Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
REVIEW
THE
VOL. LXIX NO 19
T
Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman BUI, Inc., at 373 4th Ave., New York. Nov. 8, 1919
Single Copies 10 Centa
$2.00 Per Year
HE watchword of modern business is, or has been, "service"—the desire and ability of a business
house to give to the customer something beyond a receipt for the price of the goods sold—something
that will indicate that the seller is desirous of preserving the good-will of the customer, of retaining
his patronage, and making him feel that he is getting just a little bit more than he has actually con-
tracted to pay for. The theory of service to the customer is an excellent one. It is a practice that has
worked out well. But the question today, not alone in the piano field, but in other fields, is just to what
limits the giving of service should extend—what service should be free and what should be charged for.
The New York Piano Merchants' Association has recently appointed a committee to determine just what
is represented by the term ''service to the customer"—how extended that service should be, and to how
much of it the customer is entitled as a natural right. There are somewhat divergent opinions on this
important subject and it is well that there be some basis determined upon as a guide for the industry.
This question of service has not apparently received the attention it deserves, and in taking the matter up
for earnest consideration, the New York merchants are leading the way, just as they did in adoption of the
"trade-in" measure—a measure that has served as a model for piano merchants all over the country, and
which, although not adopted as widely as it should have been, nevertheless offers some working basis for re-
tailers who believe in doing business on a profitable basis.
Some few years ago, free tuning during'the first year, and a generosity in the matter of repair work, did not
have the high dollars and cents value that they represent today, if for no other reason than that the wages of
tuners and repairmen were comparatively low. These wage scales have gone up many per cent, during the
past two or three years, however, and, coupled with the general increase of overhead expenses, they represent
a factor the piano merchant cannot ignore if he plans to keep his balance on the right side of the ledger.
There is no question but the customer is entitled to have his piano delivered to his house in first-class
condition, and to demand that the instrument be tuned and rubbed down, if necessary, immediately after
delivery. He is paying for a perfect article, and a piano is only perfect when it is in tune. Like in the case
of the player-piano, the instrument may require minor adjustments after leaving the hands of the movers.
The expense of thus putting an instrument in proper shape for delivery is rightly to be figured in the selling
expense. Beyond the overhauling after delivery, however, there is some question as to what service a
customer can legitimately demand.
So much for free service. In charging for tuning and repairing after the free period, too many concerns
have neglected to base their charges on actual cost, and have been too much inclined to favor the customer
in the matter, due probably to the fact that the great majority of the piano buyers naturally come to the
house from which they purchase their instruments when they desire anything done. In point of fact, the
retailer is not getting any of this service done for nothing. He is paying his tuners and repairmen good
wages, and it is not improbable that he will pay them higher wages. He must maintain a more or less
extensive repair department, as well as an order department for repair work. It all costs money and takes
time, and he is entitled not only to recover this actual labor and service cost, but to realize at least a
reasonable profit. A goodly number of concerns have for a long time past been conducting their repair
department as a separate part of their business, and have demanded that the managers of that department
show a profit on the work done. Too much free service, coupled with other services for which inadequate
charges are made, represent a leak that can develop into a substantial annual loss to the careless merchant.
The New York piano merchants are to be congratulated on giving this question of service the attention
it demands, and piano merchants in every section of the country should be quick to follow their example.