The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1906-10-20

Eyes, we must mark our goods II
plain figures when we do retail bus
mess, and sell them at one price,
said French, the dry goods merchant
addressing the group of travelling
men and merchants gathered in the
hotel lobby. AT the same time" hi
continued, there is no reason why we
shouldn't get a good round prof
on a lot of the things we have
If we mark them in plain figures tbs
people will think we are treating
them right, SO we might as well 81
ahead and get a profit. Now, for ex
ample, a man came to my town las
season direct from the mill, and
bought from him 5000 yards of as
sorted widths in 1aces at 7h cents 8
yard.
Now, when these goods came
in = you see had bought
them myself, without talking it over
with the young lady in that depart
ment-I didn't tell her what they
cost, but merely said to her, Now,
i look here, you take these 1aces and
sort them out and tell me what you
| think they will bring. She said the
very narroWest ones would bring 121s
cents and that the broadest would
her anything about what they cost,
but said that we could afford to sell
| them for that price, and I let her go
ahead and sell. Do you know, she
cleaned out nearly all of those 5000
yards. Now, that's the way I believe
in doing business
Hoover, another merchant, grin
ned and quietly answered, We'll, that
may be your way, but I do things a
little differently" Hoover was a man
who had business in smaller town
than the other fellow. yes, sir: I do
| business a little differently That
fellow struck me, too, and I bought
5000 yards, but marked It this way:
| the narrowest widths at tx cents
| just what they had cost-and for the
broades I didn't ask more than 20
| Now, you've told me that you cleaned
out nearly all that you had. I had to
recorder twice. Of course merchant
has a right to make long profit out
of shaky article. A man has a right,
in fairness to his customer, to make a
long profit on short season goods, for
he should not carry over things that
have gone out of style Take, for
example, ladies' hats. They change in
style as often as we have new
moon, but it's a mighty poor prac-
tice. I don't believe merchant
should follow in the footsteps Of an
old merchant I once knew down in
Kentucky, where was raised. Dur
ing the war, when sugar was worth
over Is, cents a pound, he bought a
hogshead of it. He had two rules of
business; one was never to sell any
thing on credit, and the other was
never to sell an article without a prof
it7aaand, do you know, that when that
old man died, 20 years after the war,
he actually had a part of that hogs
head o. sugar that he had carried dur
ing all that time All at once sugar
took drop and nobody would buy it
from him because he asked too much
for it. Finally he bought more sugar
and sold 1t, but he would never sell
what was in that hogshead for less
than what it cost him. I say man
has a right to make a long profit on
short season goods. He can do this
and still be fair to his customer, be-
cause when the season FOR these
things is past-take straw hats for
example-he must sell them below
cost. But this gouging customer
will not win out"
One Merchants Experience.
You're right there, Hoover re-
marked Watkins, the dry goods sales
man. Il agree with you. You've heard
of Ed Wilson, who used to be in BUSH
ness away down in Alma, Neb..
haven't your
yes, I've heard of that fellow. A
great many of the boys have spoken
to me about him
Eyes, sir; Wilson was strictly bus
mess. He prided himself on keeping
an appointment that he made right to
the minute. He bought goods quickly
and if he bought anything at a low
price-say a good clean job lot at so
cents on the dollar-he would give
his customers the benefit of it. When
he first started in business he nearly
went broke at making long profits and
giving long time. He took a tumble
to himself all at once and quit pat
ronizing blank book memo more
1edgers for him. He turned as com
plete a business somersault as any
man [ ever knew. He is way ont
there in the hot wind country, but he
has built up big business. People
know that Wilson sells stuff cheap,
and people come through other towns
to buy goods from him. When / first
knew him his credit was no good
Now he not only discounts bills but
makes additional discounts by antici-
pating payments. He owns big
mill and bank. He is the most sue
eessfu1 small retail merchant that II
know of. He profited by taking the |
people into partnership with him."
Another policy I have always
adopted" began Hoover, the mer-
chant, is to advertise Hoover and
not the other fellow I want my own
brands on my goods. I want my peo-
pie to know that it is Hoover and not
some fellow IN Chicago or Boston
that has put out good stuff I do this
also for self-protectian because have
seen my competitor come to grief
more than once because he has sold
branded goods. He carried, I know, a