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Bava Metzia 040: Profit Margins
Aharon Levine asked:
The gemara on the top of Bava Metzia 40b states that Rav Yehuda would
receive more than a 1/6 profit on the pitchers of wine he sold even though
the wine was considered something that is life sustaining. The gemara
explains that from the profits he would pay for someone to install the
spigot (or announce the sale) and he would be compensated for his
"tircha",
and after subtracting these two expenditures he would make a profit of
exactly 1/6.
Am I mistaken in thinking that the normal "tircha" and effort one exerts
to
sell merchandise he purchased in bulk is what the 1/6 profit is coming to
compensate him for? If not, why should he be allowed to make more than
1/6
in order to compensate him for his tircha, unless the "tircha" is
referring
to some extraordinary effort that most wine merchants do not need to put
forth.
Aharon Levine
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The Kollel replies:
I believe that your assumption is mistaken. If the allowable 1/6 profit
margin were merely to enable the seller to cover his costs and expenditures
(beyond the principle laid out for the merchandise itself), then what sort
of profit will he make after paying his spigot-workers and advertisers?
None. Rather, the 1/6 is the allowable profit margin *after* incidental
expenses. Consequently, in the case of a seller who sells a little at a
time, it is permitted for the seller to charge more than 1/6 over the value
of the item when the expenses will cut into his profit otherwise. This is
clear in the Shulchan Aruch, Choshen Mishpat 231:20.
Y. Shaw
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