Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1921-12-08
Natural Desire Is Not to Get the
Worst of Any Business
Transaction.
CHEAPEST NOT ALWAYS BEST
Person Who Buys From Catalogue
House Sees Only the Price and
Forgets That Value Is Thing
That Counts.
(Copvright.)

When you spend your money you
naturally want to get all you can in
return. No one can criticize you for
having that desire. Only those who
are commonly referred to as having
s'more money than sense" throw their
money away. All others are careful to
see that they do not get the worst of
any bargain. But one has to be able
to look farther than the end Of his
nose if he is to be sure that he is get
ting the most that he can get for his
money.
That is the defense of the man who
buys from the mail order house instead
of patrOniZing the merchants in his
own town. He says he can get more
for his money when he buys from the
mail order man than when he spends
his money at home. But in arriving
at that conclusion he certainly has not
been able to look further than the end
of his nose.
In most cases the man who buys
goods from a mail order house does
so because he thinks he is getting the
goods for less money than he would
have to pay for them at the store in
his own town. He thinks he is look
ing out for No. l and he says it is
town cannot make any money and is
forced to go out of business. He over
looks the fact that he is likely to be
as hard hit as anyone else when that
merchant closes his doors but, leav-
ing that probability out of considera-
ton, the chances are about 10 to that
the buyer has really lost money on his
deal with the mail order man.
Price Not Only Consideration.
If buying an article Of any kind,
whether it be house and lot or pa
per of pins, the price is not the only
thing to be considered by any means.
You are not in the habit of going into
a store when you want to buy suit of
clothes and saying to the storekeeper:
"Give me the cheapest suit of clothes
you have in the house." You want the
best suit of clothes you can set for the
price you pay for it, but you don't
usually want the cheapest thing you
can find.
A man may delude himself into be-
lieving that when he buys suit of
clothes from a mail order house for
$40 he is saving money, but what is
there to justify him in such belief?
The mere fact that he is getting a suit
for $40 does not mean that he is saw
ing money. The chances are that if
he should go to the man who runs the
clothing store in his own town and
ask for it he could get suit of clothes
for $40 and the chances are also that
it would be just as good if not bet
ter bargain than the suit which he
could get from the mail order house
for the same sum. 1t is not the price
he pays that shows whether he is get
ting a bargain or not. It is the quail
ity of goods that he gets for his money
that counts.
Can UnderseIl Mail Order House.
The home merchant can sell as
. cheaply as the mail order man if he
sells as cheap goods as the mail order
man sells. His expenses are not as
heavy as those of the mail order man.
He pays less rent in proportion to
the business he does, his taxes are less
in proportion to the capital invested.
His advertising bills are less than
those of the mail order man in proper
ton to the volume of his sales. He
can undersell the mail order man any
day in the year if he wishes to sell
only goods of the same quality and
style of those sold by the mail order
man, but he doesn't do this because he
knows that the majority of the people
in his town do not want that quality
and style of goods. Therefore he keeps
in stock goods of all qualities and all
prices. He has the $40 suit for the
man who thinks that he can get more
for his money by buying suit at that
price than he can by buying better
one for 500, but he tells the customer
just wha: he is buying.
The next time you think about buy
ing something from mail order house,
If you ever do think of such a thing,
go first to your home merchant and
ask to see the article which you are
thinking of buying.
Ready to Compare Prices.
Your home merchant is business
man. He gets the best values he can
for his money when he buys goods, and
he does not expect his customers to
do anything else. All that he asks, in
return for the favors he does his Gus
toners and the things he does for the
good of his community is that he be
given an opportunity to meet the in
sidious competition Of the mail order
house. He is perfectly willing to have
his p-:.ces ana his values compared to
those Of the mail order house, but he
has a just complaint when he is not
given a chance to make this compari-
son.
If all buyers would take the value as
we'll az the pricn Of fho article fhey