The Savannah morning news., 1904-12-18

in the same proportion. Then there is
the trade lost through the needless
ness and ignorance of the extra sales
people, many of whom come in for the
three weeks preceding Christmas with
no idea of remaining with the firm and
consequently no sense Of responsibility.
After Christmas the complaint depart
ment of big store is fairly deluged
with walls from regular customers VINO
must be pacified even at the expense
of the house.
Delivering the Purchases.
Another big item of expense is in the
delivery department. One department
store of national repute has added to
its regular delivery equipment forty
spick, span new drays, twenty extit
horses for night work, and one hun
dred boys who VIII carry by hand spe-
cial delivery packages and has hired
for the last week of the rush every
small express wagon upon which the
head of its delivery department could
lay hands Firms which have a large
suburban delivery system sometimes
have their out-of-town wagons brought
into the city. and ship all suburban de-
| livery by express, having an agent at
the other end of the line to make the
| deliveries. This means a payment of
a commission, generally 10 per cent.
on the sales. to the agent. But the
wagons are more valuable in the city.
The delivery department works
night and day In two shifts. There
ere two sets of horses and two shifts
of men. For the last few weeks be-
fore the holidays the delivery schedule
| in the superintendent office changes
| constantly. The entire city is divided
into districts for delivery and assign
ed to different wagons and men. AS
/ the trade grows heavier the number OF
the districts is increased and their size
IL decreased. For instance, district
which may include forty blocks In No
vember Will include only twenty the
week before Christmas. In this way
the work for each man Is concentrate
cd In small territory and every mo-
ment is utilized in actual delivery OF
goods, and not In covering long
stretches of territory.
Feeding the Employees.
A holiday expense of which few
shoppers know comes to some OF the
more liberal firms during the entire
month OF November and part of De-
| cember, and that is the supper bill for
employees held for night work. When
| departments are being changed round
| and stocks readjusted for the holiday
| trade, clerks are kept after closing
| hours to do the work. and their sup
per is supplied by the firm in the
restaurant attached 10 the store, or
| IL II Is not a department store. they
are given supper checks on some near
by restaurants. After the holiday rush
| is really on, these same clerks draw
extra wages for night work, and
therefore pay for their own supper.
Extra wrappers and packers, drivers
/ and deliverymen. are really harder to
! obtain and command better salaries
| than salespeople. The extras In the
| delivery department cost the firm big
money II they abuse the horses or
waste the firms time through lack OF
| knowledge of the territory In which
they work The packers not only
| break articles but delay delivery when
| time is money.
| where the Extra Help Comes From.
Extra salespeople come from many
sources. Every firm has a long list
of what may be termed superannuated
clerks, men and women, who have
| been good clerks In their time, but
who have dropped out Of service but
revive associations for the holiday
trade. Then nearly every clerk can
recommend some friend or member
| of her family who is glad to come
| into the shop for a few weeks to earn
| Christmas pin-money, and just at this
season OF the year certain factories.
such as those which handle neckwear,
| shlrt-wasts, etc. close down for
few weeks and the factory hands are
regarded as the most dependable of
extras" behind the counter.
One hundred thousand dollars is
considered conservative estimate
IN computing the probable expense Of
handling the Christmas rush In a big
store, and the woman who objects to
carrying home n small package will
do we'll TO repeat those magic figures
several times. They will soothe her
| ruffied feelings. One hundred thous-
and dollars. just to help out OLD
Santa Claus and please the great army
OF Christmas shoppers