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Show Confessions f a Mail Order Man Uy- Mr. M. O. X. ' M Revelntloni by OneWhotf Kxpttlcnce In ihf t'unlnrn Covtm a Knnse From Office Hoy lo Central Manager SOME TRICKS OF THE GAME. W nil know that, as n IuisIiiobs proposition, It Is Impossible for nny concern to Rive customers mi j tiling unlesR there is a payment for It In other words, nobody nives any thing for nothing. It Isn't possible to give more than a commercial value In merchandlso for the amount pnld. It Isn't posslblo to do a profitable, business unlesB merchandise mer-chandise Is sold for a price that Is greater than the cost and tho exponso j of hnnVlliiK. A profit must be added In all cases. Some concerns can buy goods at a sliHht ndvantngo owr others. It de- , ponds on the quantity ordered nt one ' time more thnn an thing else. No manufacturer v 111 spII merchandise to one concern cheaper than to another unless thero Is some compensation. Thosu price concessions generally conslgt of a small cash discount or a small discount for Urge uuaniltlcx. It wns nlwajs my custom when contracting con-tracting for any article to make a prlco contract for an enormous quantity. quan-tity. I always psld cash, with jour moiiej", thcrcforo this w.tb posslblu, and I obtained also a cash discount. In this way tho manufacturer, or tho Jobber, had no nelllng expense, In many lnstnnces the manufacturer ills-putdng ills-putdng on this sort of contrnc.t to my concern of Ills entire output. Theso discounts and price concessions on I small articles ficqucutly did not I amount to more than a fraction of n I cent on a single article. Hut in buy I Ing I wns out to sd tho very best I pi Ices nnd make the very best deals I I could. I Hut 1 worked out wnyr for making even moro money for my mull ordot concern. I cut down the vnlue of the nrtlclo In the making. I arranged ivlth tho manufacturer to produce an article, looking In ovorv way to tho person who knew no better, lllio tho genuine article, hut It wasn't. I produced what were practically counterfeits. 1 ihoated tho people who bought those mtlclcs. Hero's how 1 did It. Take, for example, ex-ample, n tin cup, n tin pull or a tin plate In fact any article made of tin. I would llguro It out like this. In tho llrst place wo would usa tin of ti certain less weight, thinner nnd not so good. Whcro tho top curls over tho manufacturer formerly put a wlro around, hidden from view, but It was there. This wire mndo the nrtlclo nr-tlclo stronger. It would stand wear better and longer. I would tnko tho wlro out. I would make n lighter handle or, In somu I wny cut down both tho qunllty and the quantity of material used In muk-Ing muk-Ing tho article So In this way I cheapened tho nrtlclo. I lessened tho cost of making, mak-ing, which mndo n better profit for mo. Of course, tho a.rtlclo wns not bo good, nnd would not wear so long ns tho honest, ohlfasliloned kind such as jour local dealer buys for his stock. Hut In my cntaloguo tho Illustration mado It look "Just ub good" and thnt wub all that I cared for. Ccrtalnlj. tho sooner It woro out, or got smashed or broken, tho sooner you would ho compelled to send for un-other. un-other. Oil. yes, I thought thut at! out, too. In wooden wnro I flj'iircd the samo. I would order a quantity, making them up from a cheaper grado of wood. If It had hoops I would have It made with a hoop less. Tho sides nnd bottom would bo thinner. In some wnj I would cut down tho quanta quan-ta and value of tho material used for tho making, uo It would cost less. So this Is how I could cut prices on such things. 1 did cut prices on some articles, tilings like theso and because of th'- manner In which they wero mndo. Hut tJio manufacturer manufactur-er would not put his brand on such stuff. Not ho. Ho would oay: "I'll put our brand on that article. I'd , he nbhnmcd to hnvo my brand on It. I'd he ashamed to lot anybody think thnt I'd turn out that kind of Junk." Then ho would stump my brand on It. What did I care. I got your money In ndvnnco ns payment for tho up tide nnd what wotild you, wny out In the little country town, know about how It should bo made? It would last nil the "quicker" and thou on would order unothor. Suroly, that's how it wns flguied. Now. think I over. look on some of tho articles you hnvo bought nnd see if tho namo of tho manufacturer Is stamped on It. I nearly forgot ono thing. I beat that game, too, In a cortaln olovor manner, because there's more than one way or fooling you. would crente a fancy namo for a fake manufacturer Tlioro would ho no such concorn. I would stamp "Blank Air:. Co." or ".Moon Slfg. Co." or somo audi fancy name, tiocnuso I was kind or ashamed to have even my namo stamped on somo of tho stuff I sont out I contracted for canned goods with manufacturers and would create brand nainoa. Ho would have a pretty, fancy fan-cy label printed for ub and I used all sorts of device to fool customers. I guess 1 must havo sent out n lot of terrlblo stuff In thoso canB, but I mado big money out of thorn and It was profitable, . I tlgurcd th, y Wh0 , lh world is going t0 vnr, (l , ,0r and kick about a r. cans of svotl.n peaches, or com, . . woulll ,, permitted to p, . , klrk , I did got cm b ' -1 u, ks at tint. nnd I would seniI , llk somc ,)W0, vordo In ft nlcelo-t r m.l m In- MUe hnvo n good ngh ,ii,.t it Yes, tho plrl ,. ,,,,, tthn worU , he corrcspondtnc, n.irtment or my concorn have nlm..-1 ., nuicli fun oicr tho letters that u , .,.j IU1(1 , tho nnswcrlngof V -n ns If they were sitting In ft tliPRdr licsirlim the ink, and funny smir it', n pprpetu.il comedy for them You sit nt honii- ,,fi,.r n hard din's work, and ritc. mtn the greatext sincerity and oftm trouble, n letter of complaint to tin house You ate very BerioiiB about tt whm would jou think, ho hiiimli.iied you would feci, If you could kcc mir letter, writ ton so cnrofully 1 on, passed around far sneering rouum ntd and lnugiilii Jests. And ono or mv ninedollaraweek clerics will turu to his stenographer nnd say: "Send tni-. kicker form is letter." And tli,. stenographer will tako nn Imitation t ,rm letter, write your namo at the di and stamp the namo of one of the bosses ns the sin-nature, sin-nature, and mull it t you. Tho letter will read Boinctlilug like this: lVnr Friend: " nro vary sorrv to tidte tliat you m, illniipniit1 Willi ymir tint order. Wo enn-nol enn-nol undcrstRtid how kiiHi n inlxtnki- li i- occurred. SV jnl.l purtlculiir iillcntlijii to the slilpniftit of vniir nidpr nn wo IcHik upon j'ou ns one of our most vnliu-d cih-tomors. cih-tomors. t will attend inu.umlly to your n"t I order nnd sue thnt It lx put up In tlu very bent manner. We vnltio your letlcrit cry lilBlily and look lo h nr fiom you Willi pleasure. Moping ynn are well nnd winding you tbo compliment nf Hip iwavoti, i-mtiiiII 1 me to sign inyelf YotiM mo'- in. erply, Blane', i f the Uon Probably the bns In away In lu-ropo lu-ropo or Boincwhrre else. You will noto that tho letter would apply to anything, from the receipt or a can or decayed tomatoes t i broken chair. I H'b all "hot air." Thoso letters don't mpnn nnythlng The mannei in which we avoided seudlne n iliiulipiitn of tho satro letter to ynn when you sent In tho next kick, which we Polled tor nnd expected, was In thl- Wo kept a big yellow cnvcloi ith nil or your letters nnd correspondence orders, etc.. In It On tho front ? tho letter was a memorandum of tho farm loiters that had been sent you. For Instance, when your mat kirk was received the correspondent who would get your letter wotilil look on tho front of tin. envolopo nnd boo thnt iu had been sent farm 13. So ho frotild. rejily.jo tjvjs. tov kick wjth form 1 1, which would rend something llko this: iJ(ar 1'rtrnil: t have Jimt looked up your Inst order mid (Ind Hint In the nlncnro of Mr. Blntik (Hie boNR thnt sinned the other with a rubber Htntnp ns proxy), who wan un-n un-n ot.l llilv nut of the city when your or-,'er or-,'er i -me In, your order wan lilted by a new enplnyop. .Iimt bow the mistake oc-. oc-. -irf. ' we don't I. now. but I have din-' din-' ir "' the person who bundled tho or-.'. or-.'. r We mint you lo fwl nntlHili-il that wn nre trvlnx to Klve you our veiv bent service serv-ice nn.' If ynn lnve nnv further com. pTnlntH lo mnkn write direct to me. I will elr Ihrin my ti'-rsonul uttentlnn. H. ml in Hiiolber order, no noon us you run, Htid I will nee thnt It In token euro of. W'i nre hnvltiK nl-e wentber hire nnd i p,. . , ,,rn imvlni; the pime In your lo-cnllty. lo-cnllty. Wrlt soon. Yours tnltlifiitlv PUned: (Another IJoiw.) You ns mi individual hnvo no moro consideration In my concern limn n postnfce stamp. You are a noiiBiitlty, you are only n yol'ow euvolopo with j a Fri of marks denoilu tho number num-ber of kicks you havo sent In. j Hut flattery goes a loin; wnvs. You I miin li. flnttored, you must f en-k.leri en-k.leri Y u mutt bo given all nnd nny l.-'nds oi promises, hut none of them will be lent. Your monev t vi-i e vnnt l.ut 1 must trj tt ; o you believe that you ufo n i,r friend, ilnt I rend j'our letters perb-u-ally atid j uiisw.-r thorn. , p,n- F-let)d ft'- in I -'.'c Fnr ev ry I' 'it r snt J(t i- '1 ' do'to-v i I Inslne"" stntumwtH end lies, thete re t! .u-'inUn of (i uts r.ll ovir ile-eountrv ile-eountrv who get er.'-Uv th" (ipm let ters I II uiMranlb t,.t miuiy of you who rmd Ihetc f 'e":-'! by n -have r'"1 lottor r' ' l1 er written by me Mid o whir' e ime of fvnc ,.. ), .... hpk ir . , , ijj ., 't.hitr s'n n.i Or porlini i sono Jt- (cum-cheii't (cum-cheii't ulrl Fltf-oj fhem Mid pc nnd liirf, vrKiaf . m litis' np'f.e. Think It pA'ftr. |