The Delta independent., 1919-11-28
New One Born Every Minute
Mail Order Man Need Not Worry About Keeping His Old
Customers, If They Are Not Satisfied
HIS FIELD NOT RESTRICTED
Local Merchant, on Other Hand, Must
Give Good Values and Service
in Order to Hold
His Trade.
(Ccpyright)

II has been said that there is a
sucker born every minute. If this be
true, there are LAO potential custom
ers of the mail-order houses ushered
into the world every "a hours and the
number reaches a total of 525,G00 every
year.
OF course, as Mark Twain remarked
regarding reports of his death, these
figures may be exaggerated, but they
serve to illustrate the fact that the
mail-order houses of the big cities al
ways have new fields to exploit and
are not hampered in their dealings by
the necessity of pleasing all their old
customers. If the mail-order buyer
discovers that he has been "stung'
and registers vigorous kick, it means
nothing in the young life of the mail
order man. Why should he worry as
long as there are some 80 .999, ,9S9 other
persons In the United States to whom
he may make his allurlng appeals.
Ever Get Money Back?-
Did anyone ever hear of mail or
der house refunding customers
money II the customer was not salts
fed with his purchase: Don't all speak
at lltaNt Alt blE hAhlA plh'i
houses In the cities expect to receive
large number of complaints from
their customers. They know that
much of the goods which they sell will
not come up TO the expectations of the
buyers. whose ideas as TO what they
viii receive have been formulated from
the pretty pictures and alluring de
scriptions given in the catalogues.
The mail order houses prepare for
this contingency by maintaining large
corps of clerks whose sole duty 1t is
TO answer the letters of irate Gus
toners. These clerks, or correspond
ents, as they are called. exercise all
their powers OF caiolcry in an effort
TO appease the complaining customers,
but II this is found to be impossible,
after an exchange of letters. the mail
order man has no cause for worry. His
living n not dependent upon the Gus.
toner to whom he has already sold
goods. There are us good fish in the
sea as have ever been caught" and he
turns his attention toward the landing
of the new fish.
Local Merehants Field Limited.
Compare the position of the mail or
der man with that of the retail mer-
chant in the small city or town. The
retail merchant has a certain limited
territory from wiIiI.2 he musi ura~ ms
trade. All his business must ne u13e
day after day and year after year
among the same people. The buyers
TO whom he can appeal for business
number only n few thousand at the
most and in some cases a few hun
hrcd Unless he can make HIS Gus
toners his friends and bring them
back to his store again. he cannot con
tinuc in business. The result is that
he looks beyond the single sale which
he may be making at the time. 1t is
to his interest to please every one of
his customers. 1t will profit him moth
Ing to make a big profit or n customer
on one sale IL that customer is not
satisfied with his purchase and refuses
to come back to his store again.
From which man can the buyer ex-
pect to get the best values, the best
service and the best prices in proper
tion to the quality of the goods sold?
From the man who must please him
and give him his moneys worth in or
der to remain in business or from the
man who figures that he may never
hear from the buyer again and that 1t
will make no great difference whether
he pleascs him or not?
Gets II While He Can.
The idea upon which the mail order
man works is to get the money while
the getting is good. If the customer
Is satisfied with the goods which he re-
ceives, all well and good. The mail or
der man knows that the customer is
the kind of n man or woman who
likes to take n chance or he wouldn't
have sent in his order in the first
place. Therefore he may figure that
the customer Is likely to take n second
chance even If the first does not turn
out to- his liking. If the customer has
enough spirit to make kick, the
trained correspondents in charge of
the complaint department may be able
to pacify him. II they are not, It
doesn't matter much anyway, for there
are millions of others who may be
caught with the same bait-there is
one born every minute, you know.
II Is well for the consumer to re-
member these facts II he Is ever
tempted to take II chance on the offer
ings of the mail order house. The
home merchant has something at stake
In every sale that he makes The mail
order man has nothing Mt stake. The
home merchant has everything at
stake on the manner In which he treats
his customers. for he cannot get others
to take their places. The mail order
man has nothing nj stake for II Is to
his interest TO get all that he can out