Land Agents Against Saturday Advertising

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31092, 22 June 1966, Page 12

Land Agents Against Saturday Advertising

Christchurch members of the Real Estate Institute are considering stopping their advertising in the Saturday issues of the two city newspapers.

“No definite decision has been made, but the proposal to cut out Saturday house property sales and 'to let’ advertising has been discussed, and a statement will be made in due course,” said the institute’s president (Mr L. T. Cole) yesterday. He said Saturday advertising encouraged too many week-end inquiries. “I have had people ring up at lunch-time on a Sunday, wanting to be taken to see houses. The telephone starts ringing as soon as the paper

is out on Saturday and goes on all week-end. I could get up to a dozen rings any weekend.

“It’s wicked the way the after-hours telephone rings keep you busy. I feel it’s a bit on the nose. I tike to drop everything on a Friday evening, like most other people.

“You don’t mind completing a deal on a Saturday if it has been cooking during the week—but most of the people we get at week-ends we never hear from again. We provide a free sight-seeing service. “There is a feeling among institute members that if we cut out the Saturday advertising, it would tend to keep people off the telephone to us at week-ends, and divert their inquiries to normal business hours," Mr Cole said. It is believed that the Saturday advertising ban proposal arose after an institute members’ discussion at which complaints were heard about the week-end activities of some property salesmen.