Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1921-10-13
CAPITAL of the Mail Order House
Is Furnished by Its
Customers.
WORKS ALWAYS ON velvet
Buyers Supply Money to Support En-.
terprises Competing With Those
In Which They Are
Interested.
(Copyright.)

money, but there are few people who
can do Probably the only bust
ness men who, as class, are able
to do this, are the mail order men in
the big cities.
Did you ever. stop to think-you,
who have ordered goods from mail
order house and there are probably
few who have not done that at some
time or other-that you are supplying
the cash upon which the mail order
man is doing business? You are well
aware of the fact that your cash must
go with your order if you expect to re-
ceive the goods, but have you ever
stopped to think what that means? Do
you realize that you are supplying the
capital for a business which is run
ming in direct competition with. your
home merchants, upon whose prosper
fly you and your fellow townsmen are
dependent for livelihood?
The majority of mail order houses
do not carry large stocks Of goods.
They do pot have to. When the mail
order man gets your order, accom-
panied by the cash, of course, he can
take a part Of your money and go to
the manufacturer or the wholesaler
and buy the article that is wanted. The
rest Of the money he can put down in
his pocket after paying his operating
costs, which are light when compared
with those Of the merchant who must
carry a large stock of goods to- meet
the demands made upon him.
In Glass by Themselves.
There is absolutely no other class of
men who do business on the capital
furnished by their customers. Even
the retail store which sells for cash
only cannot do this for he must carry
q large stock and in most cases must
pay cash for it in order to get prices
that will enable him to make lower
prices to his customers than can be
made by the merchant who gives credit
to his customers.
The mail order man doesn't need to
have any of his own capital invested
in his business-or any large amount
Of it, at least, in proportion to the vol
ume Of the business which he does. He
does not have to pay interest to the
banks on money borrowed to help him
finance his business. The mail order
man figures that about one-half Of the
amount he receives on any order goes
to the wholesaler or manufacturer in
payment for the goods ordered. OF
the remainder part goes for postage,
printing, maintenance of Office and
plant, insurance, etc. What is left,
which is by no means an insignificant
part of every dollar received, goes into
dividends to stockholders in the mail
order corporation. All this has been
done without any capital other than
that which may be required to pay Of
fee expenses.
Suppose, for a minute, that you did
business with the local merchants on
the same plan. Suppose that they did
not carry any goods in stock, that
when you wanted to buy something
you should go to one of your home
merchants, look in his catalogue and
pick out an article that seemed to be
similar to the one that you wanted,
hand over the price as shown by the
catalogue and tell him to order 1t for
you. The merchant would take your
money and you would wait for your
goods until they arrived from dis
tant city.
Not So Anxious.
But the people who make up any
community are not nearly as anxious
to furnish capital to the home mer-
chant-the man who helps make" the
town-as they are to the mail order
man in the far distant city, who does
nothing and cares nothing for the peo-
pie who furnish him the money on
which to do business. They insist that
the home merchant shall carry large
stock of goods from which they can
select what they wish, when they think
it is to their interest to buy from him.
They insist that he shall stand back of
the goods he sells and make good any
defect that may appear in them. They
insist that he shall sell them what they
wish and wait for the money until they
get ready to pay it. They insist that
he shall sell goods at the same prices
or lower prices than the mail order
houses charge for goods of poorer quail
ity. And finally, they insist that the
home merchant shall furnish the large
amount of capital that is required to
conduct q business on this plan.
The mail order buyer may say that
he has the right to spend his money
anywhere he pleases and he has, legal
~. But he probably has never stopped
to reflect on the fact that he is supply
ing the capital for the operation of a
concern which is in direct competition
with enterprises in which he is directly
for every man, woman and
child in town is directly interested in
the success of the business enterprises |
In that town. If these business enter |
pxises are not prosperous, the town
cannot be prosperous. To supply CAPT
tai to your competitor is not very good