The Washington herald., 1916-02-13
MOTOR GOSSIP.
BY ISL" GROGAN.

Perhaps no other class of automobile
tiles for sharp practices as do lubricating
oils and greases. Everyone knows the
dealer who boasts that he sells ten
different makes of branded oils from
one barrel. and the sharp dealer can
scoop any number of different greases
from the same receptacle.
1t is scarcely necessary to dwell on the
fact that such practices are distinctly
bad business for the dealer who in
dulges in them. Before anything else,
the retailer who Is going to be success
full in this day of close competition
must be absolutely honest and squaru
with his customers. To palm off on them
under a well-known trade name, som,
other company's product. is neither
honest nor square, and the man who
does 1t is going to get caught sooner OF
later. and then good-by to his clientele
of regular customers
But such practices as those mentioned
above are still more unfair to the manu-
featuring companies. The big lubricant
manufacturers spend great sums or
money every year in building up a
reputat ation for their goods. They spend
a large amount OF money in advertis-
ing ana II IOlO~E. as lnt nlsnt lut va y
that they must use only the best in
gradients in their product. for they have
an established reputation to maintain
When the sharp dealer puts one across"
by selling, as the A company's product
some oil of an unknown manufacturer,
he has struck at the concerns reputa-
ton. established at a great cost, anu
which is its greatest asset
Here Is case in point and one that
happened not many moons ago: The A
company manufacture a well-known line
of motor car lubricants. They take every
possible means of safeguarding their
product from adulterators and sharp
practice dealers, but for once they were
fooled. A buyer came to them for a
consignment of lubricating oils, which he
claimed he wanted for export to an
Asiatic country. The manufacturers
looked UP the name of the people to
whom the goods were supposed to be
sent, found that they were an entirely
reputable concern and sold the agent the
bill Of oils. They specified. however, that
the goods were to be shipped by them
direct. so that there should be no ques-
ton about the export phase of the deal.
since the buyer had gotten the special
export price on the consignment.
Through a mistake In the home office the
EOOOS were not 10 lltiT Suppoctt
foreign destination. but were delivered
direct to the American purchaser.
This enterprising person never made
any attempt to send the lubricants out
of the country. He kept them here and
began selling them to retailers in various
parts Of the country. This sharp buyer
had gotten an excellent price on the ma
teriaI, one calculated to aid in the SELL
Ing of American goods in far lands. He
o. -
price to his customers and still reap a
top-heavy profit Just consider the injus-
tice of a thing like this, to the regular
dealers in the A companys line. handling
the goods on an honest and square deal
ing basis.
Now here is another little dodge that
has been worked before this. to bring
gray hairs into the youthful thatch of
the hard working oil manufacturer. A
man buys a consignment of lubricants,
and In order to have Just a little some
thing on the other dealers the little
pull that will give him the business In
these days of strenuous competition. he
alters the gallon marks on the barrels,
making them read for one or two gallons
more than the barrel actually holds
Then he offers to sell such and such
company's oils or greases at the current
Dr1Ce, DuL III duulllOn hc oiicio ~ fNs
the freight. He has abundantly repaid
himself already for this sacrifice by
charging his prospective customers for
one or two gallons more of oil than the
barrel contains. And make no mistake,
the dishonest jobber's ''liberality" in the
matter of paying freight charges. no
matter IL they do not amount to much.
Is going to take business away from the
honest dealer who gives his customers a
fair price and Is content with a fair
profit for himself. .'-.
Devious and many are the sharp prac-
tices resorted to by the over-anxious
jobber and retailer of oils and lubricants.
Not all of them are as crassly and bru-
tally dishonest as the methods we have
called attention to In the above para
graphs. But there is need for constant
vigilance on the part of the lubricant
manufacturer, who is determined to keep
his product In every way above board. 1t
would surprise the average reader to
hear the amount of money that some OF
the big manufacturers spend every year