Mauch 1, 1917. 



The Florists^ Review 



13 



A BLUE BIBBON WREATH. 



The accompanying illustration of a 

 funeral piece ftnds print not because 

 there is anything unusual in the 

 wreath's design or get-up, but because 

 it depicts a high order of workmanship 

 on the part of the designer. The 

 wreath was made by the Duluth Floral 

 Co., which operates the "Flower Store 

 of Service Combined with Quality," at 

 121 West Superior street, Duluth, Miiui. 



CHARGE SLIPS VALUABLE. 



Their Loss Serious to Florists. 



One of the cleverest little business 



sermons consists of two pictures. One 



picture shows ;i bill hook on which hangs 



a lot of 5-dollar and 10-dollar bills, witli 



tlie wording under it: 



Yon uiiuldii t lake r.iio of joiir niono.v in this 

 way. 



The other picture shows a similar 

 bill liook hung full of charge and 

 V. {). I), bills. Under it is the legend: 



Wliy do joii lifi'p voiir valiiabU? tluirKL' rooonls 



11 ki- tliisV 



The more you think of tliese pictures 

 the more you recognize the truth of the 

 sermon preached. 



Inventive genius has provided modern 

 means for safeguarding a merchant 's 

 coin and currency, even to the point of 

 recording each transaction of each clerk 

 who lias access to the casli register. 



But, until now, the leaks that come 

 from carelessness in handling charge ac- 

 counts have not been adequately pro- 

 vided against. 



A charge slip for $10 against a cus 

 tomer is worth $10, because if the evi- 

 dence of indebtedness is lost, the chances 

 are that the money will be lost. 



Yet florists usually are woefully care- 

 less with their charge business. 



Why is it that, of two florists with ap- 

 parently equal prospects of success and 

 equally equi{)ped with brains and busi- 

 ness experience, one builds up a good 

 bn«!iness and makes money while the 

 other, after struggling along for months 

 or maybe years, fails T 



Experience supplies the answer, that 

 in almost every case where an honest, 

 experienced, industrious florist fails it is 

 because he robs himself of his profits 

 tlirougb lax methods of handling his 

 charge accounts. Indeed, it is almost 

 axiomatic that any merchant, to prosper, 

 must be careful with his credit business. 



Careless Dealers Fail. 



A nierchajit in a western town wlio 

 was reputed wealthy suddenly failed, 

 and when the receivers went through hi.s 

 books they found $8;"j,000 of worthless 

 accounts which the merchant had been 

 carrying as good and collectable. 



These losses liad two principal causes: 

 Credit risks tliat were bad from the 

 s^art, and risks that may have been good 

 originally but were allowed to lie so 

 long that they became uncollectable for 

 various reasons. 



How mucli more that merchant lost by 

 forgetting to charge altogether, nobody 

 will e\er know. 



And no one will ever arrive at even 

 an approximate estimate of what it cost 

 hi:n to keep his charge slips on spindles 

 on an open desk, where they could be 

 tam.pered with or destroyed either by 

 debtor customers or tempted clerks. 



Credit File on Market. 



Tlie subject is broiiglit up by the ap- ■ 



Wreath of Orchids and Valley, by the Duluth Floral Co., Duluth, Minn. 



jiear.'ince on the market of a new device 

 called a credit file, designed to remedy 

 these conditions. It is worthy of con- 

 sideration because it is offered by the 

 manufacturer of the cash register used 

 in abnost every flower store, the general 

 adojition of which by the merchants of 

 AnuM-ica has done more than any other 

 one thing to conserve their money. This 

 new credit file is designed to take the 

 ]>lace of both a day ])(u>k and ledger, and 

 the only "posting" that is done is the 

 writing of the charge sli]., of which the 

 customer gets the carbon coi>y, and the 

 filing of the original copy in this unique 

 device. 



The file is divided into two compart- 

 :tients, an open one in front, and, back 

 of that, a locked comjirirtment with a 

 plate glass top. 



The act of pulling forward the vertical 

 guides in the front compartment does 

 three things: 



It rings a bell. It registers a serial 

 number. It opens the corresponding 

 guidec in the locked file so that the clerk 

 ( an look through the glass top and see 

 th" j.revious charge slip of the customer, 

 which is filed in such a way that the 

 name and the total amount of indebted- 

 ness are fxposed. 



The clerk files the original sales slip 



View in the Conservatory of John Mangel's Palmer House Store, Chicago. 



