The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1910-01-19
TRICKS TO BEAT HOUSEWIVES
HOW THEY ARE PLAYED ON HER
IN THE NEW YORK MARKET.
She Sees One Kind of Provisions. But
Gets Another. Clerks Are Ex-
pected to MAKE" Salaries.


pected to ''Make" Salaries.
NEW YORK.-Taking the fact
that in many of the smaller and
some of the larger provision stores
of the city turkeys and other poultry
have been sold at prices so low that
there should have been an actual
loss to the seller, when all expenses
were figured, the manager of one of
the largest stores in Greater New
York gave an exposure OF how some
purchasers are cheated
One of the commonest methods of
defrauding the purchaser is by the
substitution of goods other than those
purchased. To illustrate: A woman
selects poultry or a joint to be sent
to her home. 1t is of the best quail
/ ty. A ticket giving the weight and
price is skewered to the article, and
1t is put to one side. Then, if the
dealer is dishonest, another article,
similar in appearance, but of a lower
grade, is substituted. When the
purchaser receives it she has forgot
ten the exact appearance of her pur-
chase, and accepts the article deliv-
cred in the belief that she has re-
ceived what she bought.
just Names Lump Sum.
Another method practiced largely
in the smaller stores is for a sales
man to put the article purchased on
the scales take it off quickly, saying
$l23, ma'am," without telling the
weight Nine times out of ten the
price is in excess of what it should
be If the shop is not run honestly
A woman seldom will question a
! salesman, and so she is defrauded of
! a few cents.
BY miscalculating on the comput-
ing scales many dishonest trades
man robs his patrons of thousands of
dollars yearly. One trick is done in
this way: A woman-it is nearly al
ways woman who does the shop
plng-sees a piece of meat she fan
c1es marked II cents a pound. The
little indicator which the customer
sees shows that it weighs six pounds
twelve ounces. There are not many
women quick at mental arithmetic,
so when the salesman says THAT
VIII be 50 cents" the purchaser
pays, not realizing that the salesman
had computed the price at IA cents,
and that she had been defrauded out
of 25 cents
That Bargain Trick.
A bargain price is always attract
i've; so when a housewife sees a
sign, "Loins of pork 8 cents a
pound" she is apt to buy, because
she knows that IL u cents would be
a fair price. The dishonest trades
man weighs her purchase and figures
it at 1212 cents pound, and usual
ly the woman pays. But should she
be suspicious and ask what price she
is being charged the facts are told,
with the information that it is
"corned loins" that are 8 cents-and
few want corned loins. Or else she
is told that the Scent price is by the
whole loin.
Another familiar fraud is to ad-
vertise Canada legs of mutton at,
lsay, 10 cents pound. A leg of gen.
uine Canada mutton is hung up with
the price on it. The customer orders
it and is told that it weighs eighteen
pOuAuo, uIOI Z Lndu inc HOuSShGGpcl
for an ordinary size family wants.
! Get me a smaller one she says,
and another is put on the scales.
THAT will be SLIP, ma am" she is
told, and she takes it, not knowing
that it weighs only eight pounds,
and she has been charged IA cents
a pound
The frequent substitution of NUT
ton for lamb is we'll known. A great
many housewives do not know the
difference, and so fall an easy prey
to the dishonest dealer.
Cheap Turkey Bait.
Another low-price bait to get I'M
wary customers into the shop is to
put up a sign: Turkey, % cents
a pound" When the customer asks
to see them she is shown such a
miserable scrawny specimen that she
naturally wants to see something bet
ter, and so is induced to pay higher
price.
One of the principal evils of the
retail provision business is said to
be a tacit understanding, perhaps not
expressed in words, between boss and
salesman that the latter must be
able to make" his salary.