The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-06-17
THE WAYS OF SHOPPERS ny MAIL
Experience of some of the Big De-
partment stores.
Prom the New York Sun.

Experience of Some of the Big De-
partment stores.
From the New York Sun.
The spring is the busiest time OF the
whole year for the mail-order section of
the big department stores. AT one store
1000 letters are received daily either ask
ing for samples or ordering goods. These
letters come from all over the country, al
though very few are from the extreme
West. That region is supplied principally
! from the Western cities the express rates
| from New York being too heavy, Some
people have an idea that the mall-order
clerks cut up and send off in samples more
! goods than are ever ordered in return for
those samples. This is a mistake which
causes the head of the department. in ques-
ton to smile a silent gleeful smile and
turn to the records showing 10000 out-of-
town customers on his books.
Each customer is entered in the card
| index a system something like that in
vogue in libraries. A white card repre-
| sents a woman; a yellow card denotes
| man. The cards are sub-dvided on a ge-
| ographical plan, into different sections
| suburban, New England, Southern, West.
ern and so on. Various marks show
whether the customer is charge or
cash whether the goods were ordered
from sample or from an advertisement,
|
| say, first favor-or not.
| The young women who select the sam
| Piles to be sent must be judges of hand
| writing as well as familiar with the latest
| fashions in New York and the extent to
| which they will go in other places. The
wisdom of the serpent is nothing compared
| with the shrewdness they must display.
| No matter how clear request for sam
| pies may be, there are always plenty of
/ nj a for ha al Il
wrong thing. Even when letter is more
than usually explicit she sizes up" the
| handwriting, the paper, the language and
| the locality from which it comes. If two
Identical letters should arrive, one from
Ohio and the other 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 clerks
want the very cheapest kind of mate
rails. In fact, they often ask for a cheap
| er quality than we carry at all. They
want 29-cent silks and that sort Of thing
! New England customers in the cities
want good things, but when it comes to
the country-wel, they count their pen
MES about twice as often as anybody
else does, and we get more cross letters
from that section than we do from any
other. The Western people out in Ohio
ers."
do many women send for samples just
to find out what is being Worn or for use
in fancy work." V
Yes, some of them do, Why they ad-
mitted it out in Pennsylvania. They were
making silk quilts or something like that,
and the whole sewing society tried TO
stock up with samples"
The sample department. buys the goods,
| ~.
| counters downstairs, just as any customer
would except that 1t gets a discount of
20 per cent. Hundreds of yards of mate
rial are sliced into hits with big shears or
! by a cutting machine, which is used for
plain goods. Five hupdred dollars worth
of material is disposed of in this way every
month. In addition TO these samples,
three girls in the mail order department
are kept busy getting samples from the
counters downstairs. These are sent in
| response to special requests for sone-
thing to match color or design enclos-
ed
| When an order is received it is regis
tered, and the letter is given to one of
several young women who are called shop
pers They buy the goods downstairs and
the material is sent TO a special shipping
| department 10 be forwarded. In many of
the stores these shoppers eventually get
to know the wishes aud tastes of certain
| customers who have ordered a number OF
times. When the customer comes to New
York for visit she often drops In for a
call on the girl who has served her SO
many good turns.
Among the queer requests which have
been perpetrated upon these long-sufering
mail departments was one for BLACK
stockings with white attacked feet" The
clerk inferred that attached" was intend
ed Another expressed desire for RIB
bon that can be shbred up" which seemed
to be a rendering of "shirred up One
woman wrote for samples for a wedding
dress for me and my daughter There
were so many possibilities in this that the
entire department puzzled over IT, II
might have meant that each one of the
women was 10 be married and wanted a
wedding dress apiece, or that they were
both to be married. but would take turns
at The dress, or that the daughter was TO
be married and the mother was merely
going TO assist or vice versa. One order
said: please send by express two-dollar
shirt waists and $50 poker chips. Send
red white blue" One of the vague re-
quests. 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, cotton or wool; to design, to cost and
TO the age OF the person for whom ii Is
intended. Many maii-order customers
seem to think that their part of the mat
ter as about as simple as pushing a but
ton Their cheerful confidence IS justi-
fed, moreover for the mail clerks and
shoppers do the rest.
-s=e-e--
wonders of the Paris Exposition.
psso,,, I.eaiiate yVaakIv