Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1895-05-16
THE INsrALLMENT PLAN.
Some Men Have hania for Buying
Goods on Credlt--Views OF tho.
Furniture-D Dealers

AHlAlNutN'buNNlo hNNllHk WIN w
sponsible houses pay very little more
for their goods on the installment plan
than they would did they pay cash, y
said furniture-dealer to Il reporter for
The BrOohlyH Eagle. Buyers are al
lowed 10 per cent. of for cash, and this
is the only difference between cash and
installment prices, | never foreclose
unless see there is not the slightest
prospect of getting my money. l could
name firms, however, who sell bills of
goods, and when they find that they
have received the cost value of the
goods foreclose, in case the customer
is behind, even in one payment OF
course, the firms mentioned are small
ones, and are known as the sharks OF
the trade. Sometimes ! have allowed
bills to run rs long us three months, for
the reason / knew the customer was
honest and meant to pay, l will give
you case in point: A year or SO ago
my firm sold u bill of goods to n resi-
dent of New Jersey town. He was
prompt in his payments at first, but af-
ter few months got behind. The firm
notified the customer that he must pay
on certain date. He answered that
he had failed in business and was UNI
able to meet his payments, but hoped
to be better Of, financially, in q few
months The firm waited. The custo-
mer got on his feet again and paid all
Indebtedness He is resident of
Brooklyn now, and yesterday l sold
him bill of goods. -
What class of men do you find the
poorest pay?" was asked.
Lawyers, Members of the legal
profession are at all times careless, but
more so when they are defending their
own property. They take great pleas.
ure in testing the validity of leases and
in getting outinjunctons restraining us
from claiming goods on which pay
ments have lapsed But in the end We
always beat the legal gentlemen and
they have their labor for their pains;
Ibut as this costs them nothing they are
not much the worse of, Some time
since, for my own curiosity, made an
examination of the books TO discover
the way our accounts with lawyers
stood. Out Of dozen or more lights
of the bar found but one who was up
in his payments. Newspaper men?
Oh, yes; ! find them very good pay"
"ls not buying furniture on the in
staIlment plan confined almost eXclu-
siyely to the poorer classes?'
"Not by any means You would be
surprised to see the high class of men
with whom we have dealings. OF
course, the greatest bulk of our bust
ness is done with the poorer class, but
many customers, although able to pay
cash, prefer to deal on credit. We re-
ceiye payments from 81 a week to any
amount, even as high as 800 a month
There is no doubt but that the install
ment business is n blessing to individu-
ais who have to depend on a fixed in
come each week for living And
even men with. incomes don't always
have 5000 or 500 ready money to pay
for furniture.
"Do you employ collectors?"
eyes. We keep three men busy
hunting up delinquent customers.
These men act more in the capacity of
detectives than collectors. could
write book on the games practiced by
dishonest furniture-buyers to dcfraud
the firms with whom they deal In
selling Il bill of goods we always take a
customers private and business adj
dress, if any. In small purchases, say
under $500, we never take the pains to
discover whether II man is deceiving us
in regard TO his business address, How
do we find delinquent debtors who give
bogus business addresses and move
from the state in which the furniture
is deliveredP In many ways. Our col
lectorS or detectives are trained to their
work, and it is but seldom that debtor
escapes them. Some of our men have
the names of dishonest buyers on their
lists for years, and finally have located
them. Before foreclosing on goods
write from three to dozen letters. When
three letters are written the first is in
the shape of request to pay; the sec
Ond mildly asks the when the customer
could make it convenient TO settle, and
in the third are contained these words:
If your bill is not paid on certain date
we will forecloSe. The last letter usu-
ally brings debtors able to,pay to terms.
While many firms take all goods away
at foreclosure, our firm always leaves
a carpet or some other article of fuani-
ture in equivalent to the money paid.
Sometimes we refund cash
"What becomes of the goods foreclos-
ed?"
They are sold at auction. Goods,
no matter how little worn, can not be-
put in stock and sold as new. Furni-
ture which has been forelosed brings
but one-third its cost value when sold
under the hammer"
A cash furniture-dealer doing bust
ness on Myrtle avenue was also seen.
He said: There may be reliable and
hocSt dealers in furniture on the install
mcnt plan, but the dishonest ones far
outnumber them Do sell on credit?
No sir. have no desire TO- grind the
poor nor take the beds from under
invalid women. TO be successful in
some lines of the installment business
man must have no soul and must be
devoid of all better feelings He must
be cold and calculating. and above all