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Hardwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



August 10, 1917 



The Dean-Spicker Co. 



Manufacturers of 



Oak— Mahogany— Walnut 



AND 



LUMBER 



22nd St. and So. Crawford Ave. 

 CHICAGO 



PERKINS 



GLUE 

 COMPANY 



SOLE MANUFACTURERS 

 AND SELLING AGENTS 



PERKINS 

 Vegetable Veneer Glue 



(PATENTED JULY 2. 1912) 



805 J. M. S. BUILDING 

 SOUTH BEND, INDIANA 



it made as liberal as possible so that he could have 

 plenty of wood to work upon. When the buyer has 

 to buy all this extra wood, the item of waste in trimming 

 will come home to him in a manner that will impress 

 the importance of conservation. 



In this way we can modify and reduce the allowance 

 for trimming, but there still remains something like 1 

 percent loss in shrinkage which must either be provided 

 for somewhere along the line or else the trade will need 

 to devise a treatment for veneer that will dry it without 

 causing shrinkage. And, finally, it is well to remember 

 that practically all this shrinkage takes place not in the 

 preliminary drying, but in the final thorough drying out 

 of stock before it is used. 



Terms of Sale 



There is seme indication that the veneer people have taken 

 steps to put terms of sale on a more uniform basis and to reduce 

 some of the slack practices of the past, and there is no doubt that 

 uniformity in terms of sale will help the cause all around. 



Heretofore veneer and panel manufacturers have been very lax 

 about terms of sale, perhaps partly because at times they have 

 sought anx.ously for business and have made very inviting terms 

 to customers in order to obtain or to hold their patronage. There 

 has been much of this, as compared to the lumber business, and 

 the veneer business has a reputation for very slow collections. 



This point was brought forcibly to mind when making inquiry of 

 a veneer man about the standing of a customer who had delayed 

 payments to a certain lumberman until the lumberman was getting 

 anxious and making inquiry. The veneer man w^hen asked about 

 it said that delays which lumber people would consider almost 

 criminal were really accepted by the veneer man as satisfactory 

 business. Then he told of some of the laxity in the trade about 

 collecting accounts, enough of it, in fact, to impress the thought 

 that terms of sale are one of the things w^hich need revising in the 

 veneer and panel business, especially as to the time of making pay- 

 ment. Broadly speaking, it matters but little what time of pay- 

 ment is agreed upon, just so it is a specified time, because the 

 prices or some interest arrangement can be made to cover what- 

 ever amount of time is involved. The main point is to have a 

 definite understanding as to the time. 



As a contrast to some of the laxity encountered here, one in- 

 stance vv^as found in the rounds of a buyer who sends a check the 

 same day invoices are received. 



Inquiry of this buyer as to why he did thi3 brought out the 

 fact that he had a purpose in view, that he wasn't going to vhe 

 trouble of checking out before inspecting and tallying stock and 

 then having to recount and recheck the matter for nothing. He 

 had considerable surplus money and he was really humoring the 

 bargain buying instinct. He %vas steadily building up a reputation 

 for prompt pay and quick money on the theory that any man with 

 some stock on hand who felt an urgent need to make a sacrifice 

 to turn this stock into cash promptly, would come to him first and 

 in this way he could pick up many bargains. After experiment- 

 ing \vith the practice for several years he still expressed himself 

 as well pleased with it because he was able to get a chance at 

 many sacrifice bargain offerings that were going the rounds from 

 people w^ho needed money quickly. 



It will be seen from this that there are many angles to this ques- 

 tion of quick pay and long credits, or terms of sale. After all, 

 however, the main question of the trade is that of creating by 

 agreement and by practice more uniform and specific terms. This 

 thing of having open accounts and never knowing when the money 

 will be coming in is an unsatisfactory mannei of doing business in 

 this dav and time. 



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