Radio today (Sept 1935-Dec 1936)

RACKETS THAT ARE HURTING RADIO Dummy tubes, gyp merchandise/ and shady practises compete for purchases of unwary public * UNDER the cover of prosperity, rackets spring up. Radio is no exception. While the radio trade as a whole has been busy meeting the recent 1935 sales rush, outsiders, muscling in, have looked upon unsophisticated radio buyers as fair prey. Taking advantage of trade situations and changes in the radio art, these resourceful gyps have developed new ingenuities to fleece the public. Against radio's racketeers the public and the radio trade must be warned. More and more, legitimate radio dealers are being faced with this competition in one form or another. The innocent layman naturally wonders why he is asked to pay the legitimate scale of prices at his neighborhood store, when "six-tube superheterodynes" are being advertised on gyp row "complete at $4.85." Stamp out evils So the editors of Radio Today feel they are rendering a needed service to all of radio by outlining some of the rackets now prevalent in certain quarters. Spreading an understanding of these gyp practices is the surest way to meet such competition and to stamp it out! Rackets now current in radio cover a wide range of merchandising misdemeanors. They involve swindles in radio products and servicing. Receivers and tubes are subjects of grossly misleading claims; trade names are counterfeited. Sharp tricks are practiced on store customers. And all of these react on the whole radio industry. For example, "seven-tube" radio sets are advertised at bargain prices. But on examination it is found that one or two of the tubes in these sets are not even connected, and have no part in the set's operation. Counterfeit tubes One receiver found on the cutprice market this year, employs as a selling feature, one metal tube (apparently added as an afterthought). This metal tube has eight prongs, but in the socket only two of these prongs are wired up. Inside the tube a concealed jumper wire connects LET THE PUBLIC KNOW THE RISK IT RUNS when dealing with gyp .sellers. Only in this way can present evils be stamped out. Here are some of the 1935 rackets: Dummy tubes are added to sets, to swell number Resistors, condensers, etc., are counted as "the new metal tubes" Salesmen deliberately wreck sets before wrapping, to get customers back for sell-up game Leading trade-names are counterfeited Standard sets are combined with gyp components Static "eliminators" coin money for curb-side demonstrators Tubes are switched; inferior grades substituted "Short-wave" claims made for standard BC receivers these two prongs together. Obviously the tube is a dummy, put there only to mislead the unwary. The new metal tubes make it more difficult than ever to detect deceptions of this kind, since the operation of the tube filament cannot be seen, although after a few minutes its heating can be felt. Recent practice in mounting resistors, ballasts, coils, and other components of receivers, on standard bases, so that they can be plugged in or out, like tubes, has led irresponsible merchandisers to cite these metal containers as "the new metal tubes," to unsuspecting purchasers. In this way, by adding up all the metal-jacketed cylinders in sight on the chassis, the unscrupulous merchandiser can make an impressive total for "the number of tubes" in the set he is selling. Strong-arm stuff Gyp stores have a strong-arm ''sell-up" technique. Here is the way it works. Window displays, for instance, offer what is apparently a very attractive set at $8.95. But try and get it. If the customer nibbles at this price bait and walks into the store, he is immediately given a stiff sales talk about another set at $15, then $25 — and so is led up a rising price spiral. If, however, the customer still insists that he wants the $8.95 set he came in for, and the clerk finally sees no ' alternative, the set demanded is tested by playing it in the customer's presence and is then taken to be wrapped. During the wrapping process, the clerk reaching inside, by a deft jerk breaks one or two wires; then the wrapping is completed and the package handed to the buyer. When he gets home, the set of course will not work. Traipsing back to the store, he is met with the bland front : "Well, as you know, Mister, it worked here all right. Tou heard us test it. Tou must have done something to burn it out. We'll send 8 Radio Today