Tea dealer

“ So that it does not pay a dealer to make any mistake in the selection of his teas, such mistake proving fatal to drawing or holding trade. Poor teas will drive more customers away in a week than can be made in a year; it is therefore much better and more profitable in the long run to sell only good teas at a smaller margin of profit than to sell poor teas at a larger one. Many dealers make use of the argument, “I bought this tea so much cheaper and my customers do not appear to notice the difference; they do not complain.” ”

“ A tea-dealer with any desire to extend or even retain his trade should no more attempt to sell poor, inferior, unclean or damaged tea than a butcher to endeavor to sell tainted meat or a baker to give his customers sour bread. ”

“ To illustrate, a dealer may already be selling a Tea to his customers, possessing a pleasing and suitable flavor, but be lacking in body or too light in liquor, whereas by his adding to it a small proportion of one or two other varieties possessing these requisite properties the defect is easily and inexpensively remedied, and a fuller-liquied, heavier-bodied, richer-flavored infusion is produced; the drawing and drinking qualities of the Tea being improved all round without extra cost to the dealer or increase of price to the consumer. ”

“ Therefore it becomes essential to the success of the dealer to pay particular attention to the quality of his tea, as there is no article he deals in which will attract trade or retain it longer than good tea, a fine tea creating more comment in a town or neighborhood than any other article used at table and if customers once lose confidence in either the ability or honesty of the dealer they will be repelled rather than attracted, it being next to impossible to get them back again. ”

“ The tastes in Tea of different communities varying widely, the dealer should study and learn the particular kind and flavor best adapted to the district or locality in which he is doing business, as a Tea that may suit one class of consumers will not sell at all in another, so that the dealer himself should ascertain by repeated trials what variety or grade of Tea best suits his own particular trade. ”

“ This may be true, but it is delusive, as people seldom complain; they go elsewhere and get better value. Every community becomes accustomed to drinking a particular description of tea and is quick to discover any change in the character and flavor of any tea that may be substituted for it, thereby becoming dissatisfied notwithstanding that even a higher-priced tea, of different character, may be given them. For this reason the dealer will do well to keep as close to the grade and variety in use there and as nearly uniform as possible at all times maintaining a “standard.” ”

“ While on the other hand, if the dealer makes a small but necessary sacrifice for the sake of future gain and reputation by selling only Tea that is Tea, and content himself with a fair but legitimate profit, satisfaction will be given to his customers, his Tea trade fostered and extended, and the consumption of this most important food auxiliary increased throughout the country. ”

“ Good tea can be kept intact, like good wine, for years with considerable advantage to both dealer and consumer alike, and there is no valid reason why consumers of tea should not be as particular and fastidious as buyers of wine. But to obtain good tea in the first place the consumer should purchase only the best, it requiring much less of the finer grades to make a good infusion—purchasing only from the most reputable dealers, those who know or study to understand their business. ”

“ The art of selling Tea is even a much more difficult one than that of buying, owing to the numerous different and varying tastes to be catered to. For this reason alone the dealer should learn all he possibly can about the article, in order that he may be enabled to suit each particular liking and at the same time answer any and all questions about it intelligently. Find out what grade and variety as well as the desired strength and flavor of the Tea your customers prefer, and occasionally give them small samples of the different blends to try until you have caught their taste. ”

“ The consequence is, that very often, unless he be willing to be accounted a ‘shabby man,’ the tea-dealer is obliged, of a Saturday night, to treat his customers, to ensure a continuance of their custom. Other customers take care to be absent at the time he calls. Those who are anxious to run up bills, perhaps, keep out of the way purposely for two or more successive nights of the dealer’s calling, who, notwithstanding, cannot very well avoid serving such customers. ”

“ Even away from the larger cities it is well to follow this course, but while at first it may be found advisable to keep close to the established tea-taste of the section, a gradual change may be found good policy, as a dealer can by a little effort educate his trade in time to a particular variety or flavor of tea, for after all is said, and as remarked before, the taste for a certain tea is only an acquired one. He may, for instance, be selling a heavy-bodied Amoy or dark-leaved Foochow Oolong and suddenly change off to a fine Formosa. ”

“ But as the majority of retail grocers do not profess to know the true value of Tea, it follows that they in their turn, have to place implicit trust in the better judgment of the wholesale dealer, commercial traveller, or middle man with whom they do business. ”

“ Gain being the fundamental object of all business transactions, and as tea to the grocer plays such an essential part in determining this profit, we may be excused if, in considering the article from a purely practical standpoint, we urge the relation which it has to the success of the dealer, and who, as a general rule, experiences much more difficulty in the judicious selection of his Tea than in any other staple he trades in. ”

“ Still the importance of retaining and maintaining the quality and flavor to which his customers are longest accustomed cannot be overestimated, for no dealer can afford to jeopardize his business or can expect success if his teas one month consist of fine flavored teas, the next month of heavy and dull and the third of a sharp and pungent kind. ”

“ The acquisition of such skill or knowledge, for all practical purposes, is not, however, quite as difficult as is supposed by many dealers, it being fairly obtained by an intelligent study of the leading varieties and grades most in demand in the country or section of consumption, in addition to a few simple and inexpensive experiments by the dealer in order to familiarize himself with the leading characters and values of the different varieties, grades and flavors of the Teas best adapted to each particular class or section of the country in which he may be doing business. ”

“ Good, clean, pure and sweet-drawing Teas can always be purchased at a few cents per pound above the price of the dusty, musty, mousey, woody, herby, grassy, smoky, or sour and trashy Teas now flooding the market. So that by the mistaken policy of trying to save a few cents per pound extra the seed is sown for the final ruin of the dealer himself in addition to casting discredit on the use of Tea as an article of diet. ”

“ Under these circumstances it may be assumed that there is no probability of any material change in the cost of tea to the dealer and there should be no further reduction in the selling price to the consumer, any further reduction in the retail price involving a diminution of profit which the trade can ill afford to bear at the present time. ”

“ In large cities this is a very wise and desirable policy to pursue, providing the blend or blends adopted and found satisfactory are kept uniform and regular thereafter, as it secures the return again and again of the same customer to the dealer, and thus keeps his Tea business not only steady but progressive. ”

“ Once convinced of the intelligent interest of their customer, the owners proudly open the godown, and the swords, the lacquer, and the porcelains appear, and, lifted from their boxes, stripped of cotton and silk wrappings, are set forth. These old dealers are men wholly of the past, who meditate and smoke long over an offer, and if they agree to the price solemnly and slowly clap their hands as a ratification of the terms. Four times we passed by the largest curio shop in Nagoya, led by the tea-jars and boxes in the front to suppose that it was only the abode of a tea-merchant. ”

“ Nearly all the India and Ceylon teas go into consumption in England and her possessions, the bulk of her China purchases being re-exported. The English merchants invariably favoring the products of their own colonies to the prejudice of those of other countries, discriminating 120against them, irrespective of merit or value, in this particular instance compelling their customers, in a measure, to use these dubious varieties of the genus tea. But for presumption and audacity in their claims of superiority the India and Ceylon tea growers and dealers are far and away ahead of all competition. ”

“ This tea-manufacture is sold to “cheap” or “slop” shopkeepers, both in town and country, and especially for hawking in the country, and is almost always sold ready mixed.
The admixture of sloe-leaves, &c., which used to be gathered for the adulteration of tea, is now unknown, and has been unknown since tea became cheaper, but the old tea-leaf trade, I am assured, carried on so quietly and cleverly, that the most vigilant excise-officers are completely in the dark; a smaller “tea-maker” was, however, fined for tea-leaf conversion last year. ”

“ Every pound bought had to be paid for in a very short time, and this fact, coupled with the fear of a falling market, has continuously forced the pace and driven the tea into the consumer's teapot. The demand from the masses for strong tea was met by the extra strength from the British-grown varieties. This demand exists mainly from English tea drinkers of middle and lower classes, who have always insisted that all their beverages should be pungent, strong and stimulating, whether it be porter, ale, coffee or other liquor, regardless of the effect upon the nervous system. ”

“ Of the millions of people who drink tea, very few seem to know how it is grown or manufactured.
They would hardly believe that there are just on 800,000 acres of land planted under tea in India and Ceylon, employing over one million people—all British subjects. Just imagine employing a fifth of the population of London for the production of one article! Then, again, look at the thousands of people who are employed in the tea trade at home—merchants, dealers, brokers—all dependent on this one article of consumption for their bread-and-butter! ”

“ On the whole, the number of people, even in the temperance ranks, who look upon the public-house as of the devil, to be destroyed wherever possible, is very small, and it is also fair to say that among publicans the attitude of mind which regards the possession of a licence as merely permission to sell as much intoxicating liquor as possible is becoming rarer every day. The trade has been forced, not without some grumbling, to recognize tea as a form of liquid refreshment which may legitimately be called for by the traveller ”

“ With the great reduction in the importation prices and the keener competition among dealers, the retail prices of Tea have been brought down to a very low figure, and as dealers generally have educated the public to the purchase of poor and trashy Teas at low prices, it is not probable that the retail prices will ever again reach any higher figures, unless war or other similar cause should lead to a duty being placed upon the commodity. ”

“ At the time complainants claim to have adopted the word 'Tycoon' as their trade-mark for the particular species of tea dealt in by them, it was not an abandoned trade-mark, previously used by some other person or firm, to designate a particular quality of tea, but it was, nd had been for many years, in general and common use, as a term descriptive of a class of teas introduced into the American market,-a term which all men engaged in the tea business had an equal right to use, and which belonged to no one individual, either as a trade-mark or a trade label. ”

“ One needs not the expensive craft of the cha-sze to know how neatly a little skilful manipulation, and a little heat applied secundum artem, can transform these willow leaves into genuine and delicate85 tea leaves. Whether the mercantile result be intended to astonish the palates of old ladies in London or Glasgow, or to pass as genuine Souchong with skippers, who have little knowledge of Tea, we know not; but the fact remains, that the trade thrives well and pays. ”

“ But while the question of making its production a commercial success is conceded by many authorities, some contend that while we can undoubtedly cultivate tea of fair quality in many sections of the country, we cannot supply the cheap and skilled labor necessary to prepare it for market, advancing the argument that from the time the leaves are picked until they are packed for export they are subjected to a continued series of manipulations, demanding an immense amount of such labor without which it is next to impossible to produce a merchantable article. ”