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SEPTEMBER 13,
THE MUSIC TRADE
1924
REVIEW
The Maximum Terms on Retail Sales
Robert L. Jones, of the Dreher Piano Co., Cleveland, Ohio, Points Out the Effect Revision in Living
Costs Should Have on the Maximum Instalment Terms at Which Musical Instrument Sales Are
Made by the Music Merchant—An Address Before the Ohio Music Merchants Association
I
T would seem to the casual observer that
the music trades should be the last line of
merchandising to resort to selling methods
which might have the slightest tendency to
affect its dignified position in the mercantile
field.
Music is divine and takes its important rank
with due dignity in the fine arts. It is asso-
ciated with poetry, with the drama, with archi-
tecture, in fact, with all the fine arts, and since
the piano is the one instrument most commonly
used in expressing of music and musical ideas,
there is no reason why we, as dealers in these
instruments, should not strive to keep music
upon the high artistic plane which it now
occupies.
We must as much as possible remove the
music trades from all forms of cheapness by
the adoption of more dignified methods than
have been in common use during the past and,
as the exponents of that art which has always
been considered divine, we must bend our little
effort in an endeavor to improve conditions
rather than to tear down and destroy our
organization.
The last decade has brought many changes
in the commercial world and with these changes
has very naturally- followed a logical working
out of systems and methods which are employed
in the financing of practically every enterprise.
Revision in Living Costs
The gradual increase in living costs and the
comparative increase in labor have made neces-
sary a complete revision of the financial budget
of the average buyer. Consequently, the man
who purchased a piano ten years ago on pay-
ments of $10 a month cannot and would not
expect to buy a piano to-day upon the same
terms.
A proportionate increase in the payments
must logically follow the increased cost of the
instrument and the very fact that the buyer's
income is in many cases doubted or tripled
gives to this discussion of maximum selling
terms good cause for careful and considerate
reflection.
Maximum means greatest and as it pertains
to terms contemplates the privilege of the pur-
chaser to defer payments for the greatest per-
missible period of time. I am wondering if
some times customers do not regard us dealers
as being maximum idiots when they succeed in
working us for maximum terms which are
pretty nearly, if not quite, idiotic in their lib-
erality.
Someone told me of a customer purchasing
a piano and offering in payment for same a
note payable on the Judgment Day. It was
suggested that inasmuch as the Judgment Day
would probably be a very busy day he had
better make the note payable the day after.
This may be an exaggerated case but it is
surprising how many people come into a music
store during the year, expecting to buy a piano
with a few dollars in cash and a vague promise
to pay the balance some day, somehow, if the
Lord is willing, if the job holds out, if the
health permits and if the devil has no objection.
It is more surprising that some of us dealers
fall for terms that are almost never ending.
Meanwhile, we are asked to waive demand for
payment now and then if the baby has the
croup; if the automobile has to have the carbon
removed; if the house has to have a new set
Highest
Quality
of front steps or some other vague excuse sug-
gests itself.
A Sad Commentary
Now, all these questions bob up serenely in
the history of the average music merchant and
it is a sad commentary upon our ability as suc-
cessful business men to have to admit that
such conditions were ever permitted to exist.
K.ooert Li. jones
Well, what arc we going to do about it? Shall
we continue to extend the privilege of dollar
a week methods which so many of our dealers
seem willing to shout aloud from the treetops,
judging from the advertisements we read in the
papers from day to day and which, as you well
know, are misleading and undignified schemes
to trap the unsuspecting purchaser, or are we
going to get down to a basis for sane and rea-
sonable maximum selling terms, terms that will
enable a dealer who is not backed by unlimited
capital to make a turnover upon his investment
without the necessity of calling to his assistance
some discounting device which in the end is
very likely to force him into a financial mire
from which he can never hope to extricate
himself.
The successful merchant of to-day is that
merchant who is able to take care of his in-
creased trade on his own capital. The moment
he is compelled to discount his customers'
paper, he is treading on dangerous ground.
The dealer whose maximum selling terms will
not permit him to gather in from month to
month enough ready cash to meet his bills
promptly is in a very precarious position and
it would be far better for that dealer if he
confined has sales to a class which pays out
in a reasonably short period rather than to
tie up his capital in a lot of long-winded, doubt-
ful sales.
The customer who agrees to pay $10 a month
on a piano usually averages $7 to $8 monthly
and it is hard to figure out any reason why we
as music merchants should accept payments
which we know are unreasonably long deferred.
So now we are here to discuss this subject
and let us discuss it in a plain, friendly and
straightforward manner with a sincere wish to
ONKBENCH
inspire some safe, legitimate plan, fair to the
'dealer and fair to the customer, a plan which
can be relied upon as satisfactory.
A Solution
My opinion is that the retail selling price of
a piano should be fixed upon a cash basis and
where time is desired the customer should pay
the cash price for the instrument plus the pre-
vailing rate of interest with a down payment
of from 10 to 20 per cent of the purchase price,
subject to the good judgment of the dealer and
based upon the credit conditions of the cus-
tomer after due investigation. The balance
should be made payable in monthly instalments
covering a period of not more than twenty-four
months.
This plan would insure a good average for
receipts from time sales and should (with the
usual percentage of cash sales) enable a dealer
to carry on nicely in a general run of business.
Many dealers strain time deals to thirty
monthly payments, but as suggested, payments
rarely average up to original promises and a
thirty-month maximum often runs far beyond
this peiiod.
Why Should They?
Why should long-winded time sales apply to
our trades any more than upon other lines of
merchandise? Furniture, clothing, automobiles
and other varied and equally important lines
are not selling ©n such terms—why should we
tolerate it?
What would happen if a customer ordered an
automobile and failed to accompany the order
with a check in settlement? Why, the sales-
man would have a conniption fit and step in
it. Take the average automobile of a good
dependable make. Purchase on other than cash
payment calls for terms of not less than one-
third down with every possible form of insur-
ance to protect the dealer against loss, with
deferred payments running not longer than
twelve months. Autos wear out, clothes wear
out, furniture wears out and pianos also de-
preciate rapidly in value after being sold to
the public. Why, then, should we not com-
mand more rigid and prompt settlements?
Where the Blame. Rests
The blame must surely rest with us, for if
we refused such terms as we have been accept-
ing, customers would soon provide some means
for securing their musical instruments without
taking forever and a day to settle for their
ultimate payments.
Let us at least endeavor to improve this
unpleasant feature of our business and I am
quite sure that with a firm determination to
formulate a plan and put it across we shall
have the hearty and cheerful approval of the
manufacturer who will get prompt settlement
for his product and we ourselves will be placed
in a more favorable financial condition by rea-
son of the quicker turnover which will be ac-
complished through our united efforts.
Visitors at Laffargue Go.
Among the visitors calling at the factory of
the Laffargue Co., New York, during the past
week were G. C. Ramsdell and Cassius Rams-
dell, of Philadelphia. Another Philadelphia vis-
itor was Max Lachmuth, who represents the
Laffargue line in that city.
Highest
Quality