Improving Conditions in the Retail Lumber Business--a Few Stray Thoughts by An Outsider

By B. J. Wiliams' Director of Sales, The Paraffine Companies, Inc.

Years of association and personal contact with dealers in building materials and with lumbermen in particular convinces ire that individu'ally they rank as high as the men engaged in any other line of business. On the whole they are good citizens, good fathers, good neighbors :rnd good business men. And in providing materials of which our homes, our schools, our churches, our commercial edifices and our industrial plans are constructed they render a real service to society and contribute markedly to the sum of human happiness.

Under the highly competitive and complicated conditiohs involved in modern merchandising every line of business has its own probtems ancl difficrrlties and the builclirrg material and lumber business is no exception in this regard.

As an outsider looking in, I am fully persuaded however that despite the general high ch,aracter and ability oJ thq men englged in if and despite their honesty and sincerity of purpose-, the business as a whole is hot on a plane in keepins-with its importance in our commercial life, nor does it -compare favorably with many other lines, where- the character of the personnel is no higher, if as high, obviously it is beyond my humble abilities or those, of any other ordinary inaiviauit to offer a solutioh of the many and vexatious problems with which the retail lumberman has to contend. Nor is there any panacea.

It occurs to me howevir that it can do no harm even if it does no particular good, to look at ones own business for a moment br two through the eyes bf another. In making note of my impressions with any suggestions that may be ofiere{ 'piease-be assured that it is done sympathetically, with no desire to be critical, but with a sincere desire to be helpful. Also in doing this I trust I shall escape the usual fate of he who mixes into ahother's family affairs.

As I see it, the fundamental weakness of the retail lumber business lies in the fact that the corner ston*the entire foundation of its merchandising structure is Price. No more uncertain or insecure foundation was ever placed under a business or a building and when to this is added the difficulty of determining grades and qualities- and especially by the liyman, a condition is developed that is ideal for one given to "tricky trading'."

- The growing, and as I believe, sound Practice.lj Srade markin! lumber helps much in this regard but will not of itself crire the evil, more, much more than this is necessary. First of all, the emphasis must be taken off price- The people who use lumber must be educated to the fact that a iatisfactory transaction in lumber involves more, vastly more than the price paid,-that it includes, not only the quality of the miterial, but its suitability for the purpose for *tti"tt it is to be used. the time and conditions of delivery, a real human interest on the part of the dealer-in other words, genuine friendliness-which .expresses itself in a sincere iesire to be helpful, through expert counsel and in other ways.

There are so many things of interest to the buyer which might be featured, that price in large measure would be losl sight of or at least be made to assume a position of secondary importance.

If a rigid, 6pen and above board, one price system can- not be adopted and adhered to under present conditions, there is nothing to prevent individual concerns, local groups and associations of lumbermen from eliminating the price appeal in their advertising, publicity and sales arguments, sulstituting therefor the many and various other important features in which the consumer should and could be interested.

A definite plan carefully worked out along this line and consistently followed up would I am sure yield splendid and satisfactory results. But this idea cannot be put over in a day. The old "price" system has been in vogue so long that time and patience, plus an intelligent campaign of education will be necessary to supplant it.

Lumbermen should quit telling the public to "get prices elsewhere, then come to us" qtressing instead, the idea that if they come to them first there will be no necessity to go elsewhere.

I am'not slrong on so-called psychglogy-in selling,- but ordihary common sense tells me that if I talk price and advertise price and my saleimen talk price and my competitor talks price ahd my truckmen talk price, then price becomes the dominant, if not the only factor considered by the customer.

But if price is to become incidental or secondary, then prices must not only be fair and reasonable, but the entire iystem of pricing must be simple and understandable to the ordinary buyer and must be open to him,

In other words prices should be set down in plain figures as to each item, with quantity or other discounts, (if any) shown and they should be arranged so that any customer of ordihary intelligence will know what they mean. In addition to qubting pr-ices per thousand feet, unit prices should be shown on staple and standard items and the buy-' er should not only have the privilege of looking over the list of prices but should be encouraged to do so' Time was when the lumber business was located in "alleys" and "down by the tracks." It is now out in the open, conven'iently situate.d in handsome quarters on or.lr best and most prominent streets. But in all too many cases lumbermen -till "go up the alley" to figure prices.

ThJ mvitery should be taken out of the lumber business by abanioniiig the crude, cumbersome and antiquated methods so long in use.

In almost any oqher line a man with -no kn-owledge of the merchandisd may purchase with a feeling of assurance, the goods will be plainly marked as to price and the qualitv will be easily determined. Can the ordinary citizen not fimiliar with himber go to the average lumber dealer and puichase intelligentlyind withconfidence? Does he know lhat the price quoted him is the same as -given the man before him or the one that cornes after him ?

A woman going into a store to purchase furnishings, for a room or foi a hbuse is not given a "lump sum", but each piece is plainly marked and the total cost is the sum of the various items. Moreover the ordinary shopper may go into any reputable store anywhere and buy, socks, shirts or shoes--hats, handkerchiefs or hairpins-rugs' rocki n g chairs or rice----candy, carpets or candles with complete confidence that prices and values are right and the same as give-n others. As I see it tl.rere cah be no argument as regards the n-ecessity for improving conditionJ in the retail lumber business, nor can there b-i any question as to the importance of price and the other factbrs mentioned in bringin! about this much to be desired condition, but the situation must be faced intelligently and courageously.

Some individual lumbermen of my acquaintance recog- nize the soundness and value of a one price system and have met with reasonable success operiting along such lines, wlrile others simply make a stib at if and when a competitor is reported to have cut a price then all bets are off-the fear of losing an order punctures their courage and breaks down their witl and they meet the reported iut, or better,-forgetting that there are worse things than losing an order or even an account and that reported "cuts" are not always actual cuts, but many. times are the tricky and dishonest methods of conscienceless buyers.

To permanently improve conditions in the lumber business we must develop the will, the courage and the conscience'of the men engaged in it. There mtist be more confidence.in the word 6f-an tronest competitor than in the statement of a tripky customer, there must be a broader foundation of common honesty throughout the entire industry and Principle must be set above Profit.

-!ve-ry ma_n in every organization should be impressed rvith the policy of his company and the why of it and there should be courage on the part of the management to criticise and condemn a transaction not abscilutely straight and gle?n, no matter how large or how small or how muth pro- fit it may mean to the company.

One- little thought in closing: To build up an organiza- tion that will work with you to raise the itandards ahd place your business on a sounder, better and more profitable basis, plain everyday honesty must permeate the -entire in- stitution. It is just as important that we be fair and honest with our competitors as with our customers, with our salesm€n as with our stockholders, with the men from whom we buy as the men to whom we sell. Commercial honesty cannot be.operated on a fifty-fifty basis.

If we encourage or permit our employees to lie or mis-, represent fo,r us v/e may mark it down as a sure thing that they will lie and misrepresent to us when it seems to serve their purpose to do so. I think it was Josh Billings who said "Train up a child in the way he sfiould go, b-ut first go that way two or three times yourself".

If we are not honest in our buying we will have difficulty in being honest in our selling and -especially wiil we hat'e difficulty in securing and maintaining the respect and loy- alty of the men associated with us.

Honesty and fair play is not a theory or a form of expression_, but is a principle that should be carried all through our business and should be the yard stick applied to every business transaction.

I have known and khow some lnen of high personal character and high business standing'who woild not do a dishonest or an uhfair thing with a customer or an employee yet who do not hesitate to take advantage of a questionable offer made by a salesman.

I guess I am old fashioned but I cannot differentiate between the mag who pulls a crooked deal and the one who profits by it kqowingly. The law places on a parity the man who steals and the man who knowingly accepts stolen goods and society approves its dictum.

To stabilize the lumber business or any business there must be. straight thinking ahd intelligent planning, but this will avail nothing unless backed by common honesty and consistent courage, with principle set above profit.