HARDWOOD RECORD 



63 



American Hardwoods and Where 



They Are Sold 



Some Interesting Statistics Showing Where the Hardwoods 



of the U. S. are Sold 



During the past four years the Hardwood 

 Record, by means of sending out nearly one 

 thousand letters and report blanks daily, has 

 collected information from the chief hard- 

 wood buyers throughout the United States, 

 covering their normal annual requirements by 

 quantity, kind, grade and thickness. This 

 information has been put into the form of 

 condensed paragraphs, which recite the state, 

 town, name of concern, use to which the lum- 

 ber is put, the name of the purchasing agent, 

 with the other information added. Up to this 

 date forty of these bulletins have been is- 

 sued. This information, when pasted up on 

 tabbed cards, as shown on page 62 of this 

 issue, and filed alphabetically by towns, be- 

 tween state guide cards, forms a roster of the 

 leading wholesale hardwood consumers of the 

 United States, and makes a ready reference, 

 showing from what source trade in every line 

 of lumber, including foreign woods, dimen- 

 sion stock, veneers and panels may be intelli- 

 gently sought. This information is free to 

 every display advertiser in the Hardwood 

 Record, and is being utilized by the majority 

 of them to their manifest advantage. 



As before noted, these bulletins, including 

 all back numbers, are supplied free to ad- 

 vertisers, and where people desire to paste 

 up their own system, the only additional cost 

 involved is that of the tabbed cards, which 

 cost $3.50 per thousand, and a set of state 

 guide cards, costing 75 cents. However, in 

 a good many instances, advertisers have pre- 

 ferred that this service be pasted up for them 

 in complete form, with the extra tabs re- 

 moved from the index cards, and filed alpha- 

 betically by towns between state guide cards, 

 enclosed in a four-drawer oak cabinet. The 

 service thus prepared is sold to advertisers- 

 at practically cost — the sum of $35. This 

 includes 1,000 extra cards to continue the 

 service as subsequent bulletins are issued. 

 Once a year a correction sheet is sent out to 

 aU concerns listed in this service, and if there 

 are any corrections to be made they are sup- 

 plied and issued in a correction bulletin form. 

 Thus the service is kept up-to-date. There is 

 no question about the accuracy of the in- 

 formation involved, as in every instance it 

 comes direct from the purchasing agent of 

 the various concerns. 



Up to tills time more than 15,000 require- 

 ments are shown on this service, which, in 

 part, list up about as follows: 



Buyers of Ash 025 



Buyers of Basswood 600 



Buyers of Beech 215 



Buyers of Birch 550 



Buyers of Butternut Go 



Buyers of Cherry 200 



Buyers of Chestnut 475 



Buyers of Cottonwood 230 



Buyers of Cypress 425 



Buyers of Elm 350 



Buyers of Gum 375 



Buyers of Hickory ' 300 



Buyers of Mahogany 350 



Buyers of Maple 675 



Buyers of Oak 1,330 



Buyers of W.nlnut 165 



Buyers of Poplar 675 



Buyers of .Sycamore 110 



Buyers of Dogwood 15 



Buyers of Persimmon 12 



Buyers of Locust 10 



Buyers of Holly 15 



Buyers of Dimension Stock 630 



Buyers of Veneers and Panels 550 



With this information at hand the manu- 

 facturer or jobber in hardwoods is able to 

 address an intelligent letter to buyers on 

 the subject of any variety of lumber. They 

 know approximately what the buyer uses and 

 this enables them to gauge their offerings in 

 accordance with the requirements of the pros- 

 pective customer. It is not an economical 

 proposition to write these vast number of 

 buyers individual typewritten letters, but it 

 is logical for the man in charge of the lum- 

 ber sales department to write one letter 

 covering one kind of wood each day and have 

 this letter sent out in duplicate form to every 

 buyer of this particular wood. The most 

 successful sales managers handling out this 

 Hardwood Eecoed mail-order 'sates system 

 follow this plan minutely. On Monday he 

 will write a letter devoted exclusively to ash, 

 describing in detail his offerings in this 

 wood. On Tuesday he will talk to buyers of 

 basswood, oak, birch or poplar. In the course 

 of the month other letters pertaining to these 

 same woods are repeated in different forms, 

 and, of course, the answers induced are re- 

 plied to in inflividual letters. 



This system of soliciting orders of hard- 

 wood lumber by mail in no way interferes. 

 T\ith a sales force on the road, but manufac- 

 turers and jobbers are able to reduce their 

 number x>f salesmen to a marked degree by 



the use of this service and reduce their sales 

 cost to a very low figure. For example: The 

 average expense of having a regular traveling 

 salesman call on a prospective customer aver- 

 ages about $2 per visit. These letters in du- 

 plicate form, can be forwarded to orospective 

 customers, even under 2-cent postage, at a 

 cost not to exceed 5 cents per letter. In 

 other words, it is a forty-to-one proposition 

 in favor of the mail sales system, so far as 

 cost goes. 



It is not contended that even a forceful, 

 tactful and diplomatic letter in each indi- 

 vidual case is as capable of effecting a sale 

 as a competent salesman, but the people who 

 have thoroughly utilized this service have 

 demonstrated that the percentage of letters 

 inducing sales of lumber is very much greater 

 than the forty-to-one cost involved in a per- 

 sonal visit. Again, it would be impossible 

 for the ordinary sized concern to employ 

 salesmen enough to cover the vast number of 

 sales possibilities that is involved in this list 

 of buyers. 



The Hardwood Eecoed would be very glad 

 to supply further suggestions to both users 

 and prospective users of this system in detail 

 and will also be glad to suggest the use of 

 the best form of letter-duplicating apparatus. 



A very important fact has been demon- 

 strated by the Hardwood Record's Infor- 

 mation Bureau which pertains to the distribu- 

 tion territory of hardwoods throughout the 

 United States. Every user of wood in every 

 line has been thoroughly canvassed for this 

 information in all parts of the United States, 

 and it is found that eighty-five per cent of 

 the hardwood sales are made in a compara- 

 tively small area. It is an area where things 

 are made out of wood. It is within the seven 

 states of Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indi- 

 ana, Ohio, New York and Pennsylvania. This 

 would indicate that the New England states. 

 New Jersey, Delaware, .Maryland, the High 

 Point district of North Carolina, the St. 

 Louis district and the small quantity of hard- 

 woods consumed in the chief cities of the 

 Pacific coast and other cities in parts of the 

 country not herein mentioned consume only 

 fifteen per cent of the total of hardwoods 

 employed in the domestic trade. These facts 

 are further emphasized by the circulation 

 books of the Hardwood Record, which show 

 more than sixty per cent of its circulation i? 

 in the seven states first named. 



