THE
10
MUSI C
TRADE
REVIEW
A DEALER WHO DOES NOT BELIEVE IN CASH DISCOUNTS
Ju dgin g b y the Trend of H is Lette r He Seems t o See a C a t ch S omew he re in the S ystem Whi ch
He P rid es H im self in Eludi n g-Misplaced S ym path y for t h e M a nu fa ct u r er Who O ffers Them
The fo llowing lett er, recent ly received from
,I retail e r, is un ique in that it is the fir s t objec
tion The Review h as ever heard to taking ca
discounts, whe n it is possible to take them, the
sale basis of it seeming to be considera t ion for
t h e manufact u re r who is so foolish as to make
s uch an offer. The letter, which is printed in
lull, fo ll ows herewith:
Hunt ington, Ind ., August 3, 1 9;~3 .
Editor, The :Music Trade Review:
T h e Music T rade Review has a good de:11 to
>ay, from t i'me to t ime, abo u t the foo lis h ' re
tailer who fai ls to take advantage of the 2 per
ce nt discoun t, thu s paying at the rate of 36
per cent pe r ann um on his accounts whit It he
permits t o come to matu r ity. Well and sood.
B ut h ow about t I,e manufacturer or jobbel who
g rants a 2 pe r cent disco unt , thu s payi ng 36
pe r cent pe r ann um for the u sc of t h e mo ne y?
Is he a foo l, too ? A good d ea l of journali st ic
advice to the re t
Barnha rt nook Store.
Th is letter re p re' Cllts a p ec u liar attitude of
mind . Obvious ly t lt e d ea ler responsibl e for it
t hinks there is a catc h some place in t he system
of cash d iscoun ts and prid es h ims elf on be in g
one of tho se who is not go ing to be ca ught by
it. Or he may be the type of bus in ess man who
never !Jays a bill until he li as to, fi g uring that h e
can finan ce him se lf on the money hI: owes.
Some of th em do, but mor e ofte n th an not the
ma n who conducts h is bu siness on t hat basis re
ceives conside rab le publicity in the column
hearted "Busincss Embarrassments.
If the gent lem a n fr om I n&ia;a w o uiu stop
and think a moment he :""ould sec that the
manuiacturer offers cash dis co unts bes:a use it is
to hi s a d vantage to do so; in ot h er 'word s, br-
Henkelman
P ·i a nos and
Player-Pianos
The Highest Grade
Commercial Value
on the Market
O wing to our sy stem of standardization and
low overhead these instrun1ents possess ll1any
fea ture s found only in pianos sold at much
hig her prices.
Prepare for Fall
by Ordering Now
Write
for
Catalogs
and
Prices
A trial order will easily convince you
that what we say is true.
Henkelman Piano Mfg. Corp.
709-717 East 140t~ Street
New York
AUGUST
18, 1923
ca u se he can take advantage of cash d iscounts
which are offer ed to him by t he firms f rom
w h om he buys his materia ls . Th is, in t u rn, is
re fl ecte d in a lower manufacturing cost, which
the retailer rec eives t h e benefit of as does th e
manufacturer. Thus eve rybo d y ben e fits, not
o nl y from t he dir ec t saving of 2 per cent, bu t
from the indirect sav in gs thro u g h lower costs.
Followin g the ph il osophy of th e write r of thi s
letter, whe n a cu s tomer comes into his store to
buy a p ia no, for instance, h e w ou ld pref er to
se ll it on long t ime to ge t t he inte rest on t he
deferred payment s, instead o f selling it for cas h
at t he net figure. It is not at a ll probab le that
he does bus iness in that way- yet he be lieves,
evidently, that it is the proper way t o conduct
affa ir ~
To be thorough ly consistent, w hi ch, of
course, few men are, he s h oul d hang a s ign in
his store w ith a wording something like t hi s :
"Vve Do Not Do a Cash Business- We Prefer
to Vvait for Our :Money ." B ut it is p robably a
safe bet that no such a nno un cemen t w ill ever
m ake its appearance . An d whe n h e does make
a ca sh. sale he probab ly p rid es hi mself o n hi s
abi li ty t o d o it.
T h ere is n o necessity fo r sympathy for the
ha r d lo t of t he manufac t ure r w h o likes to hav e
his bi ll s discounte d. It is was t ed a n d h ad b ette r
be devoted to the p t sition of the r etail er who is
un ab le t o save money b y do in g th is. He re, in
pa r tic ular, it had bett er be d evo ted to th e write r
of the letter h imself. He nee d s it, n o t on ly be
cause he probab ly fai ls to d isco u n t his bills, but
because he ev ident ly considers it poo r po licy t o
do so. T h ere is hop e for th e man w h o is u n
able to take adva ntage o f cas h di scounts bllt
who k nows that it is a goo d th ing to do. B ut
w hat hope is th er e for t he ma n who considers
th is mo s t ele mentar y forlll of good financia l
policy bad bus ine ss an d so met hin g to be a voi d
ed ? Yet th a t is t he only deduct ion t h a t can b e
m a d e fr om the s tat eme n ts contai ned in thi s
letter.
I t is a matt e r of ordinary mathema tics to
S IIOW that the m a n who does no t di scount hi s
bi ll s pay s an average of 36 per cent p er allnum
o n t he a illo ll nt o f hi s outs tan di ng liabil iti es. A
littl e fi g lll'ill g wit h penc il an d paper, and a littl c
th o u ght, w ill go a lo ng wa y to convince hinl of
t hat fact. It is very do ubtfu l whether ;;11)' re
tai le r ca n r ea li/.e that ret ur n on permittin g h is
bill:.; t o g'O to maturit y and usin g hi s liabili ti es
'IS ca p ita l in hi s bus in ess. If the w rit er of this
le tt e r can , h e possesses a sec ret pana cea w h ich,
for t he ben efit oi hi s fe ll ow trad esJ ll e n, h e
might JJ1ake p ub lic and the space, and lot s o f it,
wi ll be accorded him in T h e Review to do so.
For the editors of this paper would like to know
it just as th e res t of th e t rade would, and the
Jlla n who wou ld make it pub lic woul d be a ge n
era l b e nefa ctor.
If t he iniorllJatio n cO ll laillccI i" l.he o rigina l
ar t icle on t his subje ct w h ic h a p peared in T he
l,eview is "bu nk," to u se the e legant expre"sion
of t he writer of t h e letter, it is th e sort of
"bunk" tha t the b es t bu sin ess houses in th e
co unt r y, a nd the mos t s uccessf ul retail m us ic
ho u ses in t he trade, consiste ntl y follow, and,
judging by t h e s uccess t hey hav e had, the so rt
of "bunk" which has con t ribute d great ly to their
s uc cess. If t he gent leman from I ndiana wil l
tak e a litt le more " j o u rnalis ti c" a d vice he wi ll
ask a d ea ler who disco unts his bills wha t he
t hin ks of t h e propos it io n, a nd perhap s t he hard
facts of experience, o n which were ba se d the
original arti cle in The Rev iew, w ill carry co n
viction to him .
Mean .w hile, let him save his s ympat h y-the
llianufa cturer doe s not need it except w hen h e
has a go o d many dealers o n h is books w h o
neve r discount, w ho permit t he ir b ill s to run to
llIaturitya nd, in mos t cases, whe n t hat tak~,
p lace SOIll(, tim e beyond t he dati ng.
OPENS IN NEW LOCATION
Cor.ll,vlJ\l IS GROVE, 0 ., A ug ust 13.·- T he H. H
H ol lis Music StO I'C was forma ll y opened a short
t im e a g o in it s !lew loca t ion fl ext to th e po s t
office o n Sy camo r e s t ree t.