Abolition of Wholesellers and Middlemen

Regarding the wholesellers and middlemen, it is generally, said that society doesn't, stand in need of them and the most proper thing shall be their total abolition. Some people also hold that it is an unnecessary, expensive and useless chain-link between the producer and the consumer.

As against the above-given view, the stand point of some people is that without the wholesellers, the distribution could not be possible, since they provide their valuable service to the society, Light is being thrown over both the above-given approaches

Wholesellers and Middlemen Are Not Necessary

The supporters of this view uphold that, the middlemen and wholesellers are the exploiters of the consumers, hence these must, be abolished. Such supporters present the following arguments in support of their approach:

(1)   Excessive Increase in the Price of the Products. The larger the number of the middlemen, the greater is the increase in the prices of products due to their commission. Due to the increase in the prices of the products, the consumer is required to face various difficulties. Really, the middlemen indirectly suck the blood of the consumers.

(2)   Encouragement to Immoral Activities. The middlemen or wholesellers, in order to earn huge profits, resort to the activities like necessary hoarding, black-marketing and speculation. In other, words, it might be said that only for the sake of earning huge profits, the middlemen resort to various anti-social activities.

(3)   Sale of Consumers' Goods by the Producers. Now-a-days the producers, by opening their shops directly, resort to selling the commodities to the consumers. Hence for distributing the products, there is no need of the middlemen or wholesellers.

(4)   Introducing the Consumers' Co-operative Societies. In order to escape from the exploitation by the middlemen, the consumers have themselves begun to start and run the co-operative shops or stores. Hence, now the services of the wholesellers have become useless for the society.

(5)   Development of the Retailing Bodies. Now-a-days, there have emerged up the departmental stores, super markets, the mail-order business, and the chain-shops system due to which the utility of the middlemen has declined.

(6)   Opposition by Retailers. Since the wholesellers do not provide the credit facility to all the retailers, hence the later oppose them.

(7)   Inappropriate for Sale of Some Specific Products. The manufacturers of the perishable products think it better to sell their products directly to the consumers or producers. Hence, in this way, the manufacturers don't need any wholesellers for such products.

(8)   Opposition by the Manufacturers. Some businessmen bring this argent that the wholesellers don't properly undertake the advertisements and other selling activities hence they don't need any of the wholesellers.

While treating the middlemen as of no use, Shri U.P. Verma has expressed that their position in the business is just like the unnecessary stations and halts where during the journey from the producers to the consumers, the commodities are detained during their transit.

Wholesellers and Middlemen Are Necessary

Some people consider that the services provided by the whole-sellers are so essential that their abolition seems to be almost impossible. For abolishing the middlemen or reducing their number won't lead to the distribution of the products in a good way.

Future of the Middlemen

So far we have discussed regarding the drawbacks and the utility of the middlemen. Considering over all the matters, it might be said that the services of the middlemen are quite useful. Even after the establishment of the co-operative stores and the rise of the chain-shops system, the significance of the wholesellers continues to exist. Unless there is some appropriate alternative of the middlemen available, it is not proper to eliminate them. Really speaking, the defective activities of the wholesellers too must be criticized. Against the intermediaries, who resort to the anti-social activities, the government must take strict actions.

In the existing conditions we may reduce the number to the wholesellers but their total abolition could not be possible. In so many countries of the world, the ideology of eliminating the wholesellers has somehow developed yet they still exist.