Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1917-09-10
EDITOR
Merchants, Discounts and Deliveries

Merchants Of Washington -. e.. have had the
merchandise delivery problem presented to them in
i form.
! 1t is generally accepted that delivery of retail
parcels is important factor in establishing the
cost of goods. Honolulu merchants aim to reduce
the cost through cooperation prevent duplication
of delivery equipments.
! Mrs. Newton Baker. wife Of the secretary of war,
started a new line of thought in Washington by re-
questing discount on her purchases because she
was willing to take delivery the store and pro
wide her transportation. \ movement to make
such discount general has been naugurated by the
National WOman's Suffrage Association so there is
some prospect of merchandise delivery costs being
given wider attention than would result from
sporadic agitations.
Mrs. Bakers espousal of the cause brought out a
statement from the secretary of the national retail
|drygoods association with headquarters in New
I York City. Discounts the nightmares of retail
life per Sc, and Secretary Howe in his statement to
the New York Times gives reasons for the impossi-
bilty Of granting discount request in this instance
His review presents many of the practical Difficult
ties that have to be met by the retailers and are
therefore Of international value to Honolulu buy
ers as we'll the sellers who seek to reduce the
costs Of duplication. Secretary Howe in his state
ment said
/ IF a store gives a woman a discount for carrying
her small purchases home with her. the question will
be raised why it should not give similar dis
count to woman who trades early in the business
i day, against the who trades during the rush
/ hours. Similarly, the woman who buys $50 worth of
merchandise in hour would claim better
| price on her goods than the who takes two
hours to buy the amount, the theory being that
she does not make SO large demand on the time and
| service Of the store the latter.
Again If discount for carrying parcels given,
the woman who lived mile from the store would
slider herself entitled to bigger rebate for her efforts
than the woman who lives just around the corner.
! Suppose the idea of giving discounts for the
pose in question were practicable How could the
proper discount be determined? To begin with the
/ delivery cost of stores low 1 Y to
~ per cent of the gross business done. Two per
cent might we'll represent the average. In the
of the store with low percentage of delivery cost,
it can readily be seen that discount for carrying
/ purchases based on that percentage would be
small not to make it worth the customers while
/ take the goods home with her.
For purposes of illustration let say that store
has offered per cent discount all non-delivered
goods. woman of slender means comes into that
store and buys waist at 81. The store gives her
rebate Of cents for carrying it home with her. and
saves money on the transaction. A weather. woman
comes in and buys waist at So She takes it home
j with her in her automobile and on the 5 per cent
basis, she gets discount of so Now the
ond womans waist probably makes no bulkier pack
4 age and costs no more to- deliver than the first
womans, yet the latter gets discount equal only to
= onetenth Of that given the former
mot only would such a case be unfair to the poorer
! woman, but the store would make money the
delivery of the first Notwithstanding that it 10
cents each to deliver them-and lose money on the
i Qefnltey
sh twoprice basis of selling goods thing that all
good stores eliminated years ago and which of
these stores wants to come back.
| Some one may suggest that, the illustrative
sumption that it costs certain store of 10
cents package to deliver its customers purchases,
flat rebate of 10 cents all carried purchases would
1 settle the matter equtaby. But would it? Suppose
the article only sold at 10 cents to begin with, what
while less farfetched easily could up
i the actual transaction of business. ~.
1T may be argued that this difficulty can be over
1 hxyc Hiatt
on which these rebates should be given Let
that this is done, and that the limit is set at
$1-that is, rebate will be given for carrying pur
chases costing less than that amount What would be
4 the result?
The result would be that in giving 1ocent
bate 81 purchase, the store with per cent
| livery cost would be doubling that cost In other
words would be paying 10 cent of the purchase
price for having the package carried by the customer
when it could deliver the package itself for per cent
Then again, where would justice enter this arrange
ment in the case of woman who buys large tin dish.
PAM costing less than 81, gets no rebate for
taking it with her. while another woman is paid 10
cents for carrying home small, fancy pin that might
| cost $1.49?
Another thing consider is effect offering
of discount rebate on nondelivered goods would
have the total number of deliveries made by
Unless the plan resulted in material lessening the
number articles be delivered there would moth
ing saved for anybody. AS long delivery wagon
automobile has to be sent given route at ALL it
less per package deliver its contents when
full than when it is only partly filled Unless the
number of vehicles sent the number of deliver
les day would be lessened thereby. discount
| rebate system would do store financial harm
than good
There only two ways to solve the problem that
can One of these is for the merchant to sell
his goods free board store basis and charge
for delivery The other is for the Of the
try carry home with them every package they pos
sbly relying the honesty of the merchants to
give them the fruits of their labor in the shape of
! lower prices.
Even a great many merchants selling
/ goods lower than they should in view of conditions
! and prices in the wholesale markets, but it is my
honest opinion that they would sell still cheapy
| if they could reduce their cost of doing business
through cooperation the part of their customers