New-York tribune., 1911-12-17
PAY TRIBUTE TO TRUCKS
Department Stores Aided in
Making Christmas Deliveries.
SNOW NOW NO OBSTACLE
Promptness Assured Since Horse
and Wagon Were Super
seeded by Auto.

/ Christmas shopping which is already
under good headway, makes the creates
/ tax OF the year on the delivery systems O.
/ the big retail houses. especially the de
/ partment stores in every large city. Th'
| necessity Of delivering purchases to Gus
toners the same day or at latest the mex
. day after they are made becomes more i'm
! perative year by year, and is now recog'
nized by store managers and proprietors tc
be Of the utmost importance. Trade is in
evitably drawn to those stores that can
promise the promptest deliveries, and full
III the promise.
The heaviest demands on the service
come at a season when sleet and snow re-
duce the efficiency Of the system TO its
minimum even to sometimes tying IL up
almost completely for day or more. The
physical limitations Of the horse and
wagon were reached years ego, but the ad-
vent Of the successful motor vehicle has
opened new possibilities of which the more
progressive merchants are fast availing
themselves.
BY actual daily use they have proved
10 their own satisfaction that the power We
hicles are not only able to make better
speed and cover more territory than
horses. but are much more dependable un-
der adverse road conditions. And. having
finally determined this truth for them
selves they are eager now to impress It
upon the great buying public.
Economy Of operation and maintenance
are Of less import than the certainty Of
heing able 10 make deliveries promptly,
regardless Of weather. After other mer-
chants have struggled once more through
the holiday period with crippled horse SER
vice they will welcome the opportunity
that will be presented by the display Of
commercial motor vehicles at Madison
Square Garden from January Is to 20 TO
inspect all the newest models Of trucks
and delivery wagons and learn from ex-
hibitors what advantages and economies
their competitors are deriving from the
machines.
Just what leading merchants think Of
mechanical transportation is revealed in
/ large display announcements that have ap-
/ peared recently IN daily and Sunday pa
/ pers In New York. for example, follow
/ ing the snovstorm of last Monday. John
/ Wanamaker ran a 34-line advertisement
/ headed The delivery system that stood
, the test Of the first blizzard" In this an
! nouncement the store called attention to
/ the fact that in the face Of the storm all
/ deliveries went out on schedule from its
distributing stations 10 such remote points
as Stamford, Conn; Greenpoint, Long Isl
and; Palnfeld, Morristown and Englewood
( y. J. This extraordinary feat was accom-
! plished with a fleet Of fifty-eght vehicles,
! including ten large gasolene trucks that
carried the packages in bulk TO the subur-
! ban stations, whence they were distrib-
uted.
Regarding the reliability of the motor
! truck for delivery work Stanley Field, Of
Marshall Field & Co. in Chicago. said
{ recently. "All the year around. winter
and summer the truck bucks the road and
/ carries our goods into far and out-of-the-
way places. 1t would be impossible to ship
to these places by horses We used to try,
! but the labor was too wearing on the ami
mails and there was loss with each jour
ney. So we gave It up and used the rail-
road until the motor truck came"