Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1916-01-07
Confessions ST a
Mail Order Man
By MIR. M. o. X.
Revelations by One Whose Experience In
the Business Covers a Range From
Office Boy to General Manager
HOW L WORKED THE CREDIT
SYSTEM.

1t was always my custom to state |
in the catalogue in several places
money cheerfully refunded
If you are dissatisfied, how many |
times do you get your money back?
Did you ever get it back promptly
and without struggle?
This is my game-to pretend that
your money will be returned in case
! you are not pleased with your pur-
chase and then, if you do send in a
good hot kick you will get letter
back asking you to select something
else from the catalogue. You will
be tired out with letters and sug-
gestions as to what you should take
instead of the article you kicked on
until you finally decide to save any
more trouble and take something else,
something you didn't want at all.
But l suppose that really the great
est joke of all is played on the peo-
pie in the small towns by my so
called credit" system.
send you a catalogue and in
y
and to take your own time to pay for
it. The literature | send out leads
you to believe that l do not care for
money at all. try to make you be-
heve that you are a great friend of my
/ concern, that you are entitled to great
consideration, that your wants shall be
supplied with the greatest possible care
! nd hat III !
to credit.
Il will not make any inquiries con-
corning your credit" says my litera-
ture.
No questions will be asked of your
neighbors,' says another paragraph
Your neighbors and friends will
never know that you are dealing with
us on credit" says still another Sec
tion of my letter. But most certainly
do inquire about you. For instance:
i / had an outside concern-that is a
concern running under another name
and with separate address from the
main store. This address was the
home of my credit manager or the Of
flee of my collection lawyer
When you write in for credit this
is the way / do it. I have you sign
first of all, paper which is part oi
the order blank and is really Iega
contract, giving me power and author
ity to come into your home and take
out, not only the things you have pur
chased on credit from nae but also
everything else. When you sign an or
der for goods on credit you unwilling
ly sign chattel mortgage on you
household property Then, after thi!
paper is in my possession i can swool
down on you and drag out every sticl
of furniture you have in the place ant
sell it at auction to pay the amour
still due.
If bookkeeper makes an error il
figures. If some clerk steals a remit
tance from you, sent in to apply OF
your account, you have absolutely n,
chance to object. 1t is the law
Now, when you send in your orde
and application for credit, you mus
send also-for such is my rule-al
order and the amount specified as tn
goods right away but no, there are Gel
tain things to be done before 1 shi
the goods l have your money, S
you must wait.
Then my credit man sends lettel
written on the fake" letterhead of m
outside concern, to some of your neigf
( bors, asking them if your character
| ~, - -
your bills, if your morals are goot
how much you earn week, etc. You
order is held until answers are r,
ceived from those of your neighbor
to whom the letters of inquiry wer
sent Then if the answers have bee
satisfactory, you are sent contrat
to be signed by you and you must wa
until this has been received by m
credit department.
Then the goods are shipped. An
the awful prices-goodness graciou
what prices charged for the veI
cheapest and most unreliable class {
goods. My policy is to set price, th
first payment of which pays for til
actual cost of the goods. Then all til
rest is velvet All of the future pa
ments are profit to my house Yc
really pay for the goods, the actu
value. when you send in the first pa
ment. l won't lose anything if yc
never send in another cent
But think of it-you must ket
sending in money to meet the 9TH
payments for perhaps two years
e much each month. Any time you ia
to meet monthly payment send tt
If papers to a local lawyer and he CT
Il take possession of your househo
b goods and sell them on the street
ID Some of the goods l send VI
is are not worth hauling to the cars.
1t remember one lot of parlor furnitu
I'd that had lot of damages, one
ID which was broken leg on the diva
n It never could be fixed. / sent tn
le set out every time 1 could subs
Ill tute it for another on an order al
it always came back. We had
rs of joking about that old crippled S
W. of parlor furniture and, well, it hi
Id lot of adventures. / shipped tn
er set to nearly every state in the Unic
OF Whenever a customer would order
parlor set, and I could not get it,
the price, used to ship this crippl
, set out instead Of course it cal
sack, just as l knew it would, but
gave me a chance to turn round ant
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