Daily Yellowstone journal., 1889-09-26
TRICKS IN PRICE MARKS.
A shrowd Customer May Sometimes Learn
the Cost Of the Goods offered.

A shrcwd Customer May Sometimes Learn
the Cost Of the Goods offered.
Recently a western merchant came
to a large cloth house in New York TO
buy goods. He was known as a very
shrewd and rather tricky merchant,
who had a fondncss for learning the
prices at the various houses and then
trying To beat them down. knowing
this, the salesman who waited on him
put m extra price on every article
that hc 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 u way to show that he was very
much puzzled over something. When
he had gone away the clerk turned to
the writer and observed;
Il think | have blocked that fellows
game very nicely. You saw what be
was trying to do, didn't youI"
The writer admitted his Ignorance.
well" said the clerk, 'he was Try.
ing TO discover our secret mark"
As he spoke the clerk pointed TO a
little tag attached 10 a piece OF cloth
in his hand on which were inscribed
three different letters.
THAT mark" hesaid, means 90. so.
If / had told him what il was he
would have very easily learned by
comparing the various marks OH diff
ferent pieces of goods just what our
mark was. For instance, if X. l.. NJ.
meant q. so, he would know that X.
was 2, L. 8, and NJ. 0. BY then in
curing the prices of various other
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 $2.G5, and &c.
cording to that the X. was . aud L.
was 6 and the NJ. was 8. ! also
changed the Interpretation of each
mark, and the result was that if he an.
rived at any conclusion it was a very
wrong one.
There is nothing particular dis.
honorable about tins, for merchants
try ii very frequently, and as a rule
they succeed IN learning the mark.
Every business house las n private
mark OF this kind. Tie ordinary buy.
er in the retail house would never. Of
course, learn this, but ia wholesale
houses, where the buyers frequently
see the SINE characters and eau com.
pare them, it is matter ui great dill
Guilty 10 prevent their learning The
iirm's secret Who're firms arc Csge-
cluily anxious 30 avoid discovery they
chGnge the marl.5 frequently. 4 mark
may DO u maine, q combination d M
binary GgUrCs or cLyys,wFA SONG
firms Ggg the Greek alphabet, Some
use The ligu name changed slightly.
''Tlc most intricate Murlssg arc made
with what Is known IS rppga.ers.
That il, there will lie one or moro
characters, each of which is used sim
ply 10 repeat the character immedi
atcly preceding il.
II remember u case very similar 10
this you have witnessed, where a Eel.
low from the west came in. Our
mark at that time had two repcaters.
He recognized the inst one very soon,
but became completely mixed up
when he came TO the second. He af-
terward acknowledged this, and /
made him set up a bottle OF wine.
Sometimes these marks come in very
handy, as in tie present instance.
Whenever We get hold of a customer
who is known 10 have the habit Of
beating down prices we simply put q
fictitious value on the goods.
The mark always contains ten
characters at least, and as many more
rs there aIc rCpeutags. An arbitrary
phrase each rs John Stands, could
be used IS we'll as anything else, and
Is is likely To be discovered j. Ill. 5.
would ~ that case mean 1875. OF
cOuisa j, might mean $l3j, or il
might mean 5l.3j. Where IT would
be desirable 10 represent the figure 1888
IL would be more the rule 20 use the j.
II. ard aippCater than 10 write it j
H. IL
Among the merchants in any one
city tho marks. unless frequently
changed, ore soon known By the diff
fercnt statesmen. Retail houses fro
quently have their retail prices mark.
Cd in plain agurus, while the cost is
represented in characters. Where
this is the case the salesmcn Of one re.
tail house soon learn the cost mark Of
another. While this is frequently not
desirable, the main object with retail
houses is ~ keep the customer from
learning The cost n tho largest re.
tail houses ~! Ere there is uiIly one
price. ar Gus. mark Is seldom put On
thr goods, uEl asl gaiy where it lies
WEalu no. | g.gtun al tie salesman
p E-aa. .a ftI. tHHt e. egatufIr6 h.
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