SAUCEPANS AND CHARITY

Waikato Times, Volume 105, Issue 17654, 7 March 1929, Page 6

SAUCEPANS AND CHARITY

A French firm which makes aluminium saucepans has achieved a degree of smartness in ils methods of salesmanship which shows that in tills aspect of commerce, at least, il has nothing to learn from a "nation of shopkeepers.” According to the Hardware Trade Journal Iho firm is circularising British housewives with an offer of five saucepans for 255, of which 4s, it is slated, will he given to (he Mansion House Miners’ Relief Fund. Lest the housewife should suspect that this 4s was coming out of her pocket, and not the firm's, siie is assured that Ihc price of the saucepans has not been increased and that the sacrifice is entirely at the expense of the Arm’s profits. One is not surprised to learn that it is “almost the whole of our profits.” Lest this statement should he thought to imply an immodest consciousness of virtue Hie Ann hastens to add, "But we. must remember that we arc lucky enough not to be out of work ourselves and ought to he grateful to our good and faithful British customers.” And it is the English who are sometimes accused of being a nation of hypocrites! It is part of good salesmanship, no doubt, to piay upon the weaknesses of possible customers. A good salesman may well he, among other things, a hit of a humbug. But one had hardly conceived the possibility that the natural desire to extend one’s business could he concealed behind a parade of sympathy for the out-of-work miners of another nation. The real astuteness of the offer seems to lie in the French firm's perception that ils sales would increase more largely if the 4s went to the Miners' Relief Fund than if it went in a reduction of prices. That argues a degree of psychological insight deserving cf a better cause.