The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1906-02-14
Parcels Post and Country
Merchants.
Editor Florida AgricuIturist:


post. Although | belong to the class
that is usually opposed to such law,
yet | am heartily i'm favor of it.
L have just read an editorial in the
Tampa Times ON the subject of send
ing away from home for goods. The
claim is made that there are people
in Tampa who are in the habit Of
sending to other places for things
which they could buy just as cheap
at home. 1t does not speak well for
their Judgment. As a rule buyers are
not willing to pay any more than Is
necessary for any article which they
wish to purchase. The great argu-
ment for mail order houses has been
that their prices were lower than the
same goods could be bought for at
home. l believe in building up home
industries as much as any one. But
the whole argument of the editor of
the Tampa Times is based on HIS
taken idea. 1t is not true that very
many will send away for goods that
they can buy as cheaply at home. If
the home merchant can sell as cheap,
but will not, he ought not to blame the
buyer if he prefers to buy in the
cheapest market 1t is only what he
does all the time. If a country custom
err brings in eggs, will the merchant
pay him more than the market price
for the sake of building up home in
dustry? If he does, he is an exception
to the general rule and deserves a
medal. If a merchant wants {: new
building erected, will he let the con-
tract to a firm of builders in his home
city if he can get a bid that is much
lower from a firm away from home?
When he wishes to employ more help,
does he give the preference to home
talent if he can save a few dollars by
hiring q stranger?
There is another side to the story,
when you buy a pair of shoes at
home for $1.5O, the merchant probably
makes profit of 80 cents. If so, the
80 cents remains in your home town
to benefit the community, the dollar
goes away to pay the jObber for the
shoes. But if you buy as good IL pair
of shoes from a mail order house for
$1.00. the dollar goes away as before,
But the 30 cents remains at home,
the difference being that it is in
your pocket instead of in that of the
stOrekeeper. Where will it do you the
most good, in your pocket or his?
Now for an illustration from actual
experience.
Being merchant, | am supposed to
get lower prices than retail buyers. l
buy my goods mostly in Jacksonville.
A short time ago | was in need of a
new, heavy, single harness. l wrote
to the two largest dealers i'm such
goods in the city of Jacksonville and
asked them to quote their lowest cash
price for such a harness as l needed.
One set his price at $3.50 and the
other at $500 L could buy just as
good a harness in Chicago for $11.95.
Shipped by freight, it will cost me
about $1.75 for transportation. This
means a saving i'm one case of $3.50
and i'm the other of $3.50. Do you need
to be told who got the order?
Now, how would it have been if
we had a parcels post? The harness
will weigh about twenty or twenty
five pounds. If we had parcels post
with a weight limit of II pounds and
the rate of 8 cents per pound, the cost
would have been from $1.60 to $500.
even if it had been the latter, the
saving in time would have been worth
more than the difference in cost
Country merchants are almost unan-