The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-07-16
STORE DELIVERIES.

STORE DELIVERIES.
The following editorial written by
( Arthur Brisbane of New York is a use
full suggestion for wise economy and
is based upon an interview with Mr..
John G. Shedd, president of Marshall
Field & Co.
Copyright, 1917, Star Company)
Ladies, everything you get from a
store you pay for, barring the occas-
! ionaI bargain sold for less than it cost.
The price you pay for any article
| represents what it cost the manufac-
iurer to make it, plus the merchants
expense and profit, plus what you
may add to the cost by your shopping
methods.
The merchant uses all his ingenuity.
the manufacturer all mis- resources to
produce the article and lay it on the
counter before you as cheaply as pos-
sible.
| Neither manufacturer nor merchant
| can prevent you, the buyer, adding
to the price that you must pay, if 20
/ insist upon increasing unnecessarily
| the cost of delivering goods to you.
! Do you ask, How is it possible for
me to increase the cost of goods?"
1t costs money to send expensive
| automobile or wagon to your house.
| If you buy a spool of thread for five
/ cents, OF some IrlIllnS drUcle TOT a
| dollar or less, and insist that an auto
mobile shall go all the way to your
| house to deliver that article, you are
| increasing the cost of delivery tC you.
You would not for a moment think
| of hiring a taxicab to send home a
spool of thread; you would say to
| yourself, Il pay for the taxic;-b; it
isn't worth it,
Well, ladies, in the price of goods
and in the long run, you pay for
/ III
you send unnecessarily to your home.
VIII you accept one suggestion for
saving money during this war and al
ways?
Carry home your small parcels.
| Your mother did it and your grand
mother did it There is no disgrace,
| but honorable common sense in do
ing without effort that which means
a saving to your pocketbook. Do not
imagine that it makes no difference in
the merchants charge whether you
take home the package or not.
1t makes all the difference that it
costs to send it home to>you.
The merchants compete with each
other, striving to reduce prices.
If the common sense of women
would make it unnecessary to send
automobiles on these useless errands,
each merchant could diminish by just
~ lIAC Charge THAT he must
make to you for the goods that you
buy.
Another suggestion for war time
and all time economy.
DO not take home, examine and re-
turn that which you never really
meant to keep.
When goods are sent home handled
and unused up" and returned, that
means loss. And loss to you, for the
buyer must pay that loss. Merchants
cannot run the business at a loss.
Those that patronize him must pay for
the waste of women's shopping
methods.
When you see another woman
showing you the things that she has
mad sent home on approval, and you
know that she does not intend to keen
them, you should say to her, you
are making what 1 buy cost more;
don't do it,
Do not waste the time of busy men
OF big merchants, whose minds are
dealing with the difficult war prob
lem of distribution workingmen.
whose time is wasted running an
automobile between your house and
the store.
Remember that in these days of the
war every mans time is valuable and
| should be saved. 1t is a crime against
the general welfare when YOU
thoughtlessly say of a trifling article,
Send it home" when Won might inst
as well carry it.
1t shows lack of common sense,
lack of desire to cooperate with
the nation in its difficulties, when YOU
deliberately try the patience and cour-
tesy of merchants, taking goods on
approval, wasting the time of clerks
making OF shopping a childish. fool
isn amusement, whereas it should be
the earnest businesslike occupation of
serious women intent on making the
hest use of money.
1t is not necessary to live otherwise
! than you have been accustomed to lv-
ing. Unwise, false economy is against
public welfare.
A panicky wave of unwise economy
spreading over the country would
check business, stop factories, serious
ly damage prosperity.
Spend your money for goods that you
| mean to keep, and as far as possible
| carry them home.
Keep your money in circulation, get
what you need.
Do not waste the time of men and
autononiles ordering sent home that
which you do not mean to keep, or
sending trtfleS that a conSiderate wom-
an would carry in her hand.
There IS no more respectable sight
IN this war time than woman going
| home with her bundles. She possesses
consideration for others. Thousands
or women are in Europe now and
other thousands must go, to carry the
| heavy burden of wounded and diving
men, lifting them in their beds turn
| ing them over. Women at home can
without loss of dignity, carry light
parcels at such a time
Let your patriotism take the form
| of consideration for others do not
waste the time of man. a merchant
an automobile or working CIR. in
store.
Read at home what the papers have
to say about the stores offerings. Con-
sider what you need. Make up your
mind In the evening, as you read your
evening newspaper. what it is YOU
want, what it is you mean to buy.