Spring issue DGJ

[Bill Zachow]

My 1916 DH, sold to a dealer in Watertown, NY, was priced at $90.75 less "special" discounts of 10-10-5. This should have come to a net of $69.83. Price paid was $68.44. Go figure.

[Bill Murphy]

Dealer discounts such as the stepped discounts mentioned by Mr. Zachow, were, in my opinion, the downfall of Parker Brothers. Dealers who had no blood in the production of Parker guns made much more profit on individual guns than did Parker Brothers. Some of the stepped discounts were brutal, like 25-10-10-5. This would mean that a $100 DH grade gun would sell to that dealer for $57.72 or $50.00, depending on how the discount was calculated. The dealer, in turn, could sell the gun for $100, meaning up to a 100% profit at the retail level. Conversely, Parker Brothers would be left with little or no profit after actually manufacturing the DH grade gun. In addition, at certain times in their history, Parker Brothers gave or lent many guns to their faithful competitors as well as allowing their paid salesmen like Captain Dubray to donate guns for prizes at competitive events. On a similar subject, when a certain type or configuration became dated, quantities of these guns were closed out to volume dealers at prices as low as $19.00. Chuck has probably seen order book entries for guns priced even lower.

[TOOL MAN]

Bill Z.---I'm guessing that discrepancy was an additional 2% allowance granted for early payment on an invoice. I'm sure someone here can verify but I wouldn't be at all surprised if Parker Bros. extended 2% 10, net 30 or 2% 30, net 31 payment terms to their larger distributors. And any wholesaler who failed to take advantage of that so called "anticipation" discount would more than likely be reading 'Chapter 7' very quickly. Brutal business.