The Consumer Viewpoint | Page 4

the dealer's demand for selling points, put part of your effort into learning the demands of the user of the machine. Consumer suggestion or demands are apt to come only after a period of use. Obvious ones are sometimes reported by the dealer, but very often they never come to the manufacturer through the reports of the trade in time to be of service. It took a period of years for the dealer to realize the importance of enclosed moving parts. It finally came to him through the reaction developed by women using the machines. In the same way the manufacture and marketing of both gas and electric ranges, which has been uniformly efficient, has overlooked one very important detail. The broiler grids are often so placed that the steak is an inch and a half away from the flame instead of one-half inch. With such a broiler, perfect broiling is impossible. Again a kitchen cabinet may be made of high grade materials but the hardware proves too light to stand the constant closing and opening. Such a kitchen cabinet is handicapped in any neighborhood because constant use makes the minor annoyance a cumulative one, which reacts directly upon the manufacturer's product.
The vacuum cleaner that is easily sold on the dealer's floor because it looks big and imposing oftentimes discloses its poor efficiency only after from four to six months of use. This is due to the fact that from time immemorial women have ordained a period devoted to housecleaning twice a year. And it is at this crucial time that they discover if the routine care of rugs and carpets by their vacuum cleaner has accomplished a work satisfactory to them. This conclusion is well borne out by a conversation we had with a large dealer in vacuum cleaners from the west coast. He freely told us of handling two vacuum cleaners, one a comparatively inexpensive and absolutely inefficient machine (as we had proved by test), the other a more expensive and a thoroughly efficient machine. He claimed that the first proved only a feeder for the second, since when the woman, after a longer or shorter period of use, realized that the first machine would not do the work, she returned to buy the more expensive and better machine. And the average time was six months! Now this dealer could have selected a machine no higher in price than his less expensive model which would have done good work and thoroughly satisfied the user. We leave you to draw your own conclusions as to the fate of the manufacturer's product in the first place, and the dealer's selling methods in the second place.
In selecting a Washing Machine, the woman looks for:
1. Compact, trim appearance with all machine parts covered.
2. Plain outlines.
3. Swinging wringer with safety release.
4. Pump attached to machine to rapidly drain off water when drain connection is not practical.
5. Metal tub exterior painted (easy to keep clean).
6. A waterproof finish on a wood tub.
7. Switch control of motor, clutch control of tub and wringer.
8. Height that will obviate stooping.
9. Design to insure efficiency.
10. Motor and switch insulation.
11. Materials and workmanship that insure durability.
12. A water outlet that allows rapid running off of water.
13. Threaded outlet to allow for connection. 14. All handles and levers to be easy to grasp and to turn by wet hands.
15. Tub body slightly off the level to allow for draining.
It is easy to sell a refrigerator that has a sightly appearance, that is equipped with a sanitary seamless lining and that is marked with a price that spells to the woman good workmanship. But it is only actual use in storing food that develops the fact that the insulation is of sufficient quantity and is assembled with high grade construction, or that cheap material and workmanship have been substituted. The service that can be obtained from the appliance after it is marketed is of the utmost importance for the manufacturer to learn. It is peculiarly impossible to sell and "forget" any product sold to women.

THE WOMAN'S VIEWPOINT ON MATERIALS USED IN CONSTRUCTION.
Undoubtedly a phase of manufacturing that acutely interests the average manufacturer deals with the selection of the materials that are to be used in the construction of his product. Too often the person who selects these materials fails to take into account the fact that women are almost fanatically intolerant of two things, rust and discoloration. It may be but one bolt that can rust, but women under our observation have utterly condemned a washing machine for which they paid from $125 to $165 because of this one bolt alone. We have heard them further condemn a machine because of the difficulty of keeping it polished.
It is not purpose, we are convinced, but it must be carelessness on the part