Music Trade Review

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THE
MUSIC
clerk, in order to save to a new customer in
any foreign country trouble, annoyance and
Some Pointers that may be of Value—European probable overcharge in import duties, is to
System of Marking Cases Best.
render to the invoice clerk an itemized exact
In the very interesting talk on export trade statement of the net and gross weight, also
with W. R. McClelland, secretary of the Na- contents of each package and the billing clerk
tional Musical String Co., in The Review is to show all this information on his invoice.
of Dec. 14, he emphasized the importance of
This manner of invoicing will meet every
manufacturers paying particular attention to contingency, whether duties are collected
filling orders as the European purchaser from the gross weight, from the net
wants them, and not as the American thinks weight, or from the value of the goods,
he wants them. An excellent point—for it and allowing even the article imported
may be almost considered an axiom that in into a foreign country to be on the free list,
the measure we satisfy the foreign buyer our way for purposes of statistics. It should
export trade will grow. Manufacturers may therefore be adopted by every exporter as a
go to the trouble of advertising their goods means of facilitating quick discharge of the
in foreign markets, they may submit sam- shipment at the port of entry and as a means
ples, they may get an order and yet they of avoiding delays, unpacking, repacking or
may never hear from their new customer overcharge in import duties.
any more; why ? Because he was dissatis-
Another point of interest to exporters is
fied. The goods arrived in bad condition, the
this—American manufacturers are in the
freight and duty were found exorbitant and
habit of making no charge for boxes, etc. It
he concluded to make no further trial.
would be folly, though, to believe the boxes
Here is a case where the shipping clerk are thrown in the bargain free. Their cost
lacked either in knowledge or in the careful is simply part of the cost price of the goods.
execution of his duty and thus destroyed what This practice—in the case of export ship-
might have been developed into a permanent ments—is wrong and should be changed.
business relation.
The boxes should be charged for separately
One of the essential points for a ship- and the price of the goods should be cor-
ping clerk to know is that ocean freight respondingly lower, for the following rea-
charges are based, not upon weight, but upon sons : Suppose the import duty on a certain
the space a shipment occupies; in other article is 50 per cent, ad valorem and the
words, the carrying charge on a vessel is so amount of the invoice is $300, in that case
much per cubic foot. It must therefore be the duty collectible is $150. If, however, the
the aim of the shipping clerk to condense his invoice shows the value of the goods to be
merchandise—if it can be done—into the $280 and the boxing to be $20, the duty col-
smallest possible package and pack it well to lectible is only $140 as against $150 in the
prevent chafing or breakage.
former case.
It is well for shippers to bear in mind that
CARPENTER PLANS FOR 1902.
for ocean transportation a more substantial
form of packing is required than that which
The E. P. Carpenter Co., the organ spe-
may do for transportation at home, and the cialists of Brattleboro, Vt., are going to make
marks upon all cases, bundles, etc., should be their style 320 their leader for 1902. The
such as to preserve beyond all doubt the iden- Review can vouch for the architectural beau-
tity of each package.
ty of this instrument, which is made up in
Suppose the forwarding agent at New walnut and oak cases, five and six octaves,
York city or at London, Eng., receives within with a variety of actions. At the present
one day 100 cases merchandise all marked time the Carpenter Co. are able to furnish
for Jones & Smith, Sydney, N. S. W. They only the five octave styles of froth walnut
come from various shippers of the United and oak, but shortly after the first of Jan-
States. How can this forwarding agent, uary they will be able to furnish six octave
steamship company or railroad determine styles as well.
whose box is missing when 100 are waybilled
This organ will not appeal to dealers who
and only 99 arrive? And suppose that all are interested only in the matter of price,
shippers have with great precaution marked without any regard for quality. It is made
on each case "From
, which one of our up to interest the large body of dealers who
ten cases it is that got lost, asks Fitzpatrick, want a reliable organ and still want the price
of Chicago?"
reasonable enough so that they can enter
To preserve the identity of a package, there into any competition and with the apparent
is no better method for shippers but to adopt quality of the organ, win out in the majority
the European system of marking each pack- of contests.
The Carpenter Co. have had a phenomenal
age with consecutive number, and show this
number always on the freight receipt as well business for the year. They have broken all
records with the single exception of 1891,
as on the invoice. The name of the con- which, it will be remembered, was the greatest
signee need not necessarily be marked on a organ year in the history of the trade. Bear-
case. Initials, number and place of destin- ing in mind that the Carpenter organ is not
ation is all that is necessary and required to a cheap instrument, but one in which qual-
ity has been kept ever to the front, it is a
be marked for transportation.
pleasing
fact to record their great success
jfo- n i=> t o ^ e done by the shipping this year.
SATISFYING THE FOREIGN BUYER.
POOLE
PIANOS
END-OF-THE-YEAR REFLECTIONS.
A Manufacturer Discusses Reform—Dealers Who Do
Not Meet Obligations Promptly—That Re-
minds the Traveling Man of a Story.
"People who have money," said a well-
known piano manufacturer the other day
during a talk with The Review on needed
reforms in the piano business, "do not in-
variably pay up their financial obligations
with any greater promptitude than those who
are without means.
"The best interests of the piano trade
would be greatly advanced," he continued,
"if dealers who have money available would
pay for their pianos within a reasonable time
instead of extending their notes repeatedly.
Some dealers insist on going 'the limit,' hold-
on to what is really the manufacturers' money
with just as much persistency as if it were
their own.
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"They sell the pianos, deposit the money at
their bank and let the interest accumulate,
while the man, or men, who supplied them
with the goods whistles for his money. These
people generally have a 'poor mouth,' but we
know them, and a time will come when they
will be made to suffer for their meanness.
"There is some excuse for a dealer who
is really running in hard luck, but for the
man who systematically holds people off until
their patience is exhausted, while he is en-
joying the interest on their investment, there
k only one word strong enough to express
an adequate opinion, and you can guess what
that word is."
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"That reminds me," said a traveler for
the firm, who happened to be present, "of
a story told by a Western friend of mine
who does the collecting for a big retail piano
house in one of the Western cities. It has to
do with a private citizen of the same mean,
contemptible type as the dealer described just
now—the type having money but hating to
let go of it, even to pay their just debts.
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"When I visited this Western city not
long ago I met my friend the collector and
we walked down one of the principal streets
together. Presently he pointed to a well-
dressed, comfortable looking citizen standing
in a doorway. 'See that man?' remarked my
companion. I replied in the affirmative.
'Well,' said the collector, 'he is wealthy, but
he'd rather have a tooth drawn any time than
pay what he owes. In that respect his repu-
tation is far ahead of any other man in this
town.
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" 'He bought a piano a couple of years or
so ago from the people I am with, and we
had the dickens and all of a time getting the
money. At last we got within fifty dollars.
He stood firm at that point and refused to
budge. I was sent to collect and climbed up-
stairs to his office more times than I cared
to count. But he held on to the fifty like
grim death.
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" T didn't know what to do. He put me
As to Tone, Touch, Design
Durability and Value. • , #
5 and 7 APPLETON STREET, BOSTON, MASS.