Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va) 1886-1890, 1889-11-15
TRICKS in PRICE MARKS.
shrswd Customer 5lay Sometimes Learn
;le Cost of the Goods offered.

a ShrcWu Customer Nay Sometimes Learn
1he Cost of the Goods offered.
Recently western merchant came
to a large cloth house in New York to
buy goods. lie was known as very
shrewd and rather tricky merchant,
who had fondness for learning the
prices at 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 so large as to rouse his
suspicion The buyer seemed very
disappointed, and his brow was knit
in a way TO Show that he was very
much puzzled over something. When
he had gene away the clerk turned to
tie writer and observed:
Il think have blocked that fellows
game very nicely. You saw what he
was trying TO DO, didn't you?"
The writer admitted his Ignorance.
We'll, SAID the clerk, "hc WAS try
ing to discover cur secret mark"
As he spoke the clerk pointed to a
little tag attached to a piece of cloth
in his hand on which were inscribed
three different letters.
That mark, heSaid, means g. so.
If l had tod him what it was he
would have very easily learned by
comparing the various marks on diff
ferent pieces Of goods just what our
mark was. 70" instance, if X. l.. NJ.
meant $3.50, he would know that X
Was ., l.. ), and H. 0. By then in
curing the prices of various other
pieces Q: cloth, he could easily select
those which would have different sets
Of letters on them, and he would soon
have gotten II the whole secret. |
told hiul the price was $2.65, and &C.
cordiug 10 that the X. was and l.
was and the Vi. was ). ! also
changed the Interpretation of each
mark, and the result was that if he ar
rived at any conclusion it was very
wrong one.
There is nothing particular dis
honorable about this, for merchants
try it very frequently, and as rule
they succeed in learning the mark.
Every business house has Il private
mark OF this kind. The ordinary buy
er in the rel&i! house would never OF
course, learn this, but in wholesale
houses. where the buyers frequently
see the same characters, and can COM
pare them, 1t is 4 matter Of great diff
Guilty TO prevent their learning the
firms secret. u here firms are eSpe'
cially anxious to avoid discovery they
change tie marks frequently. y mark
may Be = name, 4 combination of ar'
bityayy cures or characters. Some
firms use the Gyeel; alphabet Some
use the firm name changed slightly.
The most intricate marks are made
with what Is known as repcaters.
That Is. there viii be ono or more
characters, each Of which is used sim
ply to repeat tie character immedi
ately preceding Ii.
i remember q case very similar to
this you have witnessed, where q fell
low from the west came in. Our
mark at that time had two repeaters.
He recognized the FIRST one very soon,
but became completely mixed up
when he came to the second. lie af-
teiward acknowledged this, and /
made him set up 4 bottle of wine.
Sometimes these marks come iii very
handy IS in the present instance.
When ger We ct hold OF Il customer
who is known 10 have the habit Of
beating down prices we simply pat q
fictitious valGe on the goods.
The mark always contains ten
characters ~ least, aud as many more
as there are rePaa.cr5. An arbitrary
phrase such a. John Stands, could
be used IS wei! Is anything else. and
is IS Hl:ei.F to be- discovered. J. II. s.
would u taat case mean l35. OF
course. 1t mirht mean %l25, or II
might moan SIP v here ii would
be GesiHS3 .a 10 represent the figure 133
it wouL, be more tie rule to use theJ.
Il. and q repeater than to write 1t j.
IL T.
.4u!oug the merchants in any one
city the marks, unless frequently
changed. gre soon known by tie dif-
iereut s2lesmen. Retail houses fire.
ouenur have their retail prices mark
ed in plain figures, while the cost IS
represented in characters. Where
this is thecase the statesmen OF one re
tail house soon learn the cost mark Of
another. While this is freQuentiy not
desirable, the main object with retail
houses is to keep the customer from
learning the cost. In the largest re-
tail houses where there is only one
price. the cost mark is seldom put on
he goods, ard ii Is cnly where it lies
within the discretion OF the salesman
to reauce the price that q cost mark Is
used rev York sun.