mm
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
VOL.
LXXV. No. 21
Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill, Inc., 373 4th Ave., New York, N. Y.
XI^:III«IIIKIIIKIII^
Nov. 18, 1922
8ta
«g.<£°S!£ ft
The Piano Shortage Makes Short Terms Imperative
•"
the days get shorter the terms grow longer, that is, so far as the piano trade is concerned, and
in most sections of the country advertised terms on pianos are among the few things that have
returned to a pre-war basis. In fact, the four-year terms so strongly condemned prior to 1914 were
evidently not generous enough to please some piano merchants who, if their advertised offers are
lived up to, are perfectly satisfied to get their accounts cleaned up in fifty-two or fifty-three months.
A Western house is advertising a grand piano at $535 on terms of $10 a month, payments to begin
on January first, which means that if the customer insists on sticking to the terms of the advertisement the
account will be cleaned up in the Spring of 1927. It seems very much like gambling with the future, and
brings to mind the story of the East Side boy who got a job at the information desk at the Grand Central
Terminal and was asked when the last train would leave for Buffalo, and replied "You should live so long."
The same thing applies to long-time collections.
Even when it is necessary to offer special inducements in order to stimulate trade during a temporarily
dull season there are limits in the matter of terms that should not be exceeded if the business is to be kept
healthy. Under present conditions, however, with an actual shortage of pianos prevailing, the sending out of
valuable instruments for nothing down and on long terms is little short of suicidal. It not only serves to tie
up valuable capital in long-time paper, but moves from the floor instruments that cannot be replaced until after
the first of the year and which later might be sold for cash or on very short time.
Piano men are not the only offenders, for talking machine dealers have been tarred with the same
stick and, though worrying over inability to get machine stock in quantities to meet demands, are on the other
hand offering available machines at forty-nine cents, or even nothing down, and on terms ranging from a year
upward, terms out of proportion to the value of the product sold.
We find automobile men discussing seriously the problems which will come when the point of absorption
in the automobile field has been reached, and yet, even in the case of Fords, which are delivered in New York,
for instance, fully equipped and with freight and tax charges paid for something over $400, an amount less
than the retail price of the great majority of good pianos or players, automobile dealers make much capital
of the fact that they will sell the cars on terms of thirty per cent down and the balance within the year.
The advertising of long terms reflects to the discredit of the industry in many ways, indicating a surplus
of supply over demand and poor financial systems. The average banker particularly has based, and still bases,
his chief argument against piano paper on the low terms advertised. Advertised prices and terms are always
to be accepted as maximum, and the difficulty of shortening the terms after the customer is in the store is
readily appreciated by those salesmen who have tried it.
A manager of an Eastern piano department years ago began to advertise "Your own terms within
reason," and found that not only did the offer have a particular appeal to those who had been "sold" on the
nothing or five-dollar-down advertising, in the belief that they were getting something better, but also appealed
to the solid-headed business man. The peculiar thing was that in every instance the terms set by the buyer
himself as reasonable were considerably higher than those advertised and the terms realized under the offer in
every case averaged higher than those realized by concerns who advertised even substantial payments.
Right now is the time to watch credits and shorten terms, for every instrument moved off the floor on
terms of four years or more means a cutting into capital and also the loss of a probable later sale on a cash
or short-term basis. Instruments sold right now cannot be replaced readily and thus have an added value that
all too many dealers fail to appreciate.
'.'
" '"'; ? ^" \ ' ' ; '"' ' ,
Short terms will help solve the piano shortage problem during the nolictays and at the same time bring
cash to the piano house.
A