The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-12-14
BUNDLES ARE ALL EXAMINED
NUMEROUS CHECKING CLERKS EN-
PLOYED ALL THE TINE.
How Furniture and other Heavy
Articles Are Handied-Many
Delivery Wagons.


thronged with purchasers of Christmas
presents throughout each day, and the
employees of the great department and dry
goods establishments will have few rest
full moments between early morning and
the welcome ''cIosing-up time" 1t is the
opening of the season of good cheer and
merry making and well-wishing. but what
q lot OF work it means for the army OF
clerks and cash girls and wrapping boys
and delivery meni
Few shoppers stop to think of the COM
plicated system that makes 1T possible for
the goods purchased but few hours before
to be delivered at the buyers home. neatly
wrapped and in good condition, and not
a single article missing. The question as to
what becomes OF her purchases between
the time they are selected at the store
and the time they are delivered by a uni
Toned employe at her home is one that sell
dom bothers the mind of the average house
wife IL seems simple enough matter
for all OF those things she has just bought
Ito be done UP in bundle and sent up to
the house"-too simple to be worth
ond thought. She has made scores and
scores of purchases at all of the big down.
town stores and has never had the least
trouble In having them delivered promptly
and in perfect order. In fact, the delivery
Of goods by the large firms is considered
such a commonplace proceeding that IL at
tracts little or no attention.
WONDERFUL SYSTEMS.
And yet there are very few people that
are really familiar with the wonderful de-
livery systems in use by the great retail
establishments of Indianapolis-especial
the department stores-and there are fewer
still that know anything about the surpris-
ing amount Of money expended by each
OF the larger firms in keeping this very
important wheel in their stores machinery
from slipping cog. 1t costs some of the
stores almost much money to deliver
the goods after they are purchased as 1t
does to pay the employees for selling them.
This seems almost incredible to one who
has not familiarized himself with the work.
ings Of big establishment, when he re-
members the rows upon rows Of clerks and
the many fioor-walkers and other attend
ants.
The organization Of the delivery depart
ment is, however. far more complicated
than II seems to the casual observer and
requires an astonishingly large number of
Woodworking men and boys. In most of
tie big stores OF Indianapolis the system is
pretty much the same. For every few
statesmen or saleswomen there is a wrap
ping boy who's routine duty is to carefully
prepare the goods just purchased for their
Journey In the delivery wagon. This work
Is done close to the place of the purchase
so that, II the customer prefers to do So
she (for of course the noun shopper" is of
the feminine gender) may obtain her pack
age and carry IL home herself Then there
are boys that act as collectors of bundles
their work consisting of carrying the
ready-for-delivery packages to a central
point where they are divided into lots for
the various wagons-the bundles, of course
not the boys.
CHECKING CLERKS.
Numerous checking clerks are constantly
employed to examine every bundle in order
20 make certain that all are sent In the
right direction. and IL may be seen that the
packages pass through a good many pairs
of hands before they are finally placed In
charge OF the delivery wagon men. Each
of the cftys largest firms now uses two
or three automobiles for delivering the
smaller bundles. I'm addition to the numer-
Gus larger vehicles that are drawn by
horses. The delivery wagon OF the future
will probably be the automobile exclusive
~. but as yet the managers Of the big
stores do not consider the exclusive use
of the horseless vehicles as altogether prac-
ticable. Indianapolis. however, is away
ahead OF all other Western cities of its size
IN the number of horseless delivery wagons
TO be seen on it's streets this year.
Every delivery man must have an as
sistant-usually small boy, who must
know how to jump out of the NOV
ing wagon without lighting on his
neck or back; for in these busy
holiday times the driver rarely has
time enough to bring his -ehicle to an
actual standstill In delivering a small par
eel. The assistants job is not an easy one.
He must carry the bundles from the wagon
10 the front doors in the residence portion
of town, and IL rain or snow happens to be
falling and the bundle becomes damp he
usually receives the blame from the lady
of the house, who cheers him up by tell
ing him she will hold him responsible Ill
all of those nice beautiful things are
ruined" 1t is the assistants dearest am
bition 10 be a real delivery man. so that
he won't have TO deliver any more.
That's the assistants way OF looking al
ft But it's different view entirely from
that held by the man who drives or runs
the wagon He IL is that is held to strict
accounting in the case OF parcels that are
marked &C o. D. and ne Is really the one
who Is responsible for any breakage OIL
other harm that the goods in his chargS
may suffer I'm their journey from the store
10 the home of their purchaser. He Is as
signed to cover a particular district of the
city, and Outlines during this busy season
ne is unable 10 finish his work until late
at night when all OF the other employees
! connected with the establishment have left
i the store for their homes. The delivery
wagons are run almost with the precision
y OF a railroad schedule throughout the day
! but after regular business hours are over II
u Is not an easy matter TO continue this
ciociklike regularity. for there are Otter
i unavoidable delays at residences whose &C.
cupants have gone out for the evening. for
getting all about the bill OF goods pur-
chased ans ordered sent up TO the house
that sapae night without fail" In cases OF