Evening star., 1902-09-13
A NEW PROFESSION
A WOMAN WHO DOES MARKETING
FOR SUBURBAN FOLKS.
She More Than Saves Them Her
Weekly Pay and Makes Good
Income Beside.
Written for Tie ErenIng Star.

Written for Tie Evening Star.
In a large fashionable suburb Of a GER
tain city clever young woman is making
a splendid Income for herself by ''profes
sional marketing" She deals with only
the wealthiest families but her idea may
easily be adapted to almost any place and
10 people In moderate circumstances.
All suburbanites suffer inconveniences in
laying in their weekly supplies of edibles
of which city folks never dream. The cost
of everything, even in quite large towns
is invariably more than city prices, nor is
a good selection always available. Market
ing in person takes up much time; orders
are unreliable and servants, If entrusted
with the marketing viii deal with those
shops which offer them the largest commits
sions and large accounts are greatly to
their profit. To be relieved of all this care
and worry by having ones marketing done
by an expert IS thing for which city
housekeepers. as well as those living out of
town, will gladly pay.
The young woman who markets profess
sionalIy does not work on commission. She
charges each customer So per week for her
services, thus assuring herself a steady in
come. Incidentally, she saves each of
them more than the So eack week on their
bills.
She buys In the city and she accepts no
percentage from any of the dealers, thus
holding herself independent of them, and
winning the confidence Of her patrons.
At present she does the entire marketing
for fifty families. The task is an arduous
one, requiring constant vigilance, energy and
watchfulness. When she is not buying pro-
visions. she is haunting new shops, espec-
tally those of the wholesale dealers along
the city wharves. For, though she deals
principally with few men, she never al
lows herself to became dependent on them,
and is constantly on the outlook for pos
sibly better sources of supply
simple calculation will show that this
but this is not all profit. She spares
expense I'm saving her strength and time,
and catering to the convenience of her Gus
toners To begin with, she supplies the
ladies. every now and then. with number
of stamped envelopes with her name and
address printed on them, in which to mail
their orders to her. Then. at least once in
two weeks, and sometimes oftener. she
sends each patron list of the game fruits
and vegetables in season and the market
prices of these at the time.
Orders Twice a Week.
The majority of her orders reach her
twice week, on the evenings before mar
ket days. She has them sorted and arrang
ell systematically. and is down in the city
the next morning before the markets open.
Before her present custom was esta blished,
the different families sent their baskets to
the city. as is usual, and the young woman
was obliged to see that these reached the
right butchers and farmers and were pack
ed and returned to the depot in time to
catch certain trains. Now she avoids all
this trouble. She deals. in general. with
two butchers. and she has fifty large
orders TO divide between them twice every
week. they readily consent to send their
wagons out of town on those days. and de
liver her orders in their own baskets. No
millionaire gets the attention from the
trades people that does this young woman.
but she stands by while each order is filled.
examines everything placed in the baskets.
sees that these are properly tagged. and
each. SO that no mistake In any direction
is possible
One farmer now regularly sends butter
eggs and some vegetables out to her Gus
toners twice a week in his wagon. For
the majority of her vegetables. fruits and
game. however. the young woman haunts
the wharves. Here she can obtain every
thing at price which is decided saving
even on that paid by the average city house
keeper Often her orders from single fami-
lies are for the basket barrel fun. If
rot she can usually buy in these quanti-
ties at wholesale prices and divide into
smaller quantities. according to demand.
For the two days on which her work is
heaviest she has engaged a man with a
team To collect her purCsases from the DIFF
ferent dealers and deliver them at the
homes OF her customers.
Buys Plenty Always
above all. never stint myself in my
expenditures. said this professional mar
keter in speaking Of her work TO the writer
Il resolved in the beginning never 10 do so.
and that has counted more than half to my
success At first. when I had only u few
orders. l could not induce the market peO-
pie to send their wagons out of town for
my convenience, and If my baskets missed
the right trains l had often to send them
out at my own expense rather than disap-
point customer Going without a dinner
might have discouraged a housekeeper right
away with my plan. | never allowed such
q thing to happen. and | reaped a speedy
q no first r
had twenty patrons. BY the end Of the
second / had my fifty, and everything was
In perfect working order. Even If l spent
$50 week now in serving the people, l
should have S1oo left. but l seldom spend
that much
Il think that hundreds Of women could
find employment this way. | had only the
experience Of little home marketing be
fore started. 1 read several books on how
TO judge meats and game. read up all the
market quOtat tious in the newspapers and
visited the largest dealers along the
wharves before ] began TO solicit patronage
In the beginning / told every butcher and
farmer Of my plan. and encouraged them
10 nope Tor my patronage. In this way !
assured myself Of their best help at the
start. Afterwards. when some of them be-
gan 10 grow careitss, l able to judge
for myself.
Has All She Can Do.
II will not take more customers than I
have at present For people In moderate
e-ISu1lsto4-Se~r L""SN'rf woman might
charge less per capita and cater TO more
their orders might not be SO large as
are those of my patrons. The greatest
temptation woman has IN this business
IS To accept commissions from the trades
people. l should advise any one starting
out in Il never TO do this. Some of the
butchers Offer large sums for steady pat
ronage, but the only way in which to get
really good bargains is to remain entirely
independent OF them. They will Invariably
add your commission 10 the price of
their provisions. so your customers suffer,
and il is unsatisfactory in the end. The
regular income from the housekeepers
should be sufficient compensation even for
hard work, and marketer should be able
TO prove to each patron that the price paid
her is more than saved on the amount OF
the weekly bill.
Most of the market people send their
bills directly to my patrons. With the
Dealers along the wharves / have estab-
iished credit by giving good references.
I'd hills o me ]