The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1892-11-30
IT'S A WELCOME INNOVATION.
The Nickle-in-th the-Slot Stamp Seller Saves
Druggists Much ThankIess Trouble.

The Nickle-in-the-Slot Stamp Seller Saves
Druggists Much ThankIess Trouble.
There have lately been placed in q
good many drug stores about town,
says the N. Y. San, @nickle-in-the-slot"
machines which respond to the fructi-
tying fiVe-cent piece, not with chew
ing gum, not with a fortune-telling
chart, not with hand-organ produc-
| ton of ~Boom-ta-ra, but with pair
| of two-cent postage stamps. These
stamps are folded, printed face out
ward, with square of tissue paper
separating the gummed surfaces. Os-
| tensibly these machines are designed
to save the druggists time and pa
tience, and, incidentally, they yield a
twenty per cent income to their own
ers.
The sale of postage stamps has long
been very annoying thorn in the side
of the average pharmacist. If, to re-
move it, the sale were discontinued,
vigorous remonstrance was at once
encountered on the part of the pub
lie. The machine has solved more
| or less perplexing problem. The pub
lie, debarred from pretext for actual
complaint, pays its twenty per cent
grumblingly to the postal station. An
Amsterdam avenue druggist said to
reporter the other day:
you've no idea of the ANNOYANCE,
| to say nothing of valuable time, that
| is saved for us by that machine. Here
we are some ten blocks from a postal
station, and the people hereabouts had
come to depend upon us for their pos
tage stamps. We didn't so much mind
| accommodating regular customers of
the store-in fact, were glad to do it.
| But the average person-women es-
| pecially-would rush in and demand
| to be waited upon at once, no matter
how busy the clerks might be, TO.
stamps, and then go to the cheap. cut
rate drug stores or to the big down
teWn haberdasheries for their medi-
cines, very likely passing the doors of
two or three postal stations on the
way. The annoyance at times was
exasperating, especially when a wo-
man would ask the clerk to lick the
stamps for her rather than take the
trouble to raise her veil. Night calls
for stamps used to drive the clerks
half frantic; but this was not the worst
of it. People well known about here,
persons of wealth and prominence, not
infrequently would drive up to the
curb, beckon to the clerk to come out,
and hand him bundle of mail matter
with the request that he affix the re-
quisite stamps and carry it to the box
on the corner and mail it. OF course
we dared not refuse, at the risk of in
curing the ill-wil1 of an influential
woman and possibly losing an occa-
sional customer. But the assurance,
in other words, gall, of some people,
is astonishing"
Don't people object to paying the
extra money to get stamps from the
machine?" was asked.
Before the druggist could reply q
/ richly dressed woman entered, nodded
patronizingly to the proprietor and
asked: "Can yon let me have two two
cent stamps?"
Certainly" was the reply; @just
drop nickle in the machine yonder,
turn the crank, and you will get two
stamps"
blankly for few seconds and asked:
"Does it return the changer"
"Oh, no, you are supposed to pay
| the extra cent for the accommoda-
| tion."
"Then you will not sell me the
stamps?" she sharply calculated.
"We do not keep them since the ma
chine has been introduced, was the re-
sponse, and the woman swept haughti-
ly from the store, turning as she
reached the door to observe:
| "Well, just think this is the worst
imposition 1 have yet met WITH" and
she stalked angrily down the avenue.
"There. l guess that practically
answers your question" laughed the
/ druggist, as the woman passed out of
sight.
"How came it that druggists ever
sold stamps rather than any other
class of trades-people?" the reporter
! asked.
"Well, that question has been asked
good many times, and can be an
swered by any one who has been in
the business as long as / have. Away
back in 1912, think it was, the gov
ernment charge on letters for city de-
livery was cents. Old DR.. Boyd, who
had an office on Fourth street, near
MacDougal, made an effort to secure
a postal reduction. Failing in this, he
set up an independent delivery system,
which was known as the pony ex-
press Boxes for the reception of let
ter were placed in all the drug stores,
and all letters so posted were collected
and delivered twice daily by the Pony
Express for charge of 2 cents each.
This postage on letters was enough to
pay operating expenses and give drug
gists liberal percentage for the rent
of boxes. When the express was finally
abolished people had become so ac-
customed to associating the drugstore
with posting a letter that druggists
began to keep stamps as an accommo-
dation to their patrons, and the prac-
tice finally became general.