THE SILENT SHOP.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 130, 19 October 1912, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE SILENT SHOP.

MILLIONS MADE FROM TRADING BY POST. Chicago, August I£. . Mr. Julius Rosenwald, head of the great shopping-by-post firm of Seares, Roebuck and Co., has just celebrated his fiftieth anniversary by giving £137,500 to educational and philanthropic projects. He gives £50,000 to the University of Chicago, £50,000 to the Associated Jewish charities, and £IO,OOO to found a country club for philanthropic workers.

The business of which Mr. Rosenwald is the head is one of the most remarkable in the world. It has millions of customers, very few of whom who have ever seen the shop or one of its employees. They always pay for their goods before they see them, and if they are not satisfied, then can always have their money back. The firm's turnover is about £14,000,000 a year, and it employs 9000 persons, of whom about half are women. About 1500 of them are shorthand clerks.

All the flr.m's business is done by post, and it lias customers in every town and hamlet in the United States. Six and a-half million catalogues are sent out every year. Each of them weighs 41bs, and contains about 100,000 illustrations. They contain prices of everything imaginable, from a packet of carpet tacks to a wedding dress or a grand piano. The average daily post received by the firm consists of 60,000 letters. Half of them contain orders averaging about 30s each. The orders are classified, shot through pneumatic tubes to the right department, and the goods are despatched the same day. The annual bill for postage is £300,000.