The Detroit times., 1910-10-27
BY FINANCE"

was astounded al the response
that came to my request for stories of
mistreatment which ihe citizens OF De
tIoit had received al the hands OF the
Peoples Outatting Co
| knew, OF course. from the long In
vestigations that had conducted that
they were pretty bad. but / did not
anticipate half the complaints that J
have received in a stream OF telephone
calls and letters following my request
Tor experiences"
Yesterday. | told you Of MY OWN
experience In the store. Not wantiag
TO buy furniture of them. I did not go
far enough TO show up their methods
completely. but | have gathered from
reliable sources some additional facts
about the way things are Iun I'm their
store that will show you why ] con-
slider TINS company subject FOR ex'
pcsure.
These facts. bear In mind. have all
been run down and thoroughly inves.
iigated.
/ will tell you now Of their method
OF marking goods.
They are marked IN plain figures.
Plain ngrres that really mean abso-
lutely nothing.
An article may be marked for In
stance, $33.
The clerk has authority to sell this
article for $22, simply substracting one
figure from each of the figures on the
tag you see, thereby making reduc-
tion that seems TO the unsophisticated
customer an almost unbelievable bar
gain.
And on that Is made profit that Is
many times what the legitimate house
will take. OF course II the clerk can
get more than the price that Is
marked, he gets his percentage and IS
correspondingly alert to get all he can.
In short. the price Is "all that they
can get out OF you" and they start you
high enough SO that there is no danger
Of cutting too low.
Does II not strike you that 1t Is
pretty close to dishonesty to charge
one man $40 II you can get 1t. for sn
article that you will sell him for So
II he VIII haggle bit. and then make
more than q fair profit? IL may be
merely good business but IL II Is, IL Is
time people knew just what good busi'
ness means for them.
Another sort of misrepresentation
that is practiced Is well illustrated by
an instance that was reported to me
some time ago In the early days OF
my investigation.
A man went into the Peoples Out
fitting store to buy mattress.
He asked for the weli-knowL Oster-
moor brand, which Is not sold ans
where under the advertised price.
"Certainly we have them" said the
clerk. and showed the inquirer line
OF mattresses.
"These are $5.75 today, special
nrice." he added. The customer was
very much interested and was on the
noint of buying, hui he happened 10
slsnce nj the trademark on the mat
tress and there read:
"Costnomore."
or course. II he had bought II they
might have sworn with sufficient plans
ibilitv 10 convince any justice that II
vas q "Costnomore" mattress that he
asked for from the salesman, and that
n was "Costnomore' that the sales
man said I've would get.
The copyright laws were designed
,o nreyent instances Of this kind.
Now comes the "swi,ching" racket.
when YOU once 60 into the store AMI
intend TO buy. furniture. you really
bayen't half chance. You have to
run the gauntlet to get cut and they
have been known to follow customers
clear out to the sidewalk.
Every salesman Is manager or IT,
introduced as such.
when one man needs help he sig
nails and another trots up with new
prIces and a rev line OF talk.
n ycu are obdurate, man after man
III he rushed In to sell you until you
buy from sheer exhaustion.
One woman expressed her opinion 81
,bs store TO the last man after being
nsssed down the line. She was so.ng
cut. having just paid the last install