Successful Cooperation 



Patrons of Wabash Valle]^ Service Company 

 Make Bill-Paying an Annual Event 



>^N this jittery age of get-itnow- 



Mf and-pay-for-it-later philosophies, 

 K^ a company that makes its cus- 

 tomers pay their accounts once a year 

 is looked upon as a kind of Simon 

 Legree. But when the folks who pay 

 also own the company and benefit from 

 prompt settlement, they make a game 

 of it. 



That's the way it is with the Wabash 

 Valley Service Company which is 

 owned by and serves 1,800 farmers in 

 Edwards, Gallatin, Hamilton, Saline, 

 Wabash, Wayne and White counties. 

 For the last six years these folks have 

 closed their books with accounts re- 

 ceivable at zero. 



November 30 is "pay day" for 

 Wabash patrons. So proud are they of 

 their "clean slate" record that they 

 take steps to see that their accounts as 

 well as those of their neighbors are 

 paid before the deadline. Cleaning 

 the slate once a year may not be in 

 line with present practice, but patrons 

 of Wabash Valley consider it a habit 

 of old-fashioned honesty that pays. 



The clean slate policy was formed 

 after the first few months of experi- 

 ence. The company was established 

 May 12, 1930. By November 30, it 

 had sold nearly $24,000 of Magic 

 Aladdin gasoline. Radiant kerosene, 

 Penn Bond and Blue Seal oils and 

 lubricants, and other farm supplies. 

 But when the Illinois Agricultural 

 Auditing Association auditors reviewed 

 the books, a disheartening number of 

 accounts receivable were revealed. 



Following the first annual meeting 



in 1931, Wabash directors voted to cut 

 down the number and size of accounts 

 by adopting the Illinois Farm Supply 

 Company recommended credit policy. 

 They asked Manager James D. Bunting 

 to outline the new credit policy for 

 the salesmen. The new debt reduc- 

 tion program appealed to the sales- 

 men because they had learned when 

 a patron owes more than he can readily 

 pay he becomes a knocker and knockers 

 are always changing brands. 



Philosophical W. G. "Bill" Perkins 

 was the only truck salesman to turn 

 in a clean slate that year, although most 

 of his colleagues came close. Right 

 from the beginning of the drive. Bill 

 worked with the philosophy that a 

 short understanding makes long 

 friends. He told his customers that 

 they would be expected to settle their 

 accounts in full before November 30. 

 He helped them meet the deadline by 

 requesting regular payments of bills. 

 Surprisingly few customers objected. 



Next year, Eugene Atteberry, truck 

 salesman serving patrons in north cen- 

 tral White county, was among those 

 who made a clean slate. Gene ob- 

 served early that his best customers 

 practiced diversified farming. They 

 have a steadier income than the one- 

 crop boys and they whittle their ac- 

 counts pretty thin from month to 

 month. When November rolls around 

 they don't owe much and they always 

 have money to pay it. 



L. D. Seigert, truck salesman for 

 eastern Edwards county, has served his 

 customers 10 years. In that time he 



HEADQUARTERS 



Additions were made 

 to the oUice building, 

 below, as business 

 grew. The first office 

 was 10 by 12 feet. The 

 office force, left to right, 

 are. Alberta Mitchell, 

 Clifford Maxwell, 

 Claude Collins, Emily 

 Cisne, Kenneth Skiles, 

 office manager, and 

 Eannit Allen. 



SECRETARY IHVIN SEILER 

 . You expect to pay cash. . 



Says 



We 



has lost but $39 in bad accounts, 

 he: 



"My customers help me collect, 

 have 30-day terms and all the folks 

 know it. They know, too, that I like 

 to keep my books clean. Some of my 

 accounts run 30 days but nearly all are 

 settled before they are 45 days old." 



Scott Clark, salesman in Eastern 

 Wabash county, says he makes collec- 

 tion a habit. He reminds his patrons 

 of their accounts just before they are 

 30 days old. That gives them a chance 

 to keep off the overdue list. 



"Paying your bill is just like getting 

 up in the morning," Scotty says. "If 

 you are used to getting up at seven, 

 that's when it will be easiest for you 

 to get up. But if you form the habit 

 of getting up at five, that becomes just 

 as easy as getting up at seven." 



George Wirth, vice-president and 

 one of the founders of the cooperative, 

 says, "The company's credit policy is 

 sound. We didn't know when we 

 started how it would work out, but 

 we did know that our salesmen had 

 better be looking for new business 

 rather than spending time unloading 

 goods to someone who won't pay for 

 them." 



Secretary Irwin Seller reasons this 

 way: 



"You expect to pay cash when you 

 go into a chain store and the chains 

 have plenty of customers. When folks 

 learn you are doing a cash business 

 they'll buy just the same. I don't 

 believe credit helps a man much in 

 the long run anyway." 



Tall, genial Charlie Lamp, field su- 

 pervisor, gets serious when he talks 

 about credit. Says he: 



"The best way to make a good pay- 

 ing customer out of a bad one is to 

 make him pay his bill. Sometimes a 

 fellow finds it hard to get the money 

 but the harder it is, the bigger the 



I. A. A. RECORD 



