Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-04-06
THEY ARE "PRICERS.o
A New and Profitable Industry for
Ladies'.

| companion, q man about town, club man, and q
generally well-known New Yorker raised his
hat with great politeness to a lady who was
| just then entering one of the rather swell
apartment houses near Sth avenue. "Nice.
looking little woman" 1 ventured. My
companion stroked his moustache and did not
| reply. He nodded assent, however, and pres
emily broke out earnestly:
did YOU ever think how many thousands OF
| unprotected women there are adrift in a big
! city like this-women without family, friends
or money-and did you ever wonder how they
| manage to live? don't refer to the army OF
! boarding-hous keepers, dressmakers and that
sort, nor to saleswoman, typewriters. telegraph
| girls and copyists but to large class of
| women. who, having been reduced from afflu-
| ence, still manage to keep up good front on
| apparently nothing. There are thousands of
them in this city. Mrs. T., to whom 1 Just
bowed. is one of them. They dress well. live
In nice quarters and seem to have quite the
! best of life
! Several hours later, over after-dnner coffee
/ and cigars. heard the story of Mrs T 8 way
| of life. can vouch for the facts and recite
them not only because they are curious. but
because there are scores of women in New
! York following the same calling. Technically
1t is called pricing" Go to any of the big
retail dry-goods stores and ask the manager
what ''pricer' is. He will start at your use
Of the term, but if inclined could tell you some
} queer stories III that connection. Dry-goods
houses dread these operators and the employees
are constantly on guard against those employed
by other houses. although each house has its
own pricers. This secret service system has
grown out of rivalry and close competition.
! The public knows nothing about it, yet it is
carried on in large way. Ii is a case of
diamond cut diamond and sharp cutting is
done. Two ladies, suspected of being
'pricers," were recently elected from a 23d
street store. They got $1,000 damages for that.
| The incident sufficiently explains the relations
OF .'pricers' to the trade at large.
Mrs /. is professional ''pricer." and her
lot is not altogether unhappy one. She is
In receipt of good salary from a prominent
6th-ayenue firm which cheerfulIy defrays her
bills for such incidentals as carriage hire.
luncheons, messenger boy fees, &C. All that
she does In return Is to go shopping good
deal. But it's shopping Of certain kind. and
Mrs. F. earns her salary. Through the medium
of a confidential clerk the firm receives from
her, almost daily, great many goods pur-
chased by her at different stores. These are
usually lower in price or superior in style to
similar goods in their own stocks. She also
writes long reports of the prices and STYLES of
other goods that she has examined in her
shopping tour. With the articles thus pur-
chased, and her reports before them, her
employers adjust prices and styles in their own
departments. Prices and styles change fire.
qucntly. and there are many varieties of goods.
The house must keep constantly informed of
all. No one ''pricer" could do this work under
any circumstances. hence several are employed
A sample day of Mrs. L. 8 operations would be
about like this:
About $50 am. messenger calls on her with
note from the confidential clerk. She viii
make memoranda from this note. which she
commits to memory. She goes shopping only
in fine weather, when there win be crowds in
the stores and she can more easily avoid close
observation from floor walkers and detectives:
no al nalr &,t,,n
quently uses a coupe. She dresses richly.
although, perhaps, the very sealskin newman
ket she wears to-day will be sold tomorrow
from her employers stock; wears diamonds
sometimes, and has altogether the air elegant
In mornings work, from 10 a. m. to ! D.
m. she will visit five or six stores In
each she calls at number of depart
ments, taking care. however-the conf
dental clerk, too has been wary in his direc-
tlons-not to visit counters where she has very
recently made purchases or examinations. No
! customer would naturally buy the same kind
of an article over and over again, or even
similar articles, and she must especially avoid
such an error. To avert suspicion she must
act all through a part of no small difficulty.
considering that eye and ear must be CON
stantly, though quietly, at work noting accu-
rately facts and figures The purchases o. in
spections are made with ali the care, small
anxieties. hesitations doubts. and other man.
nerlsms by which statesmen recognize bona fide
customers.
IT intending to buy certain grade of black
silk to-day she asks for thing quite different
then some thing else and SO on. until finally
she has before her the article she wants. in the
meantime having well noted any other of
special value. Then she il doubtful about the
number OF yards required must see trimmings
to match, &c. She is troublesome, but very
pleasant Ill manner. and the salesman is very
apt to be affable and chatty with her. She
pays for the silk and directs that it be sent to
The Bailyrumple," the swell apartment house,
but Changes her mind finally and SAYS: Il
will take it with me; send it to my coupe
please" All this for effect Unnecessary.
you think? Not so. That quality of black
SILK IL special importation and is sold as a
stimulant for the rest of the stock at a very
low figure. The salesman had received in
structions to look out for pricers," and had
Mrs. T. asked for that silk at first he would
very likely have spotted her. She would have
been followed, her apartments watched, and
the first message sent by her to her firms con-
| hdentlal clerk would have been detected. The
| next time she entered the store she would be
| told to leave and not return.
At other departments she practices the same
clever by-play. Possibly she has directions to
examine the fur department where a week ago
| she bought the garment now on her pretty
| figure. She cannot buy another for herself SO
! she is provided with letter bearing the Phila-
delphia postmark, and purporting to contain
commission from lady friend to buy gar
/ iheht iihc HeF OWL very likely she Will maze
no purchase at all this time. She is known at
| this department as a good customer. and now
| furs of all kinds confidently displayed, but
| nothing seems to answer her requirements
| She finally leaves with pleasant word of
! thanks to the salesman but she's got the prices
| Of that department all down in her head
| What is really her hardest work of the day is
| yet to Gomez that is, the writing of her report
| She must make this clear, concise and very ac-
! curate, and when done it will contain an aston
| ishing amount of information. This report and
the goods purchased she sends by messenger in
| the evening, not to the store of her EMPLOYERS
| but to the house of the confidential clerk He
alone knows her identity. She has never spoken
| to a member Of the firm. and in the book of
| accounts kept by the confidential clerk she ap-
pears under a fictitious name. The reason
| for all this is that discharged employees gener-
ally get positions in other stores; if before their
! discharge they knew of Mrs It's connec-
i ton with their employers, after it they would
at once make the fact known to their new mas
| tiers.
! But why not use simpler means of getting
| this kind of information?' 1 asked. "Why not
send out some well-dressed saleswoman to make
| purchases and get prices?''
| 'Some houses have tried that now and then, ~
he replied, 'but it doesn't work WELL Sales.
| women are sure to be recognized by some one. ~
To illustrate the difficulties of pricing and
| to show the lengths to which great business
| houses will go to secure such information, G
| related an incident which is worth repeating.
Some months ago a French-looking nursemaid
| wearing the usual white cap and apron, got out
| of coupe at the entrance of a 9th avenue
store, having with her beautifully dressed