The morning news., 1889-05-31
THEY ARE "PRICERS."
A New and Profitable Industry for
Ladies.
From the Ne,o York Press.

afternoon my companion, mar
about town, club man, and &
generally well-known New Yorker
who was just then entering one of the
rata9r swell apartment houses near Eighth
avenue. ''Nlce-looking little woman"
Venslred: NJ companion stroked ais mus
tache and did not reply. He nodded assent
however, and presently broke out earnestly
D!d you ever taink how many thousand:
CT Unprotected women there are adrift in d
pig CITY like this-womel wi hOut family
friends or money-and did you ever wonder
now they manage to live3 don't refer &c
ths army Of boardiEg-hous keepers, dress
makers and that sort, nor to saleswomen
typewrlters, telegraph girls and copyists, bat
~ large Class OF women, who, having
been reduced from affile4ce, stlll manage
TO keep up good front on apparently moth
ing. There are thousands of them in this
city. Mrs. T., to whom l just bowed is
oLs of them. They dress we'll, live IN nice
quarters ard seem to have 0uits the best of
life"
Several hours later, over after-dinner,
coffee and cigars, | heard the story of Mrs.
| S way of life. l can couch for the facts
and L reclte them not only because they are
curious, but because there are scores Of
women in New York following the same
calling. Technically it is called "pricing. -
60 to any of the big retail dry-goods stores
and ask the managers what "pricerN is
lie will start at your use Of the term, but if
inclined could tell you some queer stories in
that connection. Dry-g0od houses dread
these operators and the employees are con-
stanuy on guard against tn So employed
by other houses, although each house has
It's own pricers. Tlis secret service system
has grown out of rivalry aud close compe-
utlon. The public knows nothing about IL,
yet It is carried on IN large way. 1t is a
case of diamond cut diamond and sharp
cutting is done. Two ladies, suspected of
being ''pricers,' we're recently eject ID
from Twenty-third street store. They
got 5000 damages for that. The incident
sufficiently explains the relations of
"prlcers" to the trade at large
Mrs. t. IS professional ''pricer," and
her lot is not altogether an unhappy one.
She is in receipt of good salary from a
prominent Sixth avenue firm which cheer
fully defrays her bills for such i4cidentals as
carriage hire, luncheons, messenger boy
fees, etc. All that she does in return is to
60 shopping a good deal. But it's shopping
OF a certain kind, and Mrs. T. earns her
salary. Through the medium of confiden-
tial clerk the firm receives from her, almost
daily, great many goods pure lassd by her
at different stores. These are usually lower
in price or superior III 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 purchased,
and her reports before them, her employers
adjust prices and styles in their own de-
partments. Prices and styles change fre-
quently, and there are many varieties of
goods. The house must keep constantly in
formed Of all. No one 'Dricern could do
this work under any circumstances, hence
several are employed. A sample day of
Mrs. T.'s operations would be about like
this:
About 9 80 O'Clock a. m., a messenger calls
on her with a note from the confidential
clerk. She will make memoranda from this
note, which she commits to memory. She
goes shopping only il fine weather, when
there will be crowds in the stores aud she
can more easily avoid close observations
from floor walkers and detectives; but
though the distances are short she FREQ lently
uses a coupe. She dresses richly, although,
perhaps, the very sealskin newmarket she
wears to-day will be sold tomorrow from
her employers stock; wears diamonds some
times, and has altogether the air elegant
In a morning S work from 10 o'clock a. m
to l o'clock p. m, sre will visit five or SIX
stores. In eacn she calls at a nun ber of
departments, taking care, howe ver, the
Confidential clerk, too, has been wary in
his directionS-nOt to visit counters where
she has very recently made purchases or
examination. No customer would natur-
ally buy ths same kind of an article over
and over again, or evea 81 nilar articles,
snd 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 constantly. though
quietly, at work noting accurately ia US aud
figures. The purchases or inspections are
made with all the care, small anxietias, hes
itatons, doubts, and other manuetisms by
which saleSmen recognize bola tida custom
erS
II intending to buy certain grade of
black silks to-day she asks fOV sometbing
quite different, then something elsa. aId 50
on, until finally she has before her the ar
ticle she wants, in the meantime having
well noted any other OF special value Thsn
she is doubtful about the number of yards
required, must see trimmings to match, etc
She Is Troublesome, but very pleasant in
manner, and the statesmen is very apt to be
affable and chatty with her. She pay for
the silk and directs that it be seIt to "Tha
BaLyunple,n the swell apartment house
but changes her mind finally, and says: Il
will take it with me; send it to my C c5uDe,
please" All this for effect. Unnecessary,
you think? Not so. That quality of blacl
silk is a special importation and is sold a
stimuiant for the rest OF the stock at a very
low figure. The salesman had received in.
structlonS to "loOk out for pricerS," and had
Mrs. I. asked for that TX at first he would
very likely have spotted her. She would
have been followed, her apartm ants watched
and tae first message sent by her to the
FIRMS confidential clerk would have been
detected. The next time she entered tn
store she would be told to leave and not re.
turn.
At other departments she practices the
same clever by-plly. Possibly she has di-
rectionS to canine the fur department
where a week ago she bought the garment
Tow on her pretty figure. She cannot buy
another for herself, 50 she is provided with
u letter bearing the Philadelphia postm .rd,
and purp1rting to contain a commission
from a lady friend 10 buy garment like
her own. Very likely she will make no pur-
chase 10 all this tine. She is known at this
department as a good customer, aud now
furs of ali kinds are confidently displayed
but nothing seems TO answer her req Lire
ments She finally leaves with pleasant
word of thanks to the salesman, but she'.
get the prices of that department all down
IN her heal.
What is really her hardest work of the
day Is yet TO come that IS, the writ & OF her
report. She must make tlls cletr, conci q
and very accurate, and when done il will
contain an astonishing amount Of inf n,
nation. This report and the goods puI-
chasel She sends 10y messenger in tie even
ing, not 70 the store of her employers, but
10 the house OF the confidential clerk. He
alone knows her identity She ha,