Baxter Springs news., 1919-04-11
Seem Not to Mind Having ~SomS-
thing Put Over" on Them the
Least BIZ.
PINK PAAlAs FOR SHIRT
Mall order Houses Find u Easy %
aaako substltutIons Because OF
the Cost Of Making
Exchanges.

IL WIS komOub AuoktCaAs oAsS"@---
Who declared that the American people
love to be humbugged. That saying is
many years old now but sometimes it
seems that there II about as mucn
truth in II now as there was when II
was iirst uttered.
People as q rule do not like the Idea
Of having '-Something put over" on
them, but from the way In which the
Rreat mall order houses in the big
cities flourish Il seems that q great
many people do not mind 1t bit.
The business man who, when he gets
n cali for an article which he has not
IN stock, attempts to substitute some
other article Of q similar nature with
out telling the buyer Of the substitu'
tiOn, IL '.putting something over" on
his customer. Few retail merchants
nowadays attempt to do q thing Of that
kind. The great majority Of merchants
DO not do this for two reasons. One
reason Is that they wouldn't do It II
they could and the other Is that they
couldn't do II II they would. The man
Who buys an article over the counter
and sees what he Is buying before ne
pays for Il, 10 pretty sure to get what
be wants.
Ordered Shirt, Got PaJamaS.
But there IL another class OF mer-
chants. Of which the same thing can
not be said. A man who has been close
" connected with some Of the big mall
order houses is authority for the state
ment that the heads Of the various
merchandise departments Of many
mail order houses have standing orders
to substitute with the nearest thing
they have II the articles ordered are
not In stock and available for delivery.
Il IL related that in one instance as o
result Of these instructions, man VINO
ordered dress shirt from mail order
house received q pair Of pink pajamas
instead.
Il IL easy for the mail order house to
get away with this substitution OF an
other article for the one that Is Or
dered for the reason that to exchange
an article received from q catalogue
house Is q costly undertaking.
Exchange Are Costly.
II a mail order buyer is dlsappoint-
cd in his purchase, as he is very apt to
be when he compares the article upon
its arrival with the picture and fiowery
description which appeared In the
catalogue, the wisest plan is to take
what he gets and make the best OF 1t
for every time he sends an article back
to be exchanged, he is piling up the ex-
press or freight charges and even II
the article is exchanged as requested,
the buyer is not apt to fare much bet
ter on the second attempt.
The mail order houses are well
aware Of the fact that the majority Of
their customers will not 60 to the trou-
BILE and expense Of returning an ar
ticle II Il does not come up to their
expectations and as a result they can
work the substitution game to their
hearts content.
The home merchant, however, can
not do business In this way and, as has
been said, the majority Of them would
not do It II they could. The home mer-
chant, II ne has not the article called
for, may offer another with the expla-
nation that II IL Of the same quality
q the one for which the customer
asked. Good merchants nowadays even
hesitate to offer something "just as
rood" to the customer especially when
the article called for Is one that has
become well-known and popular
through the advertising done BY the
manufacturer, but to attempt to make
q substitution without the knowledge
or consent Of the customer Well, It
isn't being done by the local merchants
today.
Substitution Made Easy.
Substitution is made easy for the
mall order houses, also, by the fact
that they do not sell much Of what Is
known as advertised" goOds-that is,
goods that have been thoroughly i'd
vertised by the manufacturers and
have become nationally known through
such advertising. A large part Of the
merchandise which the mail order
houses sell purpOrts to be manufac-
tured By them-althOugh In most cases
little Of II 70 made In their own plants.
Much Of this merchandise bears only
the name Of the mail order house and
Il Is easy to substitute one article for
another without the customer being
any the wiser.
The methods Of the home merchant
naturally are different. With the great
development Of advertising in recent
years much Of the merchandise carried
By the retail merchant ls advertised"
goods. These goods are Of familiar
brands, the names Of which have been
made famous By the national advertis-
ing Of the makers. This advertising II
q distinct protection to the buyer for
the latter knows when he goes into his
local store and asks for an article OF
this kind that he WIN set Just what he
aGhs for n the merchant has It In
-. IN - ALA - khn