COUPON SYSTEM

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 54, 27 November 1930, Page 10

COUPON SYSTEM

Unethical Trading STRONG PROTESTS Interference Resented Condemnation of the coupon or prizegiving system as illicit trading which should ba stopped at the earliest possible moment, was expressed by Wellington business men who were interviewed yesterday. “We have been fighting this iniquity for some time past,” said Mr. H. S. Hislop, manager of the Wellington branch of Stewart, Dawson, and Co., who is president of the New Zealand Jewellers’ Association. “Reputable firms give their customers discounts in the value of their goods. No one would object to any firm giving discounts or prizes out of their owu stocks, but it is time to protest when firms interfere with trade by giving away goods by the sale of which other traders make their living. “Take the prizes which are at present being given by certain tobacco firms, for instance. I know for a fact that a certain tobacco firm recently imported 2000 watches into Wellington. How would the tobacco people like it if the jewellers were to give away thousands of packets of cigarettes each year as discount to their customers? The whole system of prize-giving Is unethical, as the public has to pay dearly for these so-called gifts.” Redemption of Coupons. “Why should a third party be allowed to come along and Interfere between trader and customer?” asked Mr. Al. Al. Heinemann, chairman of the Retailers’ Committee of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce. “The company which issues the coupons receives spot cash, for them, and does not take any risk. It is safe to say that 25 per cent, of the coupons will never he redeemed. One bait held out by a coupon company is the offer of the free gift of a motor-car to the person redeeming the largest number of coupons during December, 1931. Many things can happen before the end of next year.” “It is a pity that each town has not a tradesmen’s association such as exists in Hastings. When a coupon company’s agents arrived in the Hawke’s Bay town, a meeting of the Tradesmen’s Association was immediately summoned, at which it was unanimously decided to have nothing whatever to do with the system. The result has been that not one solitary coupon has circulated in Hastings. It is a pity that some sueh association docs not exist in Wellington to which small shopkeepers could apply for advice in matters of this kind.” "Illicit Trading.” "When the coupon system was introduced, I at once saw that it was illicit trading,” said Mr. J. Myers, one of the principals of J. Myers and Co.,’’ and I drew the attention of the council of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce to this menace to legitimate trading. I took the trouble to find out who constituted one firm and discovered that the company consisted of two persons, and the entire capital of the company was £2500. The whole system is wrong, and would not be tolerated if the public only knew what it was really costing them.” Hard on Small Shopkeepers. "The coupon system is particularly hard on small shopkeepers in the suburbs,” remarked a director of another wholesale and retail firm in the city. "To give a case in point: The agent of a coupon company recently approached a butcher in a Wellington suburb, but this butcher told him he could not afford to make his customers a present of 24 per cent., as he was now giving them full discounts in quality and prices. The coupon agent simply went across the street, and sold coupons to the butcher's competitor. The result was that the first butcher’s business was ruined. It will thus be seen that small shopkeepers are forced to buy the coupons in self-defence.”