The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1915-10-29
MAIL-0RDER HOUSES
OFFER ENTlCINC BAIT
ARTICLES OF COMMON USE SOLD AT,
OR BELOW COST
Minimum Freight Charge "Nigger in the WOodpile''

| perS, representing some nrm OF an
solutely no responsibility and who
under no circumstances will ever
cover the same territory twice.
The bait they use is to quote ex
ceptionally low prices on two or three
staple articles, such as sugar, coffee
or tobacco, prices that they know are
away under the local merchant The
thrifty farmer is at once interested
in such prices, and imagines he Is
doing a fine stroke of business in
ordering enough of these staples to
last him year. He feels so good
about it that it is quite easy for the
salesman to load up the order with a
large quantity of low grade tea, rice
beans, spices, molasses, ETC., and in
ferior lot of stuff that his home mer-
chant wouldn't dare sell him under
any circumstances.
/, When the shipment is delivered
the buyer will invariably find that
those staple articles, upon which he
believed he was making such a saw
ing, have been omitted, and nota-
ton on the bill to the effect that on
account of mill troubles or something
else it would be impossible just at
present to ship them. The other stuff
would be all there, however; and he
will have to accept it, unless he has
been wise enough to write over the
face of the order before signing it,
that unless the entire order. is ship
ped within a certain time, that it
shall be considered cancelled Such
orders are, of course, never shipped.
They are dead business"
Overlapping Characteristic of Mail
I Order Patron
/ In discussing the ultimate effect of
the habit of catalogue buying in the
homes of those who follow the prac-
tice, Mr.. Huga Hall, the man who
met with such success doing personal
work in the homes of the Indiana
community referred to in a previous
article, gives it as his opinion that
the tendency of over-buy is perhaps
the most marked characteristic of
the mail order patron.
GO into any home" he said, that
draws its supplies from that source.
and you will find goods that the
family does not need and never would
have bought from a local merchant.
In many cases these unneeded goods
these freak urchases-amount to
a surprisingly large percentage of the
total family outlay. If the catalogue
houses were suddenly cut out of this
class of sales their dividends would
undoubtedly suffer a decided shrink
age.
"Silent Salesman Fascinates
These buyers see something allur-
'ingly described in the catalogues and
become fascinated by it. The silent
salesman in the home keeps on teas
ing them with it until they find some
excuse to justify their purchase Of
the coveted article. Those utterly
unjustified whim-sales amount to mil
lions of dollars a year
with some women freak buying
becomes a passion. They make alb
surdly foolish purchases from mail
order houses that they would not
dream of making from their home
dealer. How to account for it?
Simply the psychological effect of the
catalogue perhaps. Anyhow this mat
ter of freak buying, of overbuying,
is SO universal that not one catalogue
buyer in thousand is wholly exempt
from it. The mail order catalogue
which so loudly proclaims itself an
apostle of prudence, is in fact most
subtle and pernicious agent of house
hold extravaganza"
Copyright 1915