Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-04-11

record. and the mistake is frequently cor
rected without troubling the purchaser.
AS rule, it requires about fifteen min
uteS for an expert wagon man to check
off the contents of his bin and load his
wagon. Generally, too, his hours are not
hard. He is supposed to report at the
| stables by am, and at the store with
his wagon half an hour later If his last
delivery is at $50 pm. he should be ready
to leave the stable for home by in the
evening. But at holiday season all rules
fail. and the delivery men work until they
are ready to drop.
G. o. D. Package Source of Trouble.
Around the outside of the bins runs an
AISLE and on the other side of this are
number of dens connected with the parcel
delivery. One of these is the wrong adj
dress room. where everything missent must
be turned in for investigation. Sometimes
this is accomplished by going back to the
salespeople, or to the fedgers, In case OF
a charge account. Here, too, come the
c. o. D. packages which are not claimed
when first delivered A wagon man must
make at least three efforts to deliver G.
o. D. packages each time reporting to
this wrong address room,' to have his
sheet signed and turn in his goods to be
held for another delivery.
1t requires thirty men in all to run the
den devoted to returned or refused c. 0. D.
packages. Fully ten per cent of all goods
purchased this way are refused on delivery
and there is nothing to do except to bring
them back to the store. Wagon men say
that the ma jority of these refuSalS are due
not to the fickleness Of feminine taste, but
to a tendency to extravaganza. On count
ing up the days shopping women find that
they have overstepped the allowance, or
their husbands object to so large an ex-
penditure, and the goods are fatty re-
fused.
These refused goods are sorted twice a
day and returned to stock. The wagon
clerk, of course, has received receipt for
their return, and the entire record Of the
goods from wagon man to salesman must
be kept clear. The cashier for the z. ..
D. department has his office in the delivery
rooms.
$4,000 Special Deliveries Year.
The den devoted to special deliveries is a
busy corner. Here come runners from all
over the store with packages which cannot
await the regular delivery. For example.
if a woman is leaving town in haste In the
evening and has just missed the morning
delivery, her goods will be sent to her spe-
cial, rather than take the chance of their
being late by the regular afternoon deliv-
cry. The aisle director presumably satisfies
himself that the request for special delivery
is warranted, but it is an unacknowledged
truth in many stores that special delivery
is much of a fad with certain fussy shop
pers and regular customers. who invent
excuses that are terribly and wonderfully
put together. The special is an accom-
mediation pure and simple, and a big store
records between fifty and sixty thousand
of these accommodate every year. Spe-
cial delivery is made by boy or by wagons
reserved for that purpose.
Then, there is a corner devoted to "held
packages" which have been ordered for
delivery certain days. They may be
c. o. D. bundles or paid packagse. Each
bin is labeled with the day of the week on
which they go out.
The transfer department looks like q
post Office, with thousand small racks for
holding the sale slips attached to transfer
ayHC G anh Cl ys x-a6 fc +yrx,t bal
into its little rack, and the package Is
tossed into bin which corresponds in num-
Der to the rack. When the clerk finds that
the entire transfer card has been checked
off packages are gathered up and turned
over to the reuter- for distribution,
This method of shopping is infinitely safer
and quicker than to have purchases sent
Unfortunately and unattached from all
over the store. Men, as a rule, will not
bother with a transfer card, no matter
how large their shopping list but women
like the system and use it very generally.
One Hundred Regular Wagons.
The mail order department is run on the
same system as the transfer, and the e1-
press department is on somewhat similar
lines. In the special delivery department
are kept the records of the entire delivery
system. and one large rack is so arranged
that 1t will hold years record sheets,
ready for instantaneous investigation.
The express rooms and those devoted to
the packing of all large shipments and de-
liveries. such as china, glass, housefur-
nishings, works of art and furniture, look
like busy carpenter shops. The china room
is lined with high tables where the inspect
ors stand. They not only inspect I'LL
breakable goods. but stamp them with their
numbers, and then pass them on to expert
packers, who also stamp the package. In
this way responsibility for breakage can be
traced.
The average big department store in New
York employs 100 regular wagons and
half dozen vans. Three hundred and
seventy-five horses are in service and fully
that many men are kept at work on wagons
and around the stables. which are IN
charge of a skilled veterinary surgeon.
So important does the average firm re-
gard its delivery system that. to perfect 1t
and keep it working smoothly. 1T is willing
to pay its superintendent a salary which
rivals that of successful buyer or head
of department.
what dirty business politics is!' ejacu-
lated the fastidious citizen, as he looked ct
hAfyyaotp