when the american consumer goes to market he is bombarded with the claims of advertising on the air in the press from all sides often conflicting needs claims range all the way from honest to  even the honest most straightforward claims rarely give the comparative facts the consumer needs if he has to choose intelligently looking for answers the consumer finds questions which brand is the best buy is price a guide to quality what's good what's bad who can tell me to help find answers to the consumers questions as in this case by testing new cars for their actual performance there is an organization it's job is to supplied to several million people who look to it regularly for the truth buying guidance based on unbiased test these new england children are actually at play but for this same consumer organization they are also part of a research project as serious objective and thorough as another one on a lake in florida where an outboard  goes round and round headquarters for this research work on the public's behalf is in mt vernon new york at consumers union chartered twenty five years ago as a nonprofit membership organization chief among its many services is the monthly magazine consumer reports the this organization which accept no advertising or sponsorship receives its income from the sale of its publications its reader members are a responsive group and their replies to questionnaires are important in determining subjects to be researched and reported on devoting its entire income to the cost of its work consumer's union links together a well informed membership in the common interest the members by mail ballots also annually designate their choices for consumers unions board of directors often eminent economists scientists or other professional people none of whom may have any connection with any manufacturer or distributor of consumer goods they find their compensation in the organization's mission to serve by exposing deceptive selling practices by encouraging higher quality standards and by telling consumers the facts they need before they buy all the work of see you as because it is supervised by dexter masters the director who is appointed by the board with the use editorial director mildred brady masters reviews have the elation of readers questionnaires finding much reader interest in stereo phonographs they decide the subject is worth looking into to this then the department heads meet to plan the study's settling such questions as which brands and models should be tested what price range would interest most readers what performance characteristics would readers want most to know about the men and women who settled these points bring to bear a knowledge of audio electronics plus long experience in marketing purchasing search when the meeting ends packaged stereo phonographs is an active project the specific test methods to be employed and the engineering approach are worked the library staff prepares a complete bibliography of technical references and background material for everyone working on the project while researchers prepare to furnish a running supply current information all across the united states consumers union has its own staff of shoppers on a call from the market information department they stand ready to purchase products for study shoppers are instructed to dress like someone who is buying for personal use and never reveal their mission for consumers union but shoppers pay for their purchases in cash and so that there can be no switching of merchandise they insist on immedia meanwhile at mount vernon n c use audio laboratory engineers have readied the complex equipment which will be used to test and compare the stereo phonographs evaluation will be for quality for performance for safety and for convenience important considerations in any c you study in this case objective test have been devised to detect and measure distortion and sound and to record the smoothness of mechanical function both factors in audio performance these tests will be applied to all the sample phonographs received and will go on for many weeks it there may be at any time forty to fifty different projects under study in the seven major laboratories in the chemical laboratory always one of the most active a comparison of dozens of brands of competing dog food may be taking place at the same time and with the same care as a laboratory examination of prepared baby food its tests of children's shoes consumers union goes outside its laboratories to a most unbiased group footwear is carefully fitted to each of the boys who will wear several pairs in rotation each pair for a stated length of time under conditions of normal wear and tear during fifteen weeks the shoes are examined for appearance and condition then in the use textile laboratory the shoes are distracted for the final analysis of how they have stood up to the stress of  meanwhile from the automobile test track and other facilities in connecticut chief automotive consultant lawrence crooks brings to the mt vernon headquarters of see you his latest data on cars which the organization has been testing publications director david mess has been waiting to review with crocs his latest findings which include subjective evaluations for road ability ease of handling and riding comfort of the cars already on hand from earlier examinations are all technical specifications see you regularly test new models of household appliances to check manufacturer's claims of improvement afterwards many of the samples are sold to staff members and their families their samples are donated to hospitals are finishes and the like bio automobiles are traded in the latest models the test being run on new models of washing machines will check claims of improved washing ability which may or may not prove to be true with an exact amount of wash carrying synthetically soiled swatches of material the correct amount of soap or detergent is put in just as indicated by the manufacturer later checks will cover washing capacity the amount of electricity consumed and even measure the amount of water used to find out how various appliances operate under different weather conditions c u engineers have designed a chamber where various combinations of temperature and humidity can be provided with precision the problem at hand is to see whether temperatures rise inside the refrigerator when the room heat is raised from seventy to ninety and even to one hundred ten degrees by means of thermal couples placed at various positions within the refrigerator the engineers will determine whether temperatures remain low enough but the proper storage of both fresh and frozen foods electrically the thermo couples transmit the temperature readings past the refrigerator door to recording devices completely outside the test chamber the data that's received can be interpreted by sea use engineers and will form the basis of a future article in consumer reports since the most essential requirement of a portable t v set is that it be actually light enough to carry the samples selected for testing are first weighed and then measured to check their bulk the engineers study picture quality with a standard test pattern broadcast by sea use own close circuit t v transmitters it's a painstaking business and it can't be done merely by and by good intentions it requires expensive equipment to measure crispness fineness of detail and many other factors other rigorous tests can be performed only in the isolation of the first green room a farr cage where radio waves normally in the air cannot enter there under carefully controlled conditions a minute and technically realistic comparison can be made of each of the receivers performance characteristics for the consumers guidance but some products cannot be evaluated by any special equipment nor yet by any staff of male researchers so the matter in question was referred to a test group of fifty women who compared ball point lipstick with the traditional kind of staff members always on the lookout for products of special interest dotted an educational toy is something readers might like to know about standards of performance and value can be a readily to a toy as to an appliance be on rates not acceptable electrical appliances are always carefully checked for possible shock hazards for safety on the highway as evident by c use continuing campaign for devices like the automobile seatbelt and for their improvement manufacturers often react to see use negative ratings by improving their products this is attested by many letters see you has received from the companies themselves with the hundreds of thousands of brands and models of consumer goods found in today's marketplace see you obviously cannot test and report on them all no one organization could do that but see you test as many brands and models as it can afford to within the context of its readers indicated interests beyond this e u provides general buying guidance and informed evaluations of many products by types as well as by brands aside from its test reports see you always gives the consumer as much reliable information as it can assemble on pricing distribution and other trade practices which may also affect the consumer's judgment as to the desirability and suitability of a product in the case of package stereo phonographs thirty five individual brands and models have been undergoing their laboratory tests now the time has come to review the data from these tests at one of the periodic meetings of the c project team with the first results in hand the writer can begin blocking out his story and at the same time answered by the technical or marketing members of the team