20. Compensation, to cooperating plan for distributing samples thru dealers is always met at the outset by the knowledge that many dealers may not be willing to cooperate. Ordinarily when a dealer is asked merely to distribute small-size samples to his customers, he does not seriously object, altho even in this case some dealers refuse. They may say that they have no time to distribute samples for a manu facturer or they may believe that the distribution of a considerable number of small-size samples will hurt the sale of full-size packages of the goods. This lat ter objection would not be valid if the samples were distributed only to non-users of the sampled prod uct ; but unless care is taken to see that only this class of people receive the samples, possibly the deal er's sales do suffer.
The chief objection of dealers to the distribution of samples arises when full-size packages of the prod uct are given away. The various coupon methods of sampling, for example, usually provide for free dis tribution of regular sizes of the goods. The dealer says that every regular-size package given away means just one less package sold. Obviously this po sition is not always logical. If a non-user gets the sample, he may become a regular user. But, except
in the case of new articles, no effective way has been devised to insure free samples going only to non users. Many manufacturers get around this diffi culty by paying the dealer the full retail price for all samples distributed at his store. For example, if a coupon is left with a housewife, and she takes it to her grocer, receiving in exchange a cake of soap that ordinarily sells for five cents, the manufacturer re deems the coupon for five cents, thus not only paying the grocer what the soap cost him, but also giving him the same profit on the transaction that he would have if he sold the soap instead of giving it away. In demonstrations carried on in stores it is customary for the manufacturer who is sampling his goods, if he uses full-size packages, to buy out of the dealer's stock at regular retail prices the goods that he needs for sampling.
There are many variations in the plan of paying dealers to cooperate in the distribution of samples.
The methods that have been described, however, are suggestive of the principles. It may be stated as a general rule that some plan of compensating dealers is almost necessary if their cooperation is expected in the giving away of samples to consumers.