THE MUSIC TRADE REVIE\V
4
(Repatered in the U. S. Patent Ollite)
PUBLISHED BY EDWARD LYMAN BILL, Inc.
President and Treasurer, C. L. Bill, 383 Madison Ave. New York; Vice· President.
J. B. Spillane, 383 Madison Ave.• New York; Second Vice.President. Raymond Bill. 383
Madison Ave.• New York; Secretary, Edward Lyman Bill, 383 Madison Ave., New York; .
Assistant Treasurer, Wm. A. Low.
J. B. SPILLANE, Editor
RAY BILL, B. B. WILSON, BRAID WHITE, Associate Editors
WM. H. McCLEARY, Managing Editor
CARLETON CHACE, Business Manager
L. E. BOWERS, Circulation Manager
Executive and Reportorial Stall
E. B. MUNCH. V. D. WALSH. EDWARD VAN HANLINGEN. LEE ROBINSON.
THOS. W. BRESNAHAN. E. J. NEALY, C. R. TIGHE. FREDERICK B. DIEHL. A. J. NICKLIN
A.
FREDERICK CARTER, FREDERICK
G.
SANlJBLOM
WESTERN DIVISION:
BOSTON OFFICE:
ARTHUR NI
JOHN H. WILSON, 324 Washin"ton St.
Republic Bid"., 209 So. State St.• Chicago
Telephone, Main 6950
Telephone. Wabash 5242·5243.
LONDON, ENGLAND: 1 Gresham Building•• Basinghall 51., D. C.
NEWS SERVICE IS SUPPLIED WEEKLY RY OUR CORRESPONDENTS
LOCATED IN THE LEADING CITIES THROUGHOU-T AMERICA
JULY
28, 1923
bears no direct rela tion to its actual value, plus the cost of placing
the instrum ent in salable condition. This, of course, is the actual
co~t of it , hu t the qu estion is, can it be sold at that cost, plus an
ordinary margin of profit , so as to ma ke the entire tran saction a
profitable one ?
In man y ca ses this is impossible of accompli shment. But thi s
impos sib ility the merchant does not take into con sideration in
fIguring hi s assets. As a result he deceives himself upon his own
net worth, one of th e most dange rous things which any man in
business can do, and at the same tim e presen ts, in good faith i~
mu st be said, a. statement which fail s to tell th ose from whom he
is seeking credit the actu al worth of the man who is asking its
extension.
Trade-in pian os should be carried in the inventory at th e i~
actual worth, that is, in relation to the price they will bring when
sold. Thi s w ill mean th at a certain percentage of loss will have tq
be charged, perhaps, but it is always better to charge a loss off and
be done with it, than to carry it -indefinitely in suspense. ;\ s tq
whe re to charge the loss when an over- all'6wance is made, why not
mak e the original tran saction carry th e burden and thu s make it
part of the selling expense involved in it ? F or, after all, an over
allowance is made to induce a prospect ive customer to buy, and
where else should it be placed except in the overhead?
OVERCOMING THE SERVICE PROBLEM
Publlshed Every Saturday at 383 Madison Avenue, New York
Enttrtd ... :
""der the Act of March 3, 1879.
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ADVEBTISElIIENTS, ralea on «Queal.
REMITTANCES, ahould be made payable to Edward Lyman Bill. Inc.
ExposlUon Honors Won by The Review
Grand Prix..•.••••• P.ri. Exposilion. 1900
Silver Medal ... Charleston Exposition, 1902
Diploma ..• • Pan-American Exposilion. 1901
Gold Medal. .•. . St. Louie Exposition. 1904
Gold M edal--Lewi.-Clark Exposition, 1905
TELEPHONES-VANDERBILT 2642-264S-2644-2645-2647-2648
Cable Address: "ElblJl, New York"
Vol. LXXVII
NEW YORK, JVLY 28, 1923
No.4
THE DISAPPEARANCE OF THE COLLECTOR
HE SERIES of articles which hav e been appearing in Th e,
Review' on success ful methods in th e retail merchants' coJlec
hon departments h as brought out one promin en t fact, and that is
the pass ing of the collector. Almost invariablY the mercha nt wheJ
hol ds his perc entage of past due on hi s outstanding paper to a
reasonable figure is one that has done away with the collector and
who uses th e mai ls exclu sively to reach th ose customers who a re
not meeting their payments when due.
Thi s trend in methods has expe rience behind it to show tha~
it is the cor rec t one. The coll ecto r more often than not has been
a disturbin g element in the relation s of the merchant with hi s cus
tomers. lIe has too often contributed towards killing good will by
hi s ove r-anxie ty to get th e money and to make a show ing, with
th e result that a disgruntled customer has been left in his wake..
.\ customer who wilfully fail s to meet hi s payments as he has
agreed deserves little consideration, of course, from the business
hirll
concern that holds his promises, but it is ju st as easy to bring
0(,
to see the error of hi s ways with tactfulness through the mails and
probably more effective than to resort to the " hard-boiled" col,
lector.
Coll ection methods have shown a remarkable improvement in
the retail piano trade during th e past few yea rs. Cu stomers are
held mu ch more closely to the letter of the bond than wa s ever the
case in the past. l\nd this improvement has been almost si mul
taneous w ith the gradual disappearance of th e collector, another
proo f that good systems properly carri ed out hav e made him un
necessary.
T
INVENTORYING THE TRADE-IN PIANO
E of th e great evils in th e entire trade-in situation is the
O N habit
so many pian o me rchants have of carrying such in stru
ments on th eir inventori es at inflated valuations, thus deceivi ng
them selves upon the ir tangibl e assets and increasing the net worth
of their business beyond "" ha t it is in actuality. Many a trade-in
piano fi gures on th e dealer's inven to ry at the allowance, which
too often ha s been made under the spur of competiti on and which
HE question o f service for the reproducing pia no, 'w hich was
dealt with at some length in the last issue of Th e Review, is one
that can find its solution only in the close co-operation of the manu
factur er a nd dealer. Conditions to-day are largely a repetition of
those which existed in the early days o f the player-piano, when the
average tuner and repairma n, practi cal1 y ignorant o f the instrument ,
struggled as best he could with each repai r problem that was pre
sented to him. He learned in time, it is true, but mea nwhile the
player-piano suffered more th an ca n be es timated, and the entire
indu stry likewise.
\Nhen a reproducing piano man ufacturer's service man comes
to a city or town and desires to aiel not only th e men in that dealer's
tuning and repair department, but th e ind ependent tuners and re pair
men that operate in the same territory as well, th e d.ea ler mak es a
vital mistake if he refuses to lend his co-operation and if he desires
to restrict the information to hi s own men. The proper thing to do
is '.'.That was recently done in a P acific Coast city, where th e service
man' was given the use o f the deal er's wareroom s one evening, and
all tuners in th e territory, not only th ose belonging to the hou se and
those who worked independently but even those in the employ of
competing hou ses, were invited _to the lecture and demonstration.
This is the sort of co-operation which w ill solve thi s important
problem, a nd the sooner the av erage dealer realizes thi s the better
it is going to be for all concerned.
The big problem befo re the reprod ucin g piano at th e present
time is the serv ice probl em, and th ere is no so lu tion for it save
_through manufac turers ' and dealers' co-operation.
T
ANOTHER TRADITION TAKES THE COUNT
HE old tradition that it is impossible to sell pianos during the
Summer months seems to be r eceiving som e hard knocks this
season. Th ere is no question at all that th e people, taken as a
whole, are buying these instruments, and, what is best of all, bu ying
them without the inducements of cut prices and long term s. Part
of thi s condition, o f course, may be attributed to the fundament al
prosperity o f the country, but a good part of it mu st be traced to
the fact tha t more deal ers than eve r before a re ref using to rest on
their oars and let things take their natural course.
In other word s, the dealer who still believ es S ummer mu st
necessa rily be dull is receiving a wonderful object lesson which he
will profit from, it is to be hoped. He ha s had these ob ject lessons
hefore, but they have been more or less isola ted and h e ha s been
likely to trace them to SOme special conditi ons which he is sure did
not exist in hi s own territory. Thi s year, how ever, he has n o such
alibi. There are dealers in every section of th e country wh o are
doing a good S ummer busin ess simply because th ey have gone out
after it, and if one can do it there is absolutely no reason why
another dealer, confronted with exactly th e same conditions , cann ot
do the same thing. In the talk of th e ring, the old id ea that Sum
mer dullness is a necessity has taken the count.
T