Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-02-03
A BUSINESS SYSTEM.
HOW GOODS ARE SOLD BY TEE COUNTRY
ORDER METHODS.
some Account of Country ordsrs-The
Strange Eabits of Some Customers
Eow HAIL and Express Lies
Carry Gooes


Eow HAIL and Express Lies
Garry Gooes
There can be no successful business carried on
except systematized methods are observed. While
system will not in itself insure SUCCESS the converse
is true that success win bring with it. or rather
mutiflrious the TRANSACTIONS the larger The volume
of trade the greater the necessity for rigid adherence
to that system which experience has tested and
proven to be the best adapted to the needs of
the pursuit. It follows almost as a certainty that
where you find the enforcement of exact methods,
there is ourishing business for as thrift in bust
LESS is the result of economic management and the
observance of the laws Of trade wherever it is
manifest you may be sure that Their has been fols
lowed the first law of ALL and that is the observance
of correct methods. We can no more expect
FIGS FROM THISTLE BUSH,
Than success and gain from improvidence, confusion
and disorder. II looks about this city for the
examples that may be expected of the operation of
| these laws, it will be found in many business house.
and it must be admitted, there will be found
some examples Of the nOn-observance also. 1t may
be stated with honest pride, however, that in the
| majority OF cases in Sacramento there is the OBJ.
servance of the approved systenatized methods
/
large degree the success that has attended trade
here, aud has advanced the commercial importance
of the city, and this is said because the people have
recognized the regular methods Of the merchants OF
Sacramento aud the results flowing therefrom, and
have been attracted by them to extend heir patron
age to the traders Of this market Men, the world
over, recognize admire and respect order prompt
ness, neatness and all the beneficial results that
| flow from disciplinary methods. AS exemplifca.
ton of this witness in of its simplest manifesto
items the attractiveness there is for all men in the
| orderly and regular movement of large body of
troops, aad in the methodical and symmetrical dis
| posal of men in the ranks of an army.
| a STRIKING ExAMPLE
OF the results Of correct systems 10 business, and
the strict observance OF business methods is found
in what is known as the country order business Of
| Sacramento In no city OF like Importance in the
country is that system carried with so near an
approach to perfection and in house of the city,
probably, is 1t proited by fully than in the
Mechanics Store conducted by Messr5 Weinstock &
Lubin. At the time that firm engaged in trade
| here, the country order business was comparatively
unknown, whereas at this time it is one of the lead
ing business interests of the city and is engaged in
by large number OF houses, but by none to the
extent shown by the business OF that firm Ii
there should be any doubt on that point visit to
the establishment, and by the reporter or the
stranger, to the Country Order Department will
completely dispel it. 1t may be here stated that
since the inception OF the country order business
it has
INCREASED THE MAIL TRANSACTIONS
Affected directly by il three times their original
volume, and the carriage business of Wells Fargo &
Co.'S in the Package, Letter and Remittance Depart
ments quite as muh, as is manifested in the transae
tons of the local Office 1t Will beof interest somewhat
briefly to glance at the methods by which these
results have been accomplished, and which have
brought the country order business to its present
high state Of prosperity, and makes it large an
item in the aggregate Of the business OF Sacramento
In the first place. by country order business is
that system BY which people living at distance
from any given center OF trade may, through the
cheapest aud most convenient avenues, order any
given article numbei of articles from the trader
at the business center wi bout the intervention
of the middle-man, commission merchant or pur
chasing agent 1t is obvious that il this can be &C
complished at the minimum Of expense, and so as
to secure to the purchaser the same advantages
he would enjoy il buying in person. and enable him
TO PURCHASE IN ANY QUANTITY,
From ten.ceGt value to one amounting to hundreds
OF dollars with precisely the same care exercised in
his behalf in the case in the other-then the
system is to his great benefit. 1t enables him to
save the expense of frequent, of any trips
to the market it conveys to him his goods as
needed, and reduces the necessity for large exPend
ture at one time he receives the articles he desires
by the speediest and most economical means of
transportation; and lastly but by no means least
in this catalogue OF benefits it breaks up the natu
raj tendency to run accounts and become involved
in debt than which greater misfortune can befall
family. But there is collateral benefit to the
buyer, which is indicated in the opening sentences
OF this article. II he can be brought to full appre.
article will have been accomplished. 1t settles the
buyer, after a short experience, into system OF
doing business that is of inestimable benefit to him.
and which reflects itself in his home affairs, his
family and in his local transactions with his neigh
| boIs The buyer Is brought into direct and often
contact with this SYSTEM and he soon learns
how correct commercial men conduct business Ii
his transactions with such department continue
for any considerable time, he learns:
| 1. The absolute necessity of EXPRESSING himself
clearly.
2. The absolute necessity Of waIrrSe concisely and
clearly.
| 8. The necessity of CARR in transmitting money,
| in signing letters, in addressing communications in
description, in calculating totals.
4. 1t teaches the COMMON oouRTRsrEs due in CORE
spondence.
| g. 1t shows him how perfect accuracy is attain
able, how necessary systematzed methods are and
how easy it is to introduce discipline and agreeable
methods into the commonest transactions of life
There is warrant for these statements because
buyers who at one time were scarcely competent to
the task of ordering the simplest article properly
| who could not transmit the smallest sum without
error who msdirected letters, sem aff communica-
tons without signatures or date, and were Obscure
in description and confused in expression; who
assumed that the merchant knew all about him and
his, and the sizes of the clothing he and his wore
because OF some long-past purchase in that line
who could not realize that there were any other
buyers in the world to attend to but him; who
forgot that the merchant did not know Just his
desires, tastes and wishes without their being set
forth. All such have very come to full real
ization of the necessity, virtue and usefulness of
brevity, clearness, precision, and all other pre-
requisites to wellordered business transaction.
When man becomes good courteous and reliable
buyer, one half of his business education is
plished. and the benefits ne receives must cor
resnondingly be effected in his home and personal