Music Trade Review

J U LY
14, 1923
TItE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
5
The Problems of the Piano Dealers
S. Ernest Philpitt, Well-known Dealer of Miami, Fla., Discusses the Trade-in Evil, the Costs of Instalments~
the Five-day Week for Retail Store and Gives the Solutions He Has Worked Out for These
- A Need for Greater Discussion of Common Problems
1 have read with much int e res t several ar ­
ti clcs ill rec c nt iss ue s of The Review and I
wis h to mak e th e followin g CO lllm ent upon
th e m :
The Trade-in Evil
Thi s I S tl ;; ubject about whicl l IIlu c h can be
writ t e n. If the dealer will use ' co ullIlon sc nse
an d knows whal his o ve rhead in 'd o in g bu s iness
costs him then he m us t reali ze that a n instru­
lI1 ent upon w hi c h he a ll ows ~SO ca nnot be so ld,
e\'e n w ith the s lightest r ep air s th a t may be
necessa ry , a t a price und er $100, withouf car­
r y in g a loss. Even in this in s tanc e .he is walk­
in g on thin ice.
..
.. ­
In my es timation th e r e is but one s.ane meth-.
od of handli ng trade -in s. Start with t'he allo·,,,,· "
ance m a d e on the instr um e nt, a dd to th is double
cartage (which wi ll be n'ece~ary b efo r e iot
reac h es th e ultim a te co ns um er) a nd tuni'ng and
repairs before it is sold. You th"'e n hav e~yo u.f'
total cost of this in str um e nt . Then mark up
)o ur. usua l necessary profit the sa m e as if it
were a n e '.i' instrument, as it w ill cos t yo u jus t '
a~ 1:lu c h to sell it and more to keep it sold .
Th e sa le in volum e will not equ a l the lower­
pri ce d n e\\' in st l'llln e nt, ye t, in mak in g t h is sa le,
yo u have used up a custome r that might have
deve lo p ed into the sale of a n ew instrume nt.
A dealer s ho uld not tab ul ate prices a llowed
up on a piano rep re se n ting net cos t when tak in g
hi s inycntory: As he is pay in g n o thin g fo r
thi s in st ru me nt he mu s t waive pa rt o f the prof,
its upon the new sa le for this piano, for s it,
tin g upon the floor until sold it on ly represents
an a nti c ipat ed profit. If m a n y piano dealers
wi ll cease in ve ntoryin g use d pianos and other
in s trum e nt s at excessi ve va luations . th ey wi ll
come to rea li z'e what it actua ll y cos t s them to
do business, a~ it w ill a utomati ca lly cut down
their pro fit, for why calc ulat e upon a profit
w hi ch has not actually be e n rea li ze d ?
Costs of Instalments
O n e of the most interes t ing ad dr esses, in m y
estimation, at the Prospe rit y Convent io'n 'was
llIade by C ~)1. Hollenb e r g. The Colo ne l ga ve
li S so m e r ~a l horse se nse which eve r y piano
dealer ca n well affor d to a dopt . It is a mi s ­
11 0me r t o figu re th a t a time sale ca n be made
a t the sa llle pri ce as an inst a lm e nt sa le, irre­
spec ti ve oj th e s mall alllount of 5 per ce nt and
interest during th e life o f t h e co ntrac t. Some
piano dealers are on th e right t ra ck a nd I pre­
dict th at, event ually, th e average p iano manu­
fact ur e r will com e to a s tandard se llin g pri ce
for cas h a nd a nother for tim e, espec ia ll y s pec i­
fying t h e le n g th of tim e. If you w ill a dd 5 .
per cent a bo ve th e cash pri ce for an ins tru:
Ill e n t to be so ld upon tw enty- fo ur months' time
s u c h a sa le will in vari ab ly average thirt y
Ill o nth s and 5 Or 10 per ce nt a dditi o nal is no.l
suffic ient to cove r t h e cos t o i ca rr yi'n g this
lease. A n y dealer who d oe s thi s .i s ce rtainly
not as familiar with th e fin a nc ia l e nd of th t'
piano business as he s hould be a nd' he w iil,
e\'ent ua lly , wake u p to the fa ct that h e ha~been
charging th e cas h cu stom e r in excess of what
th e latter , ho\llo pay' in or d e r to h e lp to car r\'
th e time sa le,
The Turnover
If a d ea ler is operating wi th $10,000 s tock and
is doing $ 100,000 of business dur in g the co ur se
of thc yea r he has, unque s tion ab ly, had a turn­
ol'er o f t e ll l'il11(, s a nd ther e is no other sa ne
mann er in which to figllre it. For it is yo ur
cap it a l in ves ted during the yea r th at yo u are
figuring upon a nd not a monthly ill\'es tlTlcnt.
Five-day Week
O r , when w ill th e man ufa ct ur e r red lice the
:Hi " of hi s Diano to th~ dealer ? O ne, in a
me as ur e, ailswers the other, for n o manufa c­
the uptown s tor es are o pe n at a time when th e
tur e r' or dea ler ca n operate with as Iow an o,'e r­
po li cy oi the downtown s t ore \vas to di sco ur­
hea d' cost on the filc-da-y \veek as hi s compe ti ­
age the bu yer from co min g d ow ntown , s in ce
tor ca n' up on th e ~ i x -d ay week. Th e trouble
th e ir es tablishm ents wo uld be c lose d,
i, largely lip to Ja bor; as, in nIallY in s ta nces, it
Salesmen's Compensati.on
i,; no t "' illin g. to ,t-';I'e a full d ay's wor k a lld is
In writing YO Il as I have a bove I do not ha v e
;,0t as co nsc ientious 'i'II' the fl;lfiliI lIcnt o f work
in lIIi nd a n y pa rt ic ul ar one city, us in g as a bas is
throu g: ho ut th e ' hOllr.~ of Jhc da };': u nless u po n
of' In)' argullle n t nUln erous cities ill th e E ast,
pi ece work, a s it was a ,fe\-v",yea rs ba ck.
Ctn!ral an d \,ye~tc rn c iti es, ,vhere I have h ad
'fhi's five -day ';ve~k evil has cre'pt illt o some
personal exper ience. ,\ny method a dopted that
sections of t he ' ['etail' tieldalrd h as mad e a llIa­
will spee d up the s ales a nd h a l'e a te nd e n cy
te ri a l d c,pr ession u pon th e downtown m c r c lJant
to low e r the overhead, r es ultin g in a mor e a d e ,
ill many c iti es. S how lile the downt own busi­
qua t e profit and e nab le be tt e r sala ri es be ing
ll es ~ sec tio)1 which c loses Sa turday eve nill gs or
paid, is th e one I advocate. The music sales­
afte rn oQIlS or a ll ' d ay Sa turda y and I will s how . J\len in a ll the va rio us br a n c he s are g ros s ly
YO li th e d el'e loptnent, in th at sallie ·.c ity, of
underpaid in co nlpariso n to other lin es. A ca r­
lIlan y of the upt ow n s mall ,l11 erch';I\; ts w hos.c
pente r serves a few yea rs' appre nti ces hip an d
s-nops a r e o pe ll ' and \\'4Jcre the people arc b o un~
is- able to ea rn $1 an h o ur. I wou ld be ashamed
to gat h e r :
to try t o mention what th e per ce nt of th e
A few years bac k every , merc'hant in eve r y r. e ll1plo yes of t he comb in ed mu sic in du st ry o f th e
line l\" aS o pen Satwday e;e nin gs. This 'con ­
l.' nited States is wit h ten or more yea rs' ex:
dition was ge nera ll y und e rstood . What was
per ience, where far more int e lligen ce is neccs­
the r es ult' T h e a\'c rage w or.ki,ll g: man, a nd o ft ,
,arl', who are a bl e to ea rn $1 an hour.
time s with hi s family, s trolled d owntow n and
There is some thin g wrong with o ur busin ess
took in the s hop s, where many pur c hases w ere
--that we al l kn ow-a nd a fr ee di sc ussion on
mad e. Gradual ly, in man y sections, th e deale rs
the part o f the m embers of o ur industry, who
d ec id ed to c lose in the evenings a nd aga in
are in a position to write, will, no doubt, be
closed in th e after noon, an d in some sec tions
of mate rial assi;;ran cc to some of the yo un ge r
c losed all daX Sa turda y. In so doin g the deal­
lI1embers of the trade.
Col. Hollenb e r g ha s
e rs dis co ur age d th e public fro m cO lllin g down ­
g ive n liS a worth - w hil e s ubj ec t to think about.
I .e t li S hope we wi ll have ot h e r suc h ex pres­
town an d, as a r es ult , the IIlOving pict ure in­
du s tr y ca rried it s wo rk into the uptown sec ,
, io ns fr o m m embers of the piano trade th a t
tion. Th ere i't has bee n surro un ded by th e
w ill be far more illuminating and e du cati n g than
IIluch of the materi al u pon which wc hav e been
slI1a ll dealers represe ntin g ever y line of mer­
chandise, until t o-day lTIan y c iti es t hro u g hout
fe d an d which ha s so littl e ac tual educationa l
va lu e for the d ea le r.
th e co untry h ave a trem e ndou s uptown busi­
ness section, where th e ir s treets are pac k ed
with p ed estr ia ns Saturd ay afternoon an d , a, a
A1'RPLANE PERFORATED ROLL
res ult, m a ll Y purchases are mad e,
Device Resembling Music Roll Used in France
A Solution for It
for Automatic Airplane Control
I do no t wis h to be misunderstood, for t h e
employe must have a mple re creation. M y so lu ­
PARts, FRANCE , Jul y S.- A ro ll of pe rf o rated
tion would be, d u ring th e Summer month s , to
close h a lf a day o r a ll da y T h ur sday. This
paper closely rese mbl ing a player-piano ro ll is
not onl y gives th e emp loye thi s mid-week rec­
bein g u ti li zed as a contro l device in a recent
experime nt with a n a ut omat ica lly controlled a ir­
r eation period, but di"ides up th e long, tire­
p lane . :Mars ha l I'etai)l a nd ot her hi g h a rm y
s ome week into two portio ns a nd is far mo r e
officers assembled a t th e Villa Co ublay aero­
ben e fi cial , in m y esti m a tion, from a Ilea lth a nd
recreation a l point of vie w, I alii a firlll belie\'e,'
drom e to witness the Ai g ht, which wa s a suc­
iu remainin g open Saturdays as lo n g a s th e
c('ss. The movem e nt of the plane was dir ec ted
hy w ir eless from the gro und . In the n ew d e ­
publi c will rema in on the streets. It is a fa ll acy
I'ice the 11l 0 "ill g ro ll of paper se ts in ac tion
to say th at, no bu s iness ca n be d eve lop ed Sat­
llIec hanical a rm s and legs which direct th e p lane,
urd ay aft ernoon or eve nin g, when th e lII ec ha ni c
or laborin g man is paid off at noon a nd has
co ntrol the mot o r a nd release bombs, The new
craft marks g reat pro g-ress over other auto­
hi s week's pay in hi s jea ns. This is certai nl y
m atica ll y contro ll e d a ir planes because there is
the psychological moment for th e lI1erchant to
nluch le ss elect rica l ma chinery, th us le ssenin g
make 11is appea,l to ti1c.. prospective bu yer.
No one class of d ea ler is responsib le for this
th e d a n ger of sett in g the plane a fire by s park s.
tra d e goi n g to the uptown residential sec t io n
a no it would b e of little o r n o usc at thi s late
ANNOUNCE THE AEOLIAN AGENCY
d a t e for t.h e mu s ic deal e r s a lone to try to r elll ­
Guest Piano Co, Takes Full-page Advertise­
edy it . It is a matt er t hat s hould be ha ndl ed b y
ment to Announce Acquisition of Aeolian
all th e do wnto ,v n lo ca l merch ants, so that ,
Agency for Burlington and Vicinity
eventually, a campa ig n co uld be p u t over a nd
the pub li c aga in ed uca ted to th e fact that ther e
HUIlLl ;'C·I"!lN. h ., Jllly 10., -The Guest Piano
wa, some thing aga in going on in th e down­
lo ., th e olrl -esta bli s h e d mllsi c house of thi s city,
town sec tion Oll Sat urd ay even in g. Af t er all,
!'<,ce ntl y took" full-page aovert is em e nt to an­
i l is the pros pe rit y o f the fi rm tha t enables
nounce th e acquisitio n hy the compa ny of th e
proper ,alaries a nd co nditi ons to prevai l fo r the
age ncy for the Aeolia n Co's produ cts, inc ludin g
( mplo ye so t ha t it is of mutual intere s t a n d
t h e ])uo-Art reprodu c in g piano, together with
a ll that is necessary is for th e e mploye a nc!
the A~'o li a n- Vo(';di o l1 and ,"oca li on R ed re co rd s.
employer to h a\"e the fullest co-operation with
The a(\I'e rti sc lll c nt "
most att rac tive a nd
each ot h e r,
showed d IllodPrl1 "icll' o r Aeo li an Hall, New
Satu rday Business
T, p e r sona ll y, know of s tores in C hi cago, Yo rk ,
lik ewise the m e tr o politan di st ri c t in New York,
C-onsult the Universal Want Directory of
that h ave d o n e almost 40 p er cent of their bu si ­
The Review . In it advertisements are inserted
ness Saturday afternoons and evenings. Na tu ,
free of charge for men who desire positions.
ra ll y th ey wo uld because th ev r ecog ni ze thar