Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-08-26
TRICKS IN PRICE MARKS.
A Shrewd Customer May Sometimes
Learn the Cost of the Goods Offered.

From the View York Sun.
Recently . western merchant came 10 q large
Wholesale cloth house in New York to buy
goods. He was known a. . very shrewd and
rather tricky merchant, who had o fondness for
learning the prices ct the various houses and
then trying to beat them down. knowing this,
the salesman who waited on him put an extra
price on every article that he showed him. In
no case was the price made 30 large as to arouse
bis suspicion. The buyer seemed very much
disappointed, and his brow was knit in way
70 snow that he was very much puzzled over
something. When he had gone away the
clerk turned to the writer and observed:
II think I have blocked that fellows game
do, didn't your
The writer admitted his ignorance.
wei" said the clerk, "he was trying to dis
cover our secret mark"
As ne spoke the clerk pointed TO Q little tag
attacheo 70 piece Of cloth in his hand on
which we're inscribed three different letters.
THAT mark" he said, means $3.50. II
had told him what it was he would have very
easily learned by comparing the various marks
on dinerent pieces OF goods Just what our
mark was. For instance, il Z. L. NJ meant
S25O he would know that K. was 2, L. s, and
NJ u BY then inquiring the prices of various
otner pieces OF cloth, he could easily select
those which would have different sets Of letters
on them, and he would soon have gotten at the
whole secret. told him the price was g. 65,
and according to that the X. was 2 and L. was
3 and the Nj. was 5. / also changed the inter-
probation OF each mark, and the result was that
wrong one.
There is nothing particularly dishonorable
about this, for merchants try it very fire.
quentiy, and as rule they succeed in learning
the mark. Every business house has q private
mark OF this kind. The ordinary buyer in the
retail house would never of course, learn this.
but in wholesale houses, where the buyers fire.
quently see the same characters, and can COM
pare them 1t is matter of great difficulty to
prevent their learning the firms secret Where
firms are especially anxious to avoid discovery
they change the marks frequently. A mark
may be o name, a combination of arbitrary
figures or characters. Some firms use the
Greek alphabet Some use the firm name
changed slightly.
The most intricate marks are made with what
is known as reporters. That is, there will be
one or more characters, each Of which il used
simply TO repeat the character Immediately pre-
ceding 1t.
Il remember case very similar to this you
have witnessed, where q fellow from the west
came In. Our mark Mt that time had two re-
peaters. He recognized the first one very
soon, but became completely liked up when
knowledged this, and made him set up bot
tie OF wine. Sometimes these marks come in
very handy, as in the present instance. When
ever we get hold OF a customer who is known
to have the habit of beating down prices we
simply put fictitious value on the goods.
The mark always contains ten characters at
least. and as many more as there are repeaters.
An arbitrary phrase, such as John Stands,
could be used just as well as anything else, and
is as little likely to be discovered. JHS.
would In that case mean 1885, OF course it
might mean S135, or it might mean $I.35.
Where 1t would be desirable to represent the
figure l33 it would be more the rule to use the
J.H. and a repeater than to write it JHH
Among the merchants in any one city the
marks, unless frequently changed, are soon
known by the different statesmen. Retail houses
frequently have their retail prices marked in
plain figures, while the cost is represented in
characters. Where this is the case the sales
men OF one retail house soon learn the cost
mark OF another. While this is frequently not
desirable, the main object with retail houses is
to keep the customer from learning the cost.
In the largest retail houses, where there is only
one price, the cost mark is seldom put on the
goods, and it is only where it lies within the
discretion OF the salesman to reduce the price
that a cost mark is used"