AN ENTIRE STOCK OF BARGAINS 153 
already seen,! under the Model Stock Plan of operation we 
shall be buying a good deal of merchandise in the manufac- 
turers’ dull seasons. Dull-season orders are especially 
desirable to an intelligent manufacturer. So we may stimu- 
late prompt deliveries by letting our resources know that, 
all else being equal, we give our dull-season orders to those 
manufacturers who deliver most promptly in the rush season. 
Getting the right quality and the right price depends 
largely on our early knowledge of what our average customers 
will want to pay. The Model Stock Plan is our guide and 
helpful protector against paying prices beyond the reach of 
our customers. All through the buying process we must 
remember the good old common-sense rule that goods are 
worth only what they will bring. It is always possible that 
a given line of goods may, for some special reason, become so 
high priced that they climb beyond the price that the cus- 
tomer is willing to pay. For instance, at one time during the 
World War fur skins advanced so much in price that they 
were beyond the buying power of the masses of customers. 
Under these conditions, no great quantities could be sold 
profitably, even though our buyers might succeed in buying 
fur coats for 1o per cent less than the prevailing manufac- 
turers’ market price. 
To a considerable extent we must rely on our Model Stock 
tecords to help us know what customers want and whether 
we already have it. But we must not rely too completely on 
records for our information along these lines. Admittedly, 
a complete set of statistics tells a buyer each material he has 
in stock and how the items of any one material are distributed 
as to sizes and colors. Still, he is not performing his whole 
duty if he goes into the market solely with the information 
supplied by the stock records. He should know the actual 
merchandise itself and regard the records merely as a device 
to save him the time and trouble of counting it. 
We know, of course, that experienced buyers know all of 
the facts we are explaining here. But they are worthwhile, 
even though familiar to the reader, if they serve to bring out 
i Chapter X, p. 144.