The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-04-29
RETURNED SHOES"
 EVIL IS GROWING

From the Boot and Shoe Recorder.
 Returned goods have been vexatious problem in the trade for many years. It IS claimed that the abuse on the part of the public is greater on shoes than on any other article of merchandise. Un- warranted returns impose a burden that has materially added to the cost of doing business.
 On the general subject of returned goods, the New York Tribune recently pointed out the following plain facts about the return of goods once bought It says: Probably $5,0O0000 is wasted yearly lin New York city through unwarranted return of purchased goods. Twenty per ! cent of all goods sold are returned, and ] not once in hundred times is there any sound reason for returning. Thirty per cent of all charge goods are returned.
 It IS the charge account which forms the 1 habit. These percentages are increasing yearly It takes 150 per cent of delivery to sell 100 per cent of merchandise The | extra 50 per cent goes into reselling re- l turned goods. Each article purchased and returned goes through 19 hands in the process. One store spends s10OOO yearly in cleaning returned goods An other wastes more money in the expense of handling returns than it pays for rem tai. The return habit is insanitary. un- fair and expensive
 l You, retail merchant might we'll l impress the above points upon your GUS toners and show them that return of 1 goods is one of the reasons for the high cost of living.'
 l We illustrate on this page a pair of l shoes returned to O'Connor & Goldberg, l Chicago, for full credit. A woman claim I ed that she used a cleaning preparation on the boots at night and found next mi nfylcr Ina ton here depicted.
 The facts in the case appear to be that the buck shoes were subject to severe abuse, probably being worn on a slushy day and when the woman took them off she put them in a pair of slipper trees and put them in the oven to dry. The re- suit was in the morning the shoes were baked to crisp, the soles were so flaky 1 that they could be clipped with the finger nail and the tops shriveled and baked into the grotesque shape you see in this illustration.
 What would you do in a similar case? Now the Western Shoe Wholesalers as- sociation have gone on record on burned shoes Their platform Is as follows:| Over half of the claims that come back to the dealer are shoes that have been exposed to heat. This destroys the fibre l in the leather, causing it to flake up and
 
 just rotten." All leather is tanned in liquor, so, if damaged in one spot it could not be sound in the rest of the shoe, Few people realize just when shoe is burned and most of them are perfectly sincere in declaring it. couldn't have happened. Before giving credit on | shoe that has these symptoms, have a committee of your local shoemen pass judgment on whether credit should be given or not
 The Massachusetts Retail Shoe Mer- chants association go on record in cir cular of which more than million copies have been distributed to the public as follows: Burnt leather or soles. When damp or wet all leather burns from con tact with the slightest heat. Do not expect your dealer to resole burned shoes without charge. When shoes are wet put them on shoe trees to dry and thus pre- serve their shape.''
 Another good point in the line of mer- chandise is to make fixed rule some what as follows:
 Goods once purchased are not to be ac- cepted for credit or exchange unless the demand for return is reasonable one In such cases the request to take back shoes must be made within one week from date of purchase.
 This constant abuse of the custom of returning goods may prove serious bur den on future profits,
 | The continued tax on sales needs de- cided action on tLe part of all shoe mer- chants.