This applies particularly to all specialities handled by the chemist. The great aim in these cases should be to make the goods not only to look nice, but to be easy to handle. An excellent lesson is the Odol case cited above, while since the establishment of this preparation many other specialities handled by chemists have been put up in similarly convenient forms. Remedies that are to be taken in doses should be packed in doses so far as possible. Pre parations to be used in drops should be contained in vessels which will deliver them in drops. Goods that are to be used in quantities should be made into tablets or small packages, and so on through the whole range of similar classes of stocks.
In packing foodstuffs daintiness should be the first consideration. To-day people ray more attention to cleanliness and purity in connection with the food supply than they have ever done before, and in packing food stuffs anything that suggests additional cleanliness and purity is impressive. Also small improvements in packing foods in tins or bottles, which suggest a nice adjustment of the means employed to hygienic conditions, always carry additional weight in the eyes of the consumer. It is not so much that these extreme measures are actually necessary, and it is possible that simpler means might be quite adequate. The aim of nice packing does not study the simple essentials, but rather seeks to emphasise a desire to go out of the way to make the goods acceptable to the consumer.
In miscellaneous packing of every description, much can be done by employing simple designs for the shapes in which the goods are made up, whether they are packed in glass, tin, wood or cardboard, and still more can be done by simplicity of lettering on the various packeres. The older
fashioned trader made up his goods and labelled them with printed matter which attempted to crowd into the space he had at his disposal all the facts that he deemed essential to his trade. He paid no attention to the setting of these announcements, and the result was that many packages displayed for public purchase were wrapped in a sheet of printed matter most difficult to read and very often offensive to the eye. The modern trader contents himself with a package which is much simpler. He secures a good title and sees that it is tastefully displayed, and he is careful that any letterpress that he includes with that title is printed in clear type and is not over loaded with a lot of aimless words.
In confectionery the tendency is to an ever-increasing daintiness, even when confectionery is sold in its cheapest form. It is realised more and more, that just as people judge one another by their external appearance, so they judge the goods they buy by the appearance of the articles in the shops where they are displayed. Given two articles of equal merit, it is almost safe to say that the one which is packed with a studied care for all the details that add to its attractiveness, will completely outsell its opponent which is carelessly packed without any regard for the taste and convenience of the customer.