Music Trade Review

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SEPTEMBER 19, 1925
THE
MUSIC TRADE
9
REVIEW
Declares Ohio Merchants Sold on the
Carrying Charge Plan
0 . H. Boyd, of the H. Ackerman Piano Co., Marion, Ohio, Before the Ohio Music Merchants' Convention
Declares That Idea Is Worthy of Investigation and Analysis by Every Retail Music
Merchant—Many Music Merchants Are Using It Successfully at the Present Time
UCH has been said on the subject of
the carrying charge, and my mission in
bringing this matter to you to-day is
to try to get an expression from the members
present as to their opinion on this subject, and
what success any musical merchant may have
had in using the plan.
Not using a carrying charge plan ourselves,
my first step after having the subject assigned
to me was to seek information from such indi-
viduals and concerns who have had experience
with the carrying charge. So most of my re-
marks on the subject will necessarily be expres-
sions from other people's experience in using
the plan.
First of all, I wish to say that it is our opin-
ion that every music merchant in Ohio should
seriously consider this plan, and its merits
should be thoroughly investigated, whether after
such investigation" he decides to adopt it or not.
For it is only by acquainting one's self with
all the available facts concerning a subject that
one can arrive at an intelligent opinion or
decision.
In the first place, it might be well to define
the carrying charge so that every one will know
just what we are talking about. Contrary to
one dealer's impression, the carrying charge is
not freight and drayage, but instead of added
expense it is additional revenue, and that is
what we are all interested in. We presume that
most of the dealers here charge interest on the
deferred payment sales plan. The carrying
charge is, in a word, a legitimate charge for
carrying the customer's paper.
The different finance companies realize, if we
do not, that it costs money to finance paper,
and this is proven by the fact that they charge
for this service all the way from 12 to 24 per
cent and get away with it. So let's settle this
point now, that we are not discussing something
that is an impossibility.
The carrying charge is nothing new. It has
been used for years in the piano trade and is
being used by many concerns, among them some
very large and successful houses.
In other lines the carrying charge is a recog-
nized institution, notably among them the fur-
niture trade, the automobile business and mem-
bers of other specialty lines, such as electrical
household appliances, etc. So why should a
piano merchant hesitate to ask of a customer
what he is accustomed to doing, and in this way
try and reduce the steadily mounting overhead
that is upon us to-day. For the music mer-
chant, as we all know, has two overheads to
absorb—the overhead necessary in buying and
selling instruments and the overhead in connec-
tion with financing the customer's paper.
Now I do not wish you to form the opinion
that 1 am especially interested in advocating
the carrying charge, nor urging you to adopt
it. The idea in coming before you is merely
to advance a number of arguments on its merits
and demerits, and try and get an expression
from the members present as to the advisability
of our Association going on record as not favor-
ing it, or endorsing the plan and recommend
that it be adopted and adhered to throughout
the State.
A year ago at Cleveland a committee was
appointed to investigate the carrying charge
and make its report at this meeting. The chair-
man of that committee, with the able assistance
of his co-workers, was able to gather some in-
M
formation as to the different angles of the plan.
In a few mbments we will have the report of
this committee.
I believe we are all sold on the theory of
on the subject, but his own organization did not
have the sand to carry it through. As a result he
was forced to abandon the idea, much to his
disappointment. Quoting from his letter he
says that one of the troubles of the piano busi-
ness to-day is that there are too many spineless
weaklings in it, and too many children sales-
people; and sometimes he is tempted to get out
of the business and get into some line where
they have sense enough to make a profit and
where a gentlemen's agreement means some-
thing. This, no doubt, is the way we all feel
occasionally, and so also do merchants in other
lines. However, the piano or music business
has not gone to the bow-wows, and neither is
it headed in that direction. For with added
lines of merchandise, such as the reproducing
piano, the radio, the recently announced new
talking machines radically different from any
present instrument, and Mr. Hammond's inven-
tion, which may revolutionize the piano, it
seems the music business is keeping abreast of
the times and will hold its own in spite of the
keen competition it has had during the last
decade.
The Music Trades Association of Southern
O. H. Boyd
California has been using the carrying charge
this plan, and no doubt many of us know music plan for some time on all small goods sales, and
merchants who are successfully using it. On at the Western Music Trades Convention in
the other hand, like all good things, it has its June of this year, at Los Angeles, E. Palmer
drawbacks, and some of the answers to my in- Tucker, of the Wiley B. Allen Co., of that city,
quiries to dealers and manufacturers who tried gave a very interesting talk advocating the use
of the plan. As a result a resolution was
it were interesting indeed.
One very successful merchant in a city of the adopted "that it is most advisable and con-
mid-West tried to pioneer on this plan in his venient to extend the carrying charge method of
city. And as he wrote us he not only had all collecting interest on time payments to the
the other music merchants of that city to fight piano sales department."
After two days had elapsed he called up the
music shop and asked why the piano had not
been delivered. He was told it was broken.
He then went to the newspaper in which the
Takes Definite Action in Several Cases in the advertisement appeared and laid the case be-
Piano Trade Where There Were Indications fore it.
of Misrepresentation
The advertising manager talked to the pro-
prietor of the shop, on the telephone, who said
The Better Business Bureau of New York the customer's references were "no good." At
City will continue its fight against bait adver- this point the customer said he would pay cash
tising in the piano trade and has investigated for the piano and deposited the full amount due
and taken action in several cases. In the Sep- with the newspaper. The piano was finally de-
tember issue of the Bureau's bulletin one of the livered, but without the "free" accessories
cases in which effective action was taken is cited promised.
as follows:
The customer's letters of reference were in-
The advertising of a music shop doing busi- vestigated by the bureau. They were sufficient
ness in Brooklyn and Manhattan has been modi- to justify any credit house in accepting the cus-
fied to the extent of omitting an offer of "free" tomer as a good credit risk. The result of the
extra articles to purchasers of pianos. Tfie bureau's subsequent efforts were, first, the de-
original advertisement read:
livery of the specified articles to the customer,
Five dollars deposit buys a genuine player- and, second, the elimination of the "bait" fea-
piano with free floor lamp, silk shade, bench, ture from the advertising.
music cabinet, library of latest music rolls. Our
certified used department offers unusual values
Consult the Universal Want Directory of
at from $129 on terms as low as $2 per week. The Review. In it advertisements are inserted
The complaint was that efforts to buy a $129 free of charge for men who desire positions.
instrument met with resistance. After a piano
so priced had been demonstrated, the customer
insisted that he be permitted to purchase it
under the terms of the advertisement.
to Dealers
When the customer offered the $5, however,
he was informed that it would be impossible
to deliver the piano for so small a deposit.
Further negotiations led to an agreement to
S*nd for LUt
deposit an additional $5 when the piano was
SAMUEL
ORR
actually delivered. The customer thereupon took
»
•
Washington
St.
Newark, N. J.
the number and name of the instrument.
Better Business Bureau
After Bait Advertising
Used Pianos Sold
from $25 Up