Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1919-05-09
Seem Not to Mind Having Some
thing Put Over" on Them the
Least Bit.
PINK PAJAMAs FOR SHIRT
Mail Order Houses Find II Easy to
Make 3ubstitvtions Because Of
the Cost Of Making
Exchanges
(copyright)

IL was fhIHOuH American bnoWiuhh
who declared that the American people
love TO be humbugged. That saying is
many years old now but sometimes II
seems that there Is about as much
truth 10 II now as there was when II
wss nrst uttered. ,,..e
People IS . rule do rot like the idea
Of having something put over on
them, bot from the way In which the
great mail order houses In the big
cities flourish II seems that a great
many people do not mind II bit.
The business man who. when he gets
. call for an article which he has not
In stock. attempts to substitute some
| other article OF a similar nature with
out telling the buyer Of the substitu-
ton, is putting something over" on
his customer. Few retail merchants
nowadays attempt to do thing. of that
I kind. The great majority of merchants
do not do this for two reasons. One |
reason Is that they wouldn't do 1t 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 he |
pays for IT, is pretty sure to get what
he wants.
Ordered Shirt, Got PaJamas.
But there is 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 mail
order houses is authority for the state
ment that the heads of the various
Lo ia, oftp nf
mail order houses have standing orders
10 substitute with the nearest thing
they have IL the articles ordered are
not In stock and available for delivery.
1t is related that In one instance as a
result of these instructions. a man who
ordered dress shirt from a mail order
house received a pair of pink pajamas
instead.
II Is 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 a catalogue
house is n costly undertaking.
Exchanges Are Costly.
III q mail order buyer is dsappoint-
ed in his purchase. as he is very apt to
be when he compares the article upon
its arrival with the picture and flowery
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 If
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
heir customers will not go to the trou-
Die and expense of returning an ar
.icle If Il does not come up to their
and as n result they can
work the substitution game to their
hearts content.
The home merchant. however, can
lot do business In this way and, as has
'een said. the majority of them would
lot do II II they could. The home mer-
hant. II he has not the article called
or. may offer another with the expla-
ation that IL is of the same quality
s the one for which the customer
sked Good merchants nowadays even
estate 70 offer something "just as
God" to the customer especially when
he article called for is one that has
ecome well-known and popular
trough the advertising done by the
manufacturer. but to attempt to make
substitution without the knowledge
r consent OF the customer Well. It
mt being done by the local merchants
day
Substitution Made Easy.