The sun., 1916-11-05
BEWARE OF THESE
@'CHAUFFEURS TIRES
IF You Are Using Them,
You Are Being
Robbed.
~ BURTON =. DROWN.

coys 10 open the way for the sale or
imitation tires. These men ind ready
access 10 automobile owners pocket.
books by dealing with dishonest chauf-
feurs.
Tho oYhand manner in which hun
dreds Of automobile owners order their
chaufYeurs TO buy tires for them opens
the way for collision between the chauf-
four and certain tire dealers. and this
means the loss Of a tremendous sum Of
money each year to business men who
in other ways are sensible about ex-
penditures. There Is not one OF them
who would turn to a clerk In the office
ana ask him TO 60 vi and buy for him
. $3.50 watch. And yet any one Of them
will ask John or Jim or Jack to buy a
set of tires costing about the same
amount and never look into the trans
action themselves.
There nre tires sold In this city which
are plainly known In the trade as
'chauffeurs' tires 1. e.. tires which are
sold TO chaufYeurs only. and every
time one Of them IL sold a new crooked
deal. In which the boss suffers. has
been recorded. Dishonest chauffeurs and
dealers have reached a perfect under
standing on the ways and means Of rob-
bling the boss" without his knowledge.
A dealer who wants to be dishonest
has a very easy time OF II. He first lays
In a stock OF standard advertised tires
and In the end interests a chauffeur in
the special make OF poorer tire on which
he can give the latter a good commission.
II works along the following lines: The
list price Of an average BINS non-skid
tire Is s43So. The price to the dealer
n s3775, and the net pr.ce with n cash
discount is s35.S7. So the profit to the
dealer on such a tire is 1898 II he sells
hat tire at the regular consumers list
price. Now when the dishonest dealer
wants TO interest the dishonest chauffeur
in his special tire he first cuts the
price OF the standard make 10 say $37.75.
thereby taking n profit OF only $1.SS.
Naturally this price Is attractive to the
chauffeur and interests him in the dealer.
who later confdes that he has another
tire OF the same size selling for 1886
on which he can give him 10 or 10 per
cent. commission IL he could get the
boss to buy It. u course he shows
the chauffeur a fictitious list Of prices.
Now. the proposition OF the more ex-
pensive tire is bad on the very face of 1t.
because nobody can make any better
tires than the standard companies are
making, and any price far above those
quoted by them Is an inflated and dis
honest price. The 10 or Is per cent. COM
mission just suits the chauffeur. how
ever. and he sees to II hat all the stand
ard tires on his car 60 to pieces quickly
through rough usage 80 he can tell the
Boss" what poor service they are giving
and get permission to buy something
better" The boss Is easy INC has lots
OF money, n why shouldn't a poor
chauffeur get something on the side?
Somebody reading this story has prob
ably said TO himself: We'll. my chauf-
Q Is honest, so this doesn't concern
me-" Do you buy YOU tires personally?
II you don't 1t would be we'll for you
not to be too sure abou, your chauffeur.
Make a few quiet little Investigations.
Then when you catch him get a new
man and ave II understood that you
are going to do all the tire buying your
self. II you haven't time to investigate
the matter yourself and yet want to
know the truth just drive up to the head
quarters Of any standard tire concern
and an expert tire man will tell you the
truth about It Immediately. II will re-
auire only IA glance at the tires. A
"chaufeur's tire Is a crooked tire, and
II Is In the tire rogues' gallery so that
It may he readily identified.
The trouble with many car owners Is
that they can't figure out how a chauf
feur can trick them. and therefore they
believe hat what he does must be all
right. Owners are deceived and robbed
every day as they sit in their cars out
side the stores In which their chauneurs
are making purchases for them. Riding
down broadway the chauffeur will say /:
II think we ought to get six new tubes"
The owner Is perfectly agreeable, so the
chauffeur pulls up in front OF his store"
and goes In for the tubes. lie soon re-
turns with six boxes and places them
beside the owner to show him that the
purchase had been made. In n short time
tho owner gets a bill for them, which
the chauneur o. KS and the owner
pays. Now the question Is, did the
owner ever get his six tubes, and the
answer Is that he did not. He paid for
six. but he only got two. The chauffeur
returned four of them TO the store and
split 'ffty-ifty" with the dealer the
difference between the price Of two tubes
and the price Of six tunes. Probably a
little later there Is need for one OF the
new tubes. and when the chauffeur
promptly produces one the owner thinks
everything Is all right and then promptly
forgets about the six tube transaction
n never speaks Of II again.
Many chauffeurs from the first day of
their employment plan to systematically
rob their employers by a special inside
arrangement with dishonest dealers. In
some instances the thing il carried TO
amazing extremes. The writer knows Of
an instance that hardly seems possible,
but Is nevertheless a fact. A chauffeur
walked into a certain store on Broadway
not long ago and said to the proprietor.
How much have l got coming to me
this month";" The ~latter's reply was.
You haven't anything coming to you
because you haven't bought anything"
Then, with q surprised look. the chauf-
Ieur said. "Givo me one Of your billheads
and I'll some have something coming to
the. Then he made out a list OF fictitious
purchases costing In all nearly 397. He
showed the list to the proprietor and
said. you know that I bought all this
stun here. don't your" The latter
Wlnked and said yes" A "hfty-ffty"
tplit was promptly arranged.
NOW. Mr.. MotOrist. don't you think n
behooves You to buy your own tires and
general supplies? Dishonest dealers can
pot FOOL you II you ask for standard ad-
Vertised goods. And you can depend
upon 1t that the goods Of standard com
panies will live up to their names and
give you your moneys worth. When IL
m to tires you will find that the
well known makes do not contain com
missions for chauffeurs, but only Rener-
hfa a1AaoA -