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| Title |
Thomas Alva Edison |
| Number |
52978 |
| Size |
8" x 10.5" |
| Date |
August 29, 1924 |
| Place |
Orange, New Jersey |
| Category |
Science |
| Price |
$12,000.00 |
Facing new competition from the radio, 77-year-old Thomas Edison reveals a plan by which phonograph dealers could rent machines and records from the factory and work on commission – if dealers had RCA Victor victrolas, they could just rent the records.
Typed Letter Signed “Thos A Edison,” one page, 8” x 10.5”. To Mr. P.B. Heald, I.A. Foster Company, Providence, Rhode Island. On stationery “From the Laboratory / of / Thomas A. Edison / Orange, N.J.,” August 29, 1924. Signature slightly blotted affecting “os” and end-stroke. Fine condition.
In full, “Your letter of August 15th at hand. At present time phonographs in large cities in the East cannot be sold to any extent except by planting them in homes, not in the homes of rich people, but in the homes of those in moderate circumstances. The profit will be doubtful just now, but when the same scheme is tried in the country with a good canvasser, the results are still good and profits fair. If the dealer has four or five sub-dealers in small towns of one hundred to five hundred people to advertise and produce prospects for the canvasser, the results in New England are excellent and profits good even now.
“This plan is being worked by several dealers in New England. The factory rents the machines and records to the dealer at $4.00 per month for each sub-dealer. The sub-dealer had no expenses, but if a prospect sent to the dealer results in the canvasser making a sale, the sub-dealer gets about 10% commission on the list price. There is no resistence [sic] against introduction of this, among dealers or sub-dealers. Dealers who have Hepplewhite or Sheraton machines themselves need not rent them from us, if they desire to use them. Only the records need be rented. We only introduce this system among dealers who canvass by truck.”
By 1924, it wasn’t other phonograph companies that were Edison’s greatest competitors, it was the radio. As discussed by Edison in this letter, phonographs and records were now being rented to dealers. Those who had competitor RCA Victor machines, such as Hepplewhite or Sheraton victrolas, could just rent the records. As a concession to the marketplace, attachments were also offered so that the Edison phonographs could play records of competitors.
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