The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-25
GOOD AND BAD C.O.D.ORDERS
NEW YORK SHOPPERS FAVORED
ABOVE OTHER WOMEN.
Tremendous Increase % Late I'm the system
Six Gent Purchases Sent g. %. D..
Stores suffer some Losses "A Means
Of Gratifying Feminine vanity

six Gent purchases sent u ". W.
Stores suffer Some Losses "A Means
NJ Gratifying Feminine vanity
Ask New York women who shop at the
department stores which. Of all the shop
pinx-made-easy features they appreciate
most and a majority will probably answer
= The c.. o. d. system.'
Ask the drivers of department store
| delivery wagons h feature they wouio
most willingly abolish and most likely
| they will reply. "The G. o. d. system.
Praise the convenience Of the Q. o. ID.
/ system to saleswomen who have to DO
! with women's apparel and they will either
. maintain a discreet silence or say, There
are two sides to that story
Store managers admit that it has two sides.
! one favorable TO the customer. one favor
| able to the seller. and they point out that
\ ps haps in no other city Of the world In the
| &. OF system practised by retail shoppers
| To the same extent as In New York. one OF
them adding:
But then in no other city Of the world are
no many privileges placed at the disposal
| OF women customers by merchants. Why,
! nowadays We permit women almost to wear
out purchases and then return the goods
and get their money back
At this point a few forceful remarks OF
the driver Of a department store delivery
wagon were repeated to the manager.
Said the driver:
Its the G. o. ID. orders that get me.
Every season there's more and more OF
them and the customers who get them act
aueerer and queerer. This is what a lady
said the other evening to the wagon boy
who handed in a package:
Sit down and wait for the money till
nv husband finishes his dinner. Oh. you
won't have to wait more than half an hour
And abe was real mad because the boy
told her he couldn't keep h wagon waiting
so long and because he wouldn't leave the
package without the money.
when 1 first began to drive a delivery
wagon twelve years g customers would
have the money all ready and waiting to
pay a C. o. ID. One thing they didn't do
was to offer to pay a six cent c. o. d. with a
five dollar bill.
Six cents? 1 give you my word that his
very day l had two six cent G. O.. DIS. one TO
20 to a big hotel and the other to an apart
ment house where the boy had to climb to
the fifth floor to get the money
The nag as he listened. nodded
understsndingly.
Inc UTlNeT ISL I q Oub " bhO a. nv
admitted, -and the change he speaks OF
is due to competition in business. nowhere
so fierce as right here in New York.
the c.. o. d. system as now practised
in all department stores is an outcome
OF that competition. When l was a youth
a woman who asked to have goods costing
only six cents or a dime sent home c. o. ID.
would have been considered dotty. But
-. A --.., voanrv Niv,aa apapw daw in
connection with a paper OF pins, a spool OF
cotton or similar triie.
in every big store there 10 q force Of
| clerks who do little else than make out
COD bills. Every manager thinks himself
lucky IL not more than 10 per cent. OF the
c.. o. D.. orders come back undelivered at
the first try, and S per cent. from the second
| try. In most stores the rule is to send
| goods home a second time, when il not re-
| ceived and paid for they 20 back in stock,
| ut a loss to the house, Of course. IL for In
| stance the goods have been cut.
In this store from now till the holidays
between $500 and 1 100 G.. o. D. orders will
10 out every day, meaning that from $50
| to 200 orders will come back to be delivered
over again. and that finally from fifty to
seventy-fve OF these will come back to
the store to stay.
There is one old lady, a customer OF long
standing who expects to be humored, who
once or twice a year buys a quantity Of
things, all Of them to be sent c. o. ID. Per-
haps there are eight or ten packages in all,
and when the wagon reaches her house
the old adv il always on and and always
insists that all but two or three Of the pack
ages shall be taken away and kept for her
till the beginning OF the next week say,
repeating the same orders at the next visit
Of the driver, who is obliged to make half
a dozen trips before the goods are finally
all delivered and paid for.
But these are not the only. losses in
connection with co DIS. Sometimes goods
from &. o. D. packages have been known
to disappear.
"For example, a handsome silk p~etticoat
was sent from this store to an address
which proved to be a lodging house. The
| box was taken upstairs, the boy meanwhile
waiting in the v~estibule, and in a few min
utes it was returned to him with word hat
the goods were not satisfactory and that
the lady would call at the store.
When the box wa opened at the store
the next morning, it contained an old
petticoat. At the house the detective we
sent was told that the person he asked
for had left the city early that morning.
in another instance we sent a pair OF ear
rings. c.. D. D., SIP, to a Brooklyn address,
and after a very brief inspection the case
voo "tA Nho
information that the size OF the jewels
was not quite satisfactory, and that the
buyer would visit the store the next morn
ing and make another selection. The
messenger glanced into the case, saw the
earrings, as he supposed. and came away,
and almost collapsed afterward when told
that the earrings he brought back were
worth perhaps so cents.
NO, although quite convinced that
an exchange had been made in the brief
moment the jewels we're out OF the mes
senger's sight, we couldn't prove IL and had
TO stand the loss.
Occasionally it has happened that when
goods were delivered in a box the GUS
toner appeared the next day and declared
that when opened the box was empty,
and of course in such cases we have to take
the customers word and make good
In one big department store the mana
ger, after this circum stance had happened
three times to one customer in the course
Of a year, became suspicious. and when
her next box purchase a sent home
the driver and wagon boy were instructed
to open the box in the wagon before de-
livering and see that the goods were all