Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1915-12-31
Confessions ST a
Mail Order Man
By MIR. M. O. X.
Revelations by One Whose Experience ia
the Business Covers Range From
Office Boy to General Manager
HOW ENORMOUS PROFITS ARE
MADE.
By Mr.. M. o. x

HOW ENORMOUS PROFITS ARE
MADE.
/ bought where / could get things |
the cheapest and where our money |
would go the farthest. Not satisfied |
with doubling on the cost of an arti-
Gle: in other words making 100 per |
cent on your money, I began to |
scratch and dig for the little profits |
on the side, in addition to the big |
profits I made on the price.
For instance, l would advertise an
article for sale in our catalogue at
six dollars. This article would cost
US, in the house of the wholesale deal
er, for example, $3.50. By paying cash
/ would make two per cent additional
and for quantity q agreeing to take,
say 1000 of this particular thing) I
would obtain a discount of say five
per cent.
This is how I would figure it out:
Cost OF article $3.50
Cash discount at per cent. .05
Quantity discount at per cent 12k
Discounts ......................A171s .17k
Selling price to YOU...................$6 5000
Our profit ...........................s3 .671s
You can see for yourself that when
was making such profits it was but
natural that I should deem it proper
to spend the money on trips to Europe
and up the Nile, etc. Of course, I
had plenty of money to spend. Even
way back when the concern was in
its infancy l always made big money.
And it made no difference what the
financial barometer said about the
money market. was not bothered by
bank failures nor by financial stringen-
cies. I did not have to borrow any
money. Of course not You fur
nished 1t.
Good gracious, If you had fur
nished your local merchants with the
| cash you sent to me, in advance, they
| would all be millionaires, now, in
stead of plodding along trying to make
1
both ends meet
Take it, for instance, that you sent
me an order for lot of things includ-
ing hardware. Did you ever wonder
why the hatchets and hammers and
other tools broke so easily or would
not keep an edge? Did you wonder
why the locks became broken and out
of order? Did yau wonder why moth
ing would work Just as it should?
Your dealer in your own town buys
goods that he feels sure will give
service and be satisfactory. If not
| you can make him give you a dupli-
cate that will fill the bill. But he
is a different proposition. He has to
be right there in his store to meet you
face to face while my concern is a
long ways Off
In groceries, too. It was my Gus
tom to buy up what we call "job lots
of any merchandise whatever. If q
merchant went broke and went into
bankruptcy / used to bid on his stock
l would buy it, for cash, for all the
way from fifteen cents to forty or fifty
ed cash and was willing to sacrifice
his goods at any price. Then l would
take this stuff and parcel it out. AL
was fish that came to my net would
offer some old junk that he had KEEP
on his shelves for many years, as spe
cial bargains, and would quote descrip
tions as though the stuff were new
| vat mo H.
low. I would call an article value;
at" say IS, and price it at $780, 1
would have cost us about half dolla
or perhaps less.
Cases OF tomatoes, corn, fruit ant
other canned goods were my specially
Many and many time have dug vi
from the cellar or from the back o
the shelves of some old merchan
whom I bought out for cash at yer,
small price, a lot of old cans, bulge,
out, and rusted and looking as if the,
had been there for years. And the,
had, probably. | would set a. boy t
work cleaning and polishing thes
cans and then would paste new ls
bells on them. Sometimes there wer
no labels and then 1 could have a 10
of fun deciding what labels to put o.
them. There were many surprises i
store for those who bought such stut
at bargain" / would paste ne,
labels on such cans as could not te
: the contents of, and ship them out t
our customers.
Sugar, that had become wet, an
which l had to break up with an a,
salt the same, prunes full of worms
corn meal alive with reaches, sal
: fish strong enough to float shil
! flour and crackers filled with vermin-
yes, bought all sorts of stuff an
sold it at great profit.
And clothing-there's where mad
;. some of my greatest profits, for tn
clothing I sold, in majority of il
stances, was made by half-grown Jev
. ish girls and boys in what are know
to the trade as "sweatshops."
: The vest l sold as a part of you
, suit was probably cut by sweatin
young Jew from Russia, who cannc
speak more than a half dozen word
. !. of our language. He cuts them out
= lots, pile of cloth a foot deep and h
: cuts them with big knife that look
. more like straw or hay knife-th
;. kind you use to cut hay out of STAG
;. :. with. It's the same way with th
;. coats and trousers.
Then these pieces of cloth are sewe
together by perspiring young Jev
esses. They get a few cents for sey
ing vest. Another gets a few pei
nies for putting in the pockets. Al