The weekly Iberian. (New Iberia, La.) 1894-1946, 1918-02-23
LOCAL DEALERS DO
BUSINESS IN OPEN
Know They Must Face the Music
If Their Customers Are
liza. DispIeased. n
MEET PATRONS FACE TO FACE
Mail Order Men Prefer TO Sell at Long
Distance Rather Than Deal
With People In Their
Own Cities.
tCopyright1

one or the STOCK excuses OF tnh man
who orders goods from mail order
house Is that there are many things
that he wants that the local mer-
chants do not carry in stock. and that
It is necessary for him to send away
from town to get them.
This explanation may be oil right
on the theory that poor excuse Is
better than none. but It falls to pass
muster when It Is subjected to lit
tie scrutiny.
Ask the man who offers this as an
excuse for his dealings with the mail
order man why he does not go to the
local merchant and ask him to order
the articles desired IL they are not TO
be found In the merchants stock. The
merchant will very gladly do this, and
the merchant and customer will both
profit. The merchant can sell you
whatever you desire at as low price
ns the mail order house can make you
on goods the same quality and he can
make small profit.
The customer will profit from the
transaction because he will be deal
ing with n merchant who stands back
of the goods that he sells. and who
IL easily accessible In case the arti-
cles purchased do not prove to be
all that the customer had expected
Give Home Merchant Preference.
Why not try this plan the next time
you need something which you can
not find In any of your home stores7
The merchant in the average sized
town cannot carry In stock everything
that all of the people in his town may
want at all times. II would require
capital many times larger than the
average merchant can command to do
this. but he does the best he can.
He ordinarily does carry in stock at
all times many things for which there
Is no general demand, In order that he
may meet the needs of his customers
to the greatest possible degree, but
there Is limit to his purchasing abll-
ity. He Is always ready and willing,
however, to make every effort to meet
the demands of the community. Why
not, then, give him the preference over
the far-distant mail order man If you
must have something which is not to
be found In the local stores2 He
will do the business In satisfa ctory
manner give you rs quick If not quick
err service and more satisfactory treat
ment, and the chances are that
| he will give you better values for the
money. Finally, whatever profit Is to
be made off the transaction will stay
| at home and do its bit toward making
| the merchant and his town and, incl
dentally, yourself, more prosperous.
No business can be transacted as
when the two parties to the transac-
ton meet face to face. The only ex-
| ception to this rule Is In the case Of
| the mail order man himself, who can
| transact his business with greater sue
cess to himself ut long distance than
he could II ne had to meet his Gus
| toners face to face That Is the reason
that he does business by mail instead
of selling to the people In his own
city If the goods which the mail or
der man advertises In his alluriDg cat
alogues were the bargains that he rep
resents them to be, he would not have
to go outside Of the confines of his
own city to sell all the goods he could
possibly obtain. But the average mail
order house not only does not make
any effort to sell goods In Its own city,
but will not sell to anyone residing
within the city limits. The mail order
man does not want to meet his Gus
toners face to face. He can do busi-
ness better so far as he is concerned If
his customer is some hundreds of miles
away from his Office.
Does Business In Open.
The man who sells goods over the
counter, on the other hand, does bust.
ness in the open. He cannot hide be
hind a corporate name or talk to dis
pleased customer from behind the
locked doors Of private Office. He
| knows that he must face the music In
case he is party to any transaction
| that won't stand the light of day. He
/ knows that he must satisfy every Gus
toner with whom he may be dealing
or he will lose not only that customer
but probably others who will soon
know all the facts II he does not do the
square thing by any one of his
/ patrons.
There is no reason In the world for
any person to send his money to a
mail order house because he cannot
! find the article he wants In his local
store. The local merchant is m bust
ness for the very purpose of getting
4 you what you want. He has the infor.
nation that will enable him to get
what you want and to get 1t as quick,
ly as you could get 1t from mail or
der house. 1t is only fair to him to
give him the chance to make such
profit as any dealer would make off the
transaction and 1t is only fair to your.
self to keep that profit at home rather
than to send it away to some far dis
tant city from which It will never re
turn.