Arizona republican., 1899-05-18
SHOPPING BY MAIL.
System of Sending Out O-ders-Queer
 Requests From Customers.

of the big daparsmert stores. At onf
 store 1 1,0OO lettars are received daily
 either asking fC- samples CT ordering
 goods. Thela lei5teTs come from all
 over the country, although very lew
 are frcim the extreme west That re-
 zion is supplied principally from the
 western cities, the express rates from New York being tCo heavy. Some
 people have an idea that the mail or
 der clerks cut up and send off in sam- pies mere goods than are ever or dered in return for these samples
 This is a mistake which causes the
 head of the department in question to
 smile a silent, glesfu1 smile and turn
 tc, the records showing 10000 out-of- town customers cl his books.
 Each customer is entered in the card index. system sltneJhing like that in vogue in libraries. A white card rep resents Q woman; a yellow card de- notes a man. The cards are subdivid- on a geographical plan, into different sections-suburban, New England southern, western and So on. Various marks show whether the customer is charge or cash whether the goods were ordered from a sample or from an advertisement, and whether it is . first offence-th4t is ID say, first favor or not.
 The young women who seiect the samples to be seri5 must be judges Of harldwriting as well as familiar with the latest feshic;ns in New York and the extant to which they will go in other places. The wisdom of the ser pe1lt is ni35I.ng compared with the shrewdnesls they must display. No najtei- how clear a request for sam pics must ta, there are always plenty Of chances fer the sender to pick out the wrong thing. Even when a letter is Hicre than usually explicit, she sizes up'' the Handwriting, the paper, the language and the locality from which it comes. If two id6ntical let ters should arrive, one from Ohio and the ether from South Carolina, they would receive different responses in the way of samples.
 Most of the letters coming from the extreme south,'' said one of the ol5rks, want the very cheapest kind of materials In fadt, they often ask for a cheaper quality than we carry at all. They want 29-eent silks and that sort Of lining. New England GUS tomers in ehe cities want gC-h things. but when it comes 10 the country well. they count ,htfr pennies about twice as OfSen as anybody else does, and we get more c:1cs55 letters from that sscticn than we do from any other. The western people, out in Ohio and west of there, are the be1e customers"
 Do many women send for samples just to find out what is being worn or for use in fancy w-Ek?"
 ''Yes, some Of tEern do. Why. they admfltad it out in Pennsylvania. They were making silk quilts CT something like that, aid <he whole sewing so- ciety tried oc sock up with samples .''
 The sampHe Cl4c3EeulsL. buys the gOcds, which it cuts up, getting them from the counters G,-Wn stairs just as any cusitOnl-r wCu-l1, except that it gets a discount of 20 per cent Hun dreyis Of yards Of material are sliced into bits with t.g shears CT by a cut ting machine which is UcLd for plain goods Five hundred C-Llars' worth Of material 5 didcoled of in this way every ml5Lich. In addition to these samples, thEse girls are kept busy in tho mail Ge23-tTers getting samples from the counters down stairs. These are sent in response tcl special requests for sJmstk;ng to matah a c0l-r or de- sign enclosed.
 Whln an order is received it is reg iSteIed, and the lclddar is given to one of several young Wcncen who are called l shippers. They buy tl1e goods d1wn- stairs and The material is sent to a | special shipping GisEa-tms to be for | waIGed. In many of the stores these | shoppers eventually get to know the | wishes and tastes of certain customers | who have ordered number of dimes. | When the customer comes to New | VO- viz c1,.a y7, f1., a cali, Cl the girl who has served her so many good turns
 Anncng the queer requests which | have baSl psrpcGral.ad u2cn these long suffering mail Departments was enc for ''black stockings with white at tached fee't." The clerk inferred that attached" was intended. Another exDrel5uei a db-5:rs for ribbon that can be GhCred up, which seemed to be a rendering Of 'shiTred up.'' One we man W7cte f-r samples ''fcc 2 wedding dress fir me and my daughter" :" There were so many possibilities in this that the en5SGre oeE1-sne'-t puzzled Cyer 1t. It migEL have mos1t tllat cath one of the women Wsi3 to tla married and wanted 2 wedding dress apiece; or that they weC'e both to be married, but would take 5U-1s at llhe dress; CT that tH0 uauSHttC was pO E2 naTuIed and the mother was merely going to~ assist, Or vice versa CEe order said: Please send by exrTeE5 two dollar shirt waists and 150 poker chips. Send rcd white and blue" Gre of the vague requests, which come by the hundred was: Please send samples of summer goods in green or blue" A wide margin is left in this case in regard to material, whether silk, cct-t-l CT wool; to design. to cc1t and to the age of 'Sle person for Whcn Il is irl>e1Lsi Many mail CT 1ec customers seem to think tEat their part Of the mater is about as simple as cushing button. Their cheerful cc1- idence is justified, ml-teover, for the mail clerks and shoppers do the rest New York Sun.
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 THE BOSS INSTINCT.