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THE
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW
FEBRUARY 3,
1923
"gyp" banks on the lure of the so-called bargain, and, as a result,
where he is permitted to operate he proves nasty competition.
As his business is built on misrepresentation his methods are
usually misrepresentative as well. The unwary customer is sold a
piano out of its grade, with the result that the entire industry suffers.
And that is the worst damage the "gyp" dealer does. He destroys
the confidence of the public in the piano industry and breaks down
the good will which legitimate merchants so laboriously build up.
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PUBLISHED BY EDWARD LYMAN BILL, Inc.
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Vol. LXXVI
NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 3, 1923
No. 5
LABOR TURNOVER AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING
HE shortage of skilled labor in the piano factories is of serious
T
importance. Labor shortages were at the bottom of the lack of
stock which confronted the trade during the holiday period, for they
interfered seriously with the manufacturers' forwarding processes,
especially in those important departments which require labor of the
highly skilled type. This problem still continues and is likely to
confront the industry until active steps are taken to find its solution.
On another page of this issue of The Review is outlined a plan
of an apprenticeship s.ystem, based on successful experience with
a similar plan now used by the New York Building Congress. It is
presented for consideration to the industry because the chance
methods now used by many individual factories no longer meet the
situation. They are not sufficient to attract young men to the in-
dustry nor likely to draw a type which possesses the natural intelli-
gence and aptitude necessary to make a piano-worker of the highest
type. They lead to a heavy labor turnover, a condition which is a
real factor in raising the manufacturer's overhead and consequently
the prices he is compelled to charge for his finished instrument.
In a product such as the piano, one in which the ultimate quality
is dependent largely upon the craftsmanship of the men who make
it, there is no more important object to be achieved than a continu-
ous flow of skilled craftsmen, but that cannot be accomplished unless
the industry as a unit provides a means whereby these men may be
trained to the necessary standard of skill.
CHECKING THE RAVAGES OF THE "GYP" DEALER
LOUIS has just passed a municipal ordinance which, if
S T. enforced,
will do away with the activities of the "gyp" dealer
in that city. All music merchants are familiar with the ravages
of this type—in fact, at one time they seriously threatened the sta-
bility of the average legitimate dealer in large cities. The "gyp''
dealer's business is built fundamentally upon misrepresentation. If
he. advertised himself as what he actually is—a dealer operating
without the overhead involved in maintaining a wareroom and the
other expenses incident to legitimate methods of selling—-he would
make but few sales, for the average person prefers to deal with an
established merchant in whom they can have confidence. But the
I
WORTH-WHILE SALES FORCE CONFERENCES
P
RESIDENT B. H. Janssen, of the New York Piano Manufac-
turers' Association, in speaking.before the last meeting of the
New York Merchants' Association, strongly advocated regular
meetings of retail sales forces, addressed whenever possible by a
sales manager from an outside organization. The suggestion is
good. The man from the outside brings a fresh viewpoint to the
piano salesman's problems and often illuminates them so that a solu-
tion is easily found.
The average man lives too closely to the business of which he is
a part and so gradually comes to accept his difficulties as evils for
which there is no remedy. But place a fresh viewpoint before him,
give him the benefit of experience gained in other lines of selling
which are similar in their fundamentals to piano selling, and in a
majority of cases the way out becomes clear. If Mr. Janssen's sug-
gestions were followed sales conferences which are now common in
retail organizations would become more valuable to the salesman,
for the piano trade, like most other trades, lives too much within
itself.
A GOOD YEAR IN MUSICAL MERCHANDISE
of The Review has just returned from
A a REPRESENTATIVE
trip through the Central States where he interviewed a large
number of band and string instrument manufacturers and jobbers,
as well as dealers in musical merchandise. Without exception, he
found all these highly enthusiastic over the present year's prospects,
a condition already reflected in the dealers' after-inventory orders.
Band and string instruments continue to increase in popularity, a
trend for which at the present time there appears to be no limits.
The merchant who handles instruments of this type, but who
has heretofore more or less neglected this department, should find
food for thought in the summary of conditions in this field which
appears in another part of The Review. This neglect, if such a
condition exists in his small goods department, simply means that
he is missing an opportunity for profit, a profit that is certain and
sure, and one that represents a considerable margin on the invest-
ment. There is probably no department in his store which can
widen his field of prospective customers to such a degree, for
there is surely none which is so broad in its appeal. And broadness
of appeal is the basis of volume of sales, the great essential factor
in the aim of everv man in business.
HOW MUCH SHOULD THE PUBLIC KNOW?
J
UST how much should the public know about piano construc-
tion and the "innards" of the instrument to make that knowl-
edge an advantage rather than a disadvantage to the trade?
There are a number of those who are inclined to call attention
to the fact that the great bulk of the public—even those who do
not own automobiles—are more or less familiar with the details of
motor car construction and operation; who talk learnedly of the
carbureter adjustment, proper sparking, carbon in the cylinders,
etc., and the best ways of handling these problems, while only a very
small proportion of piano owners have any real idea of the interior
construction and modus operandi of their instruments.
Instead of carrying on a campaign to instruct the public re-
garding the mechanical and structural features of the piano or
player-piano, beyond those points that are worthy of emphasis as
sales arguments, it would be well for the music men generally to
concentrate on the spreading of the propaganda advocated by the
Tuners' Association and other trade bodies to the effect that pianos
be inspected and tuned frequently by competent mechanics in order
that they may function to the greatest advantage.
If the piano owner is ever taught enough regarding the struc-
tural features of his instrument to induce him to do his own tinker-
ing, repairmen are going to make more money, but the merchant's
life will be made miserable.