The Canon City record with which is consolidated the Canon City cannon., 1920-03-04
Seem Not to Mind Having "Some-
thing Put Over" on Them the
Least Bit.
PINK PAIAMAs FOR SHIRT
Mail Order Houses Find II Easy to
Make Substitutions Because of
the Cost of Making
Exchanges
CCopyright)


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 it now as there was when it
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 the
great mail order houses in the big
cities flourish It seems that a great
many people do not mind 1t a bit
The business man who, when he gets
n cali for an article which he has not
in stock. attempts TO substitute some
othec article uf similar nature with
uuf telling the buyer of the suhstitu-
rien is putting something over on
hts customer. Few retail merchants
nowadays attempt =" do "a thing Of thut
KIND The great majority of merchants
90 not do this fpI two reuSunS one
reason is that they wouldn't do 1t if
they could and the other is that they
couldn't do II If they would. The man
who buys an article over the counter
and sees what he is buying before he
pays foz ii. is pretty sure to get what
he wants
Ordered Shirt, Get PaJamas.
Bur there Is another class Of mer
chants. Of which the same thing can
NOT be said. 4 man who has been close
Iy connected with some of the big mail
order houses is authority for the state
mcut that the heads of the various
merchandise departments OF many
mail order houses have standing orders
10 substitute with the nearest thing
they have If the articles ordered are
not in stock and available for delivery.
Il is related that Ia one instance as q
result of these Instructions. a man who
ordered dress shirt from mail order
house received pair Of pink pajamas
instead.
II Is easy for the mail order house 10
get away with this substitution of an
other article for the one that is or
dered for the reason that TO exchange
nj article received from a catalogue
house = costly undertaking.
Exchanges Are Costly,
II a mail order buyer l. diSappoint-
ed in his purchase, rs he is very apt 10
be when he compares the article upon
its arrival with the picture and iiowery
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
tu be exchanged. he is piling up the eN
press or freight charges and even II
the article is exchanged as requested.
th, 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 go To the trou-
ble and expense Of returning an ar
ticle II IL does not come up to their
expectations and Ms 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 ~ them would
not do Il II they could. The home mrr-
chant II he has not the article called
fni may offer another with the eNpla-
nation that II Is NJ the same quality
as the one foI which the customer
asked. Good merchants nowadays even
hesitate to offer something Just rs
good" 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. hut To attempt 10 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 puch of what is
known as advertised" goods-thst Is.
goods that have been thoroughly ad-
vcrtised by the manufacturers and
have become nationally known through
such advertising. A large part OF the
merchandise which the mail order
houses sell purports 10 be manufac-
tured by them-aljhough In most cases
little OF II is made in their own plants.
Much OF this merchandise bears only
the name OF the mail order house and
II Is easy to substitute one article for
another without the customer being
any the wiser.