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Foreign News
September 29, 1902
Freeland Tribune
Freeland, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania
What is this article about?
London tradesman reports heavy losses from 'tasting' customers, mainly women and children, who pilfer fruits and goods exceeding purchase values, costing thousands yearly and prompting debates on prevention.
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OCR Quality
95%
Excellent
Full Text
What Tasters Cost Tradesmen.
As a manager of a huge supply establishment of the "stores" order, let me say that unless you were in the business you would find it impossible to realize what an aggregate amount customers of the "tasting" kind—I do not now so much refer to legitimate tasters, who sample butter and cheese—cost a concern like this, and much of this tasting is nothing but barefaced pilfering, says a London tradesman to London Tit-Bits.
Not to speak of the articles these people take—the offenders are generally women, I am sorry to say—the articles such as raisins, nuts, biscuits, a grape or two here, and a strawberry there, hundreds and hundreds of them will half-covertly help themselves to a peach, an apricot, or a blood orange, and when they have several children with them, all scattered about a shop and doing the same thing, the matter becomes serious. It happens in scores of cases that the articles taken in this way exceed the value of those bought by fourfold. If a word is spoken to these people, their indignation, mock or real, is a sight; nothing can exceed their effrontery.
It has become a serious question—one that is going to be debated with others ere long by West End tradesmen—for it is calculated that we lose a total of many, many thousands a year by these tasters. We regard women who deliberately allow their children to take expensive fruits in this way, and then refuse to pay, as almost creating a tendency to shop-lifting.
As a manager of a huge supply establishment of the "stores" order, let me say that unless you were in the business you would find it impossible to realize what an aggregate amount customers of the "tasting" kind—I do not now so much refer to legitimate tasters, who sample butter and cheese—cost a concern like this, and much of this tasting is nothing but barefaced pilfering, says a London tradesman to London Tit-Bits.
Not to speak of the articles these people take—the offenders are generally women, I am sorry to say—the articles such as raisins, nuts, biscuits, a grape or two here, and a strawberry there, hundreds and hundreds of them will half-covertly help themselves to a peach, an apricot, or a blood orange, and when they have several children with them, all scattered about a shop and doing the same thing, the matter becomes serious. It happens in scores of cases that the articles taken in this way exceed the value of those bought by fourfold. If a word is spoken to these people, their indignation, mock or real, is a sight; nothing can exceed their effrontery.
It has become a serious question—one that is going to be debated with others ere long by West End tradesmen—for it is calculated that we lose a total of many, many thousands a year by these tasters. We regard women who deliberately allow their children to take expensive fruits in this way, and then refuse to pay, as almost creating a tendency to shop-lifting.
What sub-type of article is it?
Economic
What keywords are associated?
London Tradesmen
Tasters Cost
Shop Pilfering
Women Children Theft
West End Stores
Where did it happen?
London
Foreign News Details
Primary Location
London
Outcome
loss of many thousands a year by west end tradesmen due to tasting and pilfering
Event Details
A London tradesman describes the significant financial losses incurred by stores from customers, mostly women and children, who taste and steal items like fruits, nuts, and biscuits, often exceeding the value of purchases. This issue is serious enough to be debated among tradesmen, with some viewing it as leading to shop-lifting.