Participation in the invoice verification. Independent preparation of a calculation; Knowledge of the granting of cash discounts , rebates , bonuses and brokerage .
  • Market and advertising
Basic knowledge of market research and market observation; the importance of trade fairs, exhibitions and stock exchanges; Knowledge of sales areas as well as season and cultural influences; Basic knowledge of advertising options, the advertising plan and advertising budget.
  • Knowledge of goods
Knowledge of the range of raw materials; of auction catalogs; Range design; Participation in the creation of fur trade and furrier ranges and basic knowledge of processing fur.

See also

Web links

Commons : Tobacco Wholesale Merchants and Firms  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Arthur Hermsdorf, Gerd Kursawe, Peter Tonert: The fur wholesale after 1945 . In: Die Pelzwirtschaft , Heft 11-12, 1985, p. 12.
  2. Alexander Tuma: Pelz-Lexikon. Fur and Rough Goods, Volume XXI . Alexander Tuma, Vienna 1951, p. 5–13, keyword “rough goods trade” .
  3. a b c d Training plan for tobacco goods wholesalers (corresponds to the ordinance on vocational training for wholesalers and foreign traders of May 10, 1973) . 4 pages, without naming the publisher.