Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1904-08-11
Help Tas: liSOIEEYMEN.

The following article from the
Clinton Daily Age fits our gro
cerymen to a "gnat's heel"
Read it over carefully end see
if your orders don't come more
regularly if you follow the add
vice of the article published
below.
Zone of the problems which
the grocer has to cope with is
prompt delivery. All his ener-
gies go to make his system Of
delivery as perfect as possible,
and to give his customers quick
service. Few housewives are
aware of the fact that they, by
following a few simple rules,
can aid the merchant in making
the delivery of goods to all parts
Of the city more prompt. If
you have ever been in a gro
Gerry in the early morning when
the orders are pouring in over
the telephone, you could easily
see that it is no simple matter
to arrange the delivery of the
groceries in such a way that all
the customers may have them
at their doors before dinner.
The orders are scattered all over
the city, coming from all direc-
lions.
"A Clinton grocer, when ask
ed if he had any difficulty IN
filling the wants of his custom
ers, promptly responded en-
|phatically he had.
"There is only one complaint
that have to make he said,
and that is that the people of
this city do not realize what a
lot of trouble they cause US by
forgetting to include all their
wants in their first orders. Most
everybody orders the days sup
plies in the morning and we
have arranged our delivery sys-
tenn so that all the orders may
be filled by dinner time. The
wagons are sent out to the va
rious parts of the city in a sys-
Itematic way, some going to the
north end, others to the south,
and then others still to the ex-
IRENE western part of the city.
Now, there are some housewives,
and they are not few, who ex-
pect us to send them their sup
plies at any time they order
them. Suppose Mrs. x, out in
the courts, has ordered a peck
of potatoes at 8 o'clock in the
morning and at II discovers she
is out of flour? The natural
thing for her to do is to step to
the phone and tell us about it,
asking that the flour be deliv-
cred at once since she needs it
for dinner. We, of course, want
to accommodate her, but often
can't for the reason that the de-
livery wagon which brought her
the potatoes is in Lyons at II
O'Clock distributing the orders
there. Mrs. x. is disappointed,
and of course will blame us, yet
the matter cannot be hel ped.
"What she should have done
was to have gathered her orders
in a bunch and 'phoned them at
9 in the morning before the
wagon went out on its route. 1t
is next to impossible for the
grocers to keep a wagon always
within call. Orders coming from
the vicinity of the big tree cam
not be filled if the wagons are
i'm CLANCY.
''The common sense of this
gTocer's statement should APP
peal to every woman in this
city. Housewives should realize
that the merchants are a busy
lot of people and that forgetting
small items now and then does
not amount to very much, pro-
viding that the lapse of memory
happens to only one housewife.
AS a matter of fact, each day
there are scores who have for
gotten to include articles in
their lists and think that when
the grocer disappoints them
that it is personal spite, when
really he has the best intentions.
By ordering early and making
up their lists the evening before,
the matter could be easily obvi-
ated to the satisfaction Of both
parties concerned"
n II nn,,r &c, IN oorap +o1lo,,