“The world abhors closeness, and all but admires extravagance; yet a slack hand shows weakness, and a tight hand strength.”–Buxton.
ALMOST every European writer who has ever visited America has gone back home and written as his first impression received in America that as a people we are “Dollar-chasers.”
One well-known English writer who has visited every civilized country on the globe writes: ” The chief occupation of every American man, woman and child is the pursuit of the Dollar.”
It would be difficult to state the case of the average American and be further from the truth, unless it may be that the American chases the dollar away. We surely do not chase it with the idea of getting it and keeping it, because we keep a smaller percentage of the dollars which fall into our laps than the people of any other country.
If we were “Dollar-chasers” or “Money-grabbers,” we would not let go of our dollars so easily. The case of the average American is better stated by saying we are “Price-worshippers.”
When we walk into a shop to buy anything we first ask the price and from the price we judge the quality. Having been taught that good goods sell for high prices and that it pays to buy the best, we first learn the price and then select the article which costs the most and go home with our purchase secure in the feeling that we have bought the best. Quite recently a shoe store in a large city in the middle west sold shoes at $6.00, $9.00 and $12.00 per pair at an advertised sale. The shoes all cost the same, $7.50 at the factory doors. The $12.00 shoes were all sold the first day with the exception of a few odd-sizes, the $9.00 shoes were more than half sold while ninety percent of the $6.00 shoes were on hand at the close of the six-day sale. The shoe buyers asked the price and bought the best in the belief that the highest-priced shoes must be the best.
At a recent sale of china silk in one of the largest retail stores in a large city, which sale was generously advertised, a number of bolts of silk were placed on sale at $1.65 per yard and a number of bolts at $1.35 per yard. Shortly after noon the $1.65 quality was all gone and a considerable part of the $1.35 quality remained. The silk was all of the same quality and it did not require a silk expert to see that there was no difference as the stamping on the margin, including the stock number, was identical.
The first question asked about a new hat is what it cost. Even the oil painting which hangs on the wall is judged by most people not so much by the artist’s signature or its own beauty, as by what the owner paid for it.
No man lets go of his money as easily as the American. If the American is a “Dollar-chaser” he tries much harder to chase the dollars into the other man’s pockets than he tries to gather them unto himself.
The standard of merchandise is all upset and quality no longer rules. The determining factor with most of us is the price and it must be high.
A motion picture theatre in the downtown district of one of the largest cities reduced its admission price from fifty cents to thirty-five cents and lost business, although it was showing the same class of pictures at the lower price. A leading restaurant reduced its prices about fifteen percent without in any way affecting the quality of the food or of the service and only gained three per cent in the number of people served.
It is not a case of looking for bargains as the American people have always done that. The old story of cutting a bolt of goods into pieces to sell as remnants at higher prices has been proved to be true many times. No blame attaches to the merchant who marks his goods in plain figures and does not misrepresent them. The entire blame attaches to the buyer who does not discriminate as to quality but who judges his purchase solely by the price asked. The need of the day is to use discrimination in buying. By using the arts and keen judgment of our grandparents in shopping and marketing, we can save right now from ten cents to thirty-five cents on every dollar purchase. But we must discriminate as to quality and we must patronize the merchant who is content with an honest and fair profit.
Most merchants can and will sell you goods worth the money if you insist upon it but, if you insist upon having something at a higher price, the merchant would be a poor merchant indeed if he did not supply your wants.
Buy for quality. Forget the price. Select the goods first. Ask the price afterward. You will be surprised at how many times you will have selected the less expensive article by using quality as your guide.
“In prosperity prepare for a change; in adversity hope for one.”–Burgh.
“He is a benefactor of mankind who contracts the great rules of life into short sentences, that may be easily impressed on the memory, and so recur habitually to the mind.”– Johnson.