The Greeley tribune., 1907-06-27
SECRET COST s:ARks.

SECRET GUST mARkS.
Cipher System Used by Msrc chants
Puz.lins the Customers.
Speaking of old fashionel cost
marks. SAYS a writer in the Jewel
ers' Circular. a majority of t. cost
marking svstems now in use ars in
practicable, being either unw!e.dy
or too easy to solve.
The first systems were based on
the use of words containing ten let
ters. no two alike, each letter rep
resenting a numeral. Probably the
most venerable of the words still IN
use is:
w A S HIN G ToX
Il 3 s 6 I s %
Another, somewhat less easily de-
cipherable by the customer, is:
DON'T GIVE UP
IL Sc 90
Another one is:
l2s 466 1880
Such marks as these are no secret
if one sets himself to pick them out.
Usually all that is necessary is to
find out what several of the ten let
tiers are and then fix upon the ones
most likely to represent /, 5 and O..
Such secret cost marks can be fig
ured out in this way in five min
utes sometimes. Other merchants
use the letters in this way:
ABC e F GHIJ
/ 2 3 5 6 90
Or as follows:
ZYN W w T RIO
l . 3 6 s 8 0
Still other systems take every
second letter in the alphabet or eT-
cry third letter, beginning at either
end.
The crowning argument against
these systems is that all betray the
fact that they are cost marks. & |
X on tag can mean nothing but
cost.
What does it matter2 Only this
that the more the customers mind
is diverted from thoughts OF what
the article costs the dealer the more
likely he is to be favorably impress
ed with the article itself.
The solution of the problem lies
in using a cost mark which will ap-
pear to be something else. An ideal
cost mark is the one that has an
easily remembered key, that may be
transmitted by voice, that is so sim
pie in form as to minimize chances
of error in writing and reading and
that is not what it seems. The fol-
lowing is such one: 81 2 34."
To use it, 1 doubles the figures
placed after it, 2 adds so per cent
to the figures placed after it, 8 de-
ducts a third, 4 deducts a half. The
cost mark key is always the initial
letter. To illustrate its use:,
In marking the cost on an article
costing 60 cents one may write it ir
four ways-13O, 240, 800, 4120-
as the initial ] means to double the
following figures, the initial 2
means to add so per cent to the fol
lowing figures, the initial 8 means
to deduct third from the following
figures, ETC., thus: 130 (2x3O) is 60;
$40 (40 plus so per cent is go; 800
go minus third) is go, and 4120
120 minus a half is so.
In writing the cost on the goods
under this system the abbreviation
'No." or the sign - is placed be-
fore the cost. Thus the customer is
led to believe that it is the number
of the article instead of the cost
mark. This makes it great advan-
tage in conversation between the
clerk and the manager or proprietor
before a customer.
For instance, the customer is pro-
testing against the price. The clerk
may think a reduction wise and that
it will be granted by the manager,
or he may desire the managers in
dorsement of the price.
The manager does not have to ex-
anime the tag or ask its price to
learn the cost. He simply asks,
"What number is it," The letter
or hleroglyphic system would not
permit this simplicity in such 4
case.-New York Sun.