CHAPTER X 
THE MORE-PROFIT TIME TO BUY—THE BUYING 
CALENDAR 
The sound approach to good values. The buying calendar and the 
seven seasonal dates. First showing is guesswork; checking up the facts. 
Showing full sample lines an important time for buyers. Busiest season 
means competition by buyers; buy when the fewest other people want 
what we want. The best styles come at between-season showing; the 
consequent importance of being then open to buy. The job season pro- 
vides bargain lots; dull-season orders as rewards for prompt deliveries 
earlier. End of producer’s season an opportunity for exceptional values. 
In the long run, the right goods at the right prices are not 
obtained by tricks, by continual efforts to beat down the 
producer from his fair price, or by superficial smartness. 
Wise buyers get the right goods at the right prices by knowing 
the wants of their customers, the facilities of their resources, 
market conditions and tendencies, the movement of prices in 
the past, the forces that will probably affect prices in the 
immediate future, and by using all these forces to place their 
orders so that they may help the producer to conquer waste 
and save needless expense. 
It is in this respect that the buying calendar has its chief 
usefulness. The buying calendar is directly concerned with 
the manufacturer’s principal seasonal dates. It varies, of 
course, with every line of goods. But when the buying 
calendar is made up for a line, a buyer who studies it thought- 
fully will find it of great assistance in obtaining right prices 
from manufacturers and wholesalers; there is a best time ito 
buy. This, in turn, makes it possible to offer right prices to 
his customers. 
Producers, of course, have their seasons, just as the 
merchant has his. Sometimes demand is heavy with them 
pe SP pp FE 
1 The buying calendar was briefly mentioned in Chap. IX, p. 121, in con- 
nection with the selling calendar.