The Canon City record with which is consolidated the Canon City cannon., 1920-03-11
Seem Not to Mind Having "Some-
thing Put Over" on Them the
Least Bit.
PINK PAIAMAs FOR SHIRT
Mail Order Houses Find 1t Easy to
Make Substitutions Because OF
the Cost Of Making
Exchanges
(Copyrightl

(Copyright)
| 1t was q famous American Snowman
who declared that the American people
love to be humbugged. That saying Is
many years old now but sometimes 1t
seems that there is about as much
truth in Ii now as there was when II
| was first uttered.
People as a rule do not like the idea
of having something put over on
them, but from the way In which rhe
great mall order houses in the big
cities flourish Ii seems that great
many people do not mind 1t a bit
The business man who, when he gets
J a call for an article which he has not
In stock, attempts 10 substitute some
| other article of similar nature with
out telling the buyer Of the substftu-
ton, is putting something over" on
his customer. Few retail merchants
nowadays attempt TO do thing of that
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 1t. 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
| ly connected with some of the big mail
order houses is authority for the state
ment that the heads of the various
Il a Ar,ra srf n
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
| 1t is related that In one instance as a
result of these instructions. man who
| ordered dress shirt from a mail order
house received a pair of pink pa5amas
| 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 catalogue
house is costly undertaking.
Exchanges Are Costly.
II a mail order buyer is disappoint-
| 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 II
for every time he sends an article back
TO be exchanged, he is piiing up the ex-
press or freight charges and even IL
| the article Is exchanged as requested.
| the buyer Ia 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 wfli not go to the trou-
BILE and expense of returning an ar
ticle IL it does not come up to their
expectations and as q result they eau
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 he has not the article called
for may offer another with the expla-
nation that IT Is OF the same quality
as the one fof which the customer
asked. Good merchants nowadays even
hesitate to offer something -just as
good to the customer especially when
tne hFtltte ruutu Iur - V4ic thut hnN
become well known and popular
through the advertising done by the
manufacturer. but TO attempt to make
substitution without the knowledge
or consent OF the customer! Well. II
isn't heing done by the local merchants
today.
Substitution Made Easy.
Substitution Is made easy for the
mail order houses. also. by the fact
that they do not sell much Of what II
known as advertised" goods-that IL,
goods that have been thoroughly ad-
yertised by the manufacturers and
have become nationally known through
such advertising. A inrge part Of the
merchandise which the mafl order
houses sell purports 70 be manufac-
tured by them--although In most cases
little OF tits made In their cwu plants-
Much of this merchandise bears only
the name of the mall order house and
| II Is easy to substitute one article for
another without the customer bslng
Az