THE BAKER'S TRIALS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 149, 18 March 1908, Page 6

THE BAKER'S TRIALS.

PROPOSED GASH REMEDY. , , THE COUPON SYSTEM. ' Not once, but many times, bitten by bad debts,' the bak«r threatens to be permanentlj shy. ; The customer who will not pay aftei he has consumed his loaf, may soon be called upon to pay bofore ho gets it. ■ It is expectcc that" the ' Wellington Master Bakers' Union, at a'meeting to be held to-morrow night, will decide . to • institute the coupon system of purchase of- broad/ which is virtually a syst«n of payment in advance. >. !v; This baker's margin of' profit, it is said, is naturally Very smell) and it is.made still smaller,.by the'customer who shifts his, tent I'ko the Arabs, before he has ; paid his bill. This and ether 'causes induced the annual ef tho; New. .Zealand Master Baiters' 1 Association;';, at:.its-last; meeting,, to recommend every,: affiliated master bakers' Union to adopt the coupon system', and sell for cash only; -The system is very simple. When tho baker's man calls, the housewife, instead of saying " One,, please," and giving nothing, purchases from one.to a hundred coupons, each answering to a loaf of bread, •and gives back as many coupons as sho wants loaves..; _ The next day; and thei next she also gives ; coupons for . loaves, until slio wants more ' coupons, when " she ; huya them. No'coupon, no. loaf,'" is the simple principle; and housewives' who expect to be away from homo,;on any day are asked to pin tho necessary coupons to' ; tho ■ bread kit, • 01 leave: them elsewhere, whero, the carter can .collect. . .The carter -is';, responsible _ tothf baker for the coupons issued to him, and thus thesystem provides.an all-round check. ISo ono is compelled to buy more than one or two coupons St a time, so that, the pon* SU m 6r oes n °t suffer any hardship. ; , -■ :The system has_ been ■ ' in,.operation.- forabout throe weeks in Palmorston North, and for about _ a month in ; Gisborne. In . both places it is said to bo working admirably. i At. Palmqrstwn tho butchers have .< expressed ' their intention of adopting tho same system, ..if, after one.'month's ;trial, f it is still 1 considered satisfactory by tho bakers.' \ . AN INTERVIEW. ;Mr. Kellow, president, of the New.'Zealand and Wellington Master Bakers' Association, informed a' Dominion, reporter, yesterday that a better system of getting in inoney for breadsupplied had' been, 1 in contemplation for soma time,', and they were to decide at a, meeting, to bo held to-morrow, whether they would not adop£ the 'coupon system. If adopted, 'tliia meant that'customers l would-have to buy siz or a dozen coupons at. the. shop or from tha delivery man just'the same as tram tickets are bought,' a-coupon to be 'given up '. each time ajoaf. is; purchased.- Speaking of the need for some such- s/stem, Mr. Kellow said that tho' public had no conception of tha manner iuwhich the, master,bakers were-vic-timised; it , would, open eyes to see liia books,. and noto' how many accounts had to be closed, and the'_ amount struck: off simply because it was' an impossibility, to\collect tha money.. He had,been working hard in Wellington for . a quarter , of. acentury .af; ,tha bread .business, and one would' think'that a man would- make a! competence, in that time, but' he . had • been unable to do it, and ba«a debts' constituted one of : the'reasons why lr'' hadn't." ; . v -