THE C.O.D. SYSTEM.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIX, Issue 112, 11 April 1929, Page 6

THE C.O.D. SYSTEM.

The abolition of the cash-on-de-livery system entails no real hardship on people who have been in the habit ot ordering things from Home traders and others to be paid for through the Post Office when the goods are delivered, for they can still continue to send them orders through the post tor the purchase of any things they choose to order, instead, however, of paying for them on delivery they must send the cash with the order. Apparently, in some quarters, the cash-on-deliv-ery system appears to be regarded as. one of the hall marks of Liberalism, for we notice in some of cur contemporaries that Sir Joseph Ward has been taken to task by correspondents, who bewail this declension from the spirit of Liberalism and wonder what the Prime Minister will be up to next. Actually, the abolition of the cash-on-delivery system, so far as Hew Zealand is concerned —it i£ a system that has received the sanction of the International Postal Convention —indicates a return to sound business principles that should never have been departed from. Why should a great public utility, sueli-as ,the Post Utti.ce, be utilised for the collection of debts, for such the cash-on-deliv-ery system really amounts to Y Why, again, should Home or foreign traders be given preference over local traders .1' It is surely unfair, alike in principle and practice, for the ritate to offer special facilities to traders abroad to sell to people in this Dominion goods that are procurable in their own towns or cities, and such facilities were, of course, given under the operation of the cash-on-delivery system, the abolition of which in no way interferes with the right of the individual to send moneys abroad for the purchase of goods. The Post Office would, of course, receive a certain amount of revenue in the shape of commissions on collecting the cash for the goods, and may be at a loss to that extent, but, on the other hand, the commissions it would have received on the sale of Post Office orders or British postal notes, if cash had been sent with the orders, would probably have gone far to compensate for the loss of such revenue, and will, to a certain extent, do so in the future if people continue to order goods from abroad, instead of procuring them locally. Anyhow, it seems to us the Post Office is well rid of the business.