American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1914-04-23
SHINING AGAINST
YOUR HOME TOWN
Part A.
TOLD IN THE #STRICTEST CONFIDENCE"

To succeed in the mail order bu~siness-one has to
know the ropes.
Here's one that never fails to bring business:
Offer some commodity at a very special price ana
the public will take the bait. If our reader has IN MS
or her possession a mail order catalogue, there Will DE
on one page at least, a commodity marked down al d
ridiculously low price. This is to impress you Win Che
great illusion that all the goods IN the catalogue are
priced in the same ratio. If you didn't know this you
would feel justified in buying everything by mail, just
as it was intended you to do. But now that we know
it, we will get fooled no more. OF course all mall or
der houses don't do this!
His name doesn't matter. He is a farmer-an
agricultural business man." The city limits of his
home town is eleven miles from the edge OF his farm.
His one hobby is that of talking about the time when
the city limits of his home town will include his prop
erty. He can hardly wait for the time to come-yet
is not willing to do his share for its realization.
One day he came to town. He wanted a pair OF
shoes. After selecting a pair-he asked the price.
1.-TWO dollars said the retailer. What, two dollars
for that pair of shoes? | can buy the same looking
shoes for $1.75 by mail. Why should | pay two dol
lars?"
The dealer told him he had excellent shoes for
$1.75 but that the pair he was looking at were $500
shoes. Our farmer friend could not see the difference
and took out of circulation in his home town one dol
lar and seventy-five cents.
Perhaps it would interest you Just how our
friends order was filled by the mail order house. He
would have to first picture in his mind a large build
ing housing hundreds of clerks and huge stocks. His
order would be dumped among thousands of others
on the desks of the receiving clerk where it is opened.
The order read, a slip is made out, attached to his or
der and filed in a particular box, where a second clerk
takes it to the order department, where a third clerk
reads the order and attached slip and passes it to a
fourth clerk who secures the shoes from thousands
of other pairs. A fifth clerk takes the shoes and the
order to a sixth clerk who verifies the order and
shoes and passes them on to the seventh clerk in the
shipping room. And so it goes until by the time the
shoes reach our farmer friend, a dozen pairs of hands
at least have handled his shoes, nearly enough to wear
them out before delivery. How much of our friends
$1.75 went for the shoes and how much for the hands
that carried out his order? Figure it up yourself and
stack the result against what would have happened
if our friend had purchased his shoes in his home
town.
If our farmer friend had purchased his shoes at
home, ne would have received good shoes, made by a
reputable maker, and he would have kept his money
at home-a little help towards making his dream of
the city limits reaching his farm, coming true.
Says a prominent western merchant (name on
requeSt) who is also the president of the local business
mems league, There seems to be a kind of FEELING Of
self pride among the people that they are doing the
right thing when they send away for their goods, even
II they do not get them any cheaper. | do not think
it is done because of any malice or iIlwill towards the
home merchants but more for the feeling that #
shows buSineSS-that one has prominent affairs. 90
ing to the post office and buying a money order and in
a few days get a big package by mail or express"
Is that the way you feel? Don't you think we
would feel better and have more pride if that new
post office or station or courthouse was rising rapidlv
for visitors to see and say to themselves 81 guess
American Falls is some city,"
Isn't that the way you want people to talk about
your home town? Then let's get together and olive
our merchants a square deal. They've done their
share towards building up our home town by COMING
here and going into business.
The next installment of Shining Against Your Home Town