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A foot in the door
Dorm residents say they feel taken
by a fast-talking magazine huckster
By Kevan Houser
OtHm Emerald
Three dormitory residents wish they
had been a little more careful after a
magazine solicitor got a foot in the door
and a chance to peddle subscriptions
Terri Knoxe and Rena Domsife, both
business majors, and Buffy Denney, a
journalism major, say they feel taken by a
"smooth-talking" young man they know
only as "Ron " The salesman, claiming to
represent Summit Clearing House, visited
the three women in their rooms in Carson
Hall, and sold each of the three women a
$21 subscription to magazines they say
they didn't really want
The residents describe the salesman as
a handsome fast-talker who made them
feel bad about asking questions They
also say he won them over by telling them
he only needed a few more sales to win a
trip to Europe, which he wanted to take
his mother on
“I used to do some selling myself,”
explains one of the residents, “so I really
wanted to help him. I know what it's like to
be so close to a sales goal ” He was a little
pushy, but seemed honest, she says
But according to University regulations,
the salesman shouldn’t have been
peddling the publications in the dorm A
city license and permission from the
University are required to solicit on cam
pus, but the University never grants
permission for door-to-door sales in the
dorms, says Greg Harris, student
manager of the Walton complex.
More than 1,000 "independent contra
ctors" sell for Summit Clearing House,
says Peter Wiegandt, owner of the Hous
ton-based firm "Ron" claimed to
represent
Because they hire independent
contractors, Wiegandt doesn't have "100
percent control" over the solicitors, he
explains However, the firm's salespeople
can be traced by the numbers on the
receipts they give to customers
Wiegandt agrees that the salesman at
the University may be using overzealous
sales tactics If there are complaints
about a particular salesperson,
consumers should send those compla
ints. along with photocopies of the
receipts to Weigandt
“I would like to know about any
problems," Wiegandt says, adding that
his firm "can't do anything about a situa
tion it doesn't know about ”
Two complaints about an independent
contractor result in that person being
terminated, Wiegandt says, adding that
Summit sends out a lot of "legitimate
refunds "
The firm is a member "in good
standing" with the Houston Better Bu
siness Bureau and "we want to stay that
way," he says
■‘Ron's” sates approach — a composite
description of the experiences of the
Carson residents — goes something like
this:
A good-looking young man with
sandy-blond hair comes to the door He
asks if any "big guys — football players"
have come by to sell magazines He
kisses the hand of the resident, invites
himself in, and begins his well-rehearsed
routine:
I'm glad I got here first, he says I'm
from University of Pennsylvania, and I'm
competing with a bunch of guys who are
staying at the Hilton We've been all
around the country selling magazine
subscriptions for an athletic organization,
and I just need eight more girls to buy,
then I’ll have enough points to win a trip to
Europe The guys in the group only sell to
girls, he explains
I've had a pretty good evening, the
salesman says I sold a lot of subscrip
tions to other girls on campus who
remember me from last year
He shows a list of about 40 — mostly
obscure — magazines Each has a point
value after it But, he explains, l only get
10 points for each sale, since I won last
year
What you can do to help me, he says, is
buy a magazine, and if you don't like it,
you can cancel later and get all your
money back But I'll still have the points I
need What do you say7
Two of the Carson residents paid for
Road and Track magazine, the other a
new women s magazine They thought
they would be helping him, and assumed
they could just cancel later and get their
money back
They didn’t become really suspicious
until after he had gone, but by then it was
too late — they were left with ambiguous
receipts and serious doubts
The salesman's signature is
unreadable on the receipts, two of which
he pre-dated by up to two days On one
receipt, the name of the magazine
ordered does not appear
On the backs of the receipts he scrib
bled a message for the residents to show
to his competitors should they appear —
“Too late suckers!’’
Two of the residents paid by check,
which they later stopped payment on The
third paid by cash "I kind of doubt I'll get
my magazines," she says And if they
don’t — “I've learned a $21 lesson ’’
Scrounging at Reed: a lesson in economics
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Some students at Oregon's
most expensive college are scrounging for food, and a
recent survey indicates that most students approve of the
practice
“Basically it just involves taking food that’s left over for
people who are on board — have paid for their food.' says
Greta Muelder of Chicago, a two-year veteran scrounger at
Reed College
The practice is so prevalent at Reed that last fall a
survey was taken by some of the school's 1,100 students
to investigate campus opinion about it. says Paula Rooney,
vice president of student services
“I think we re concerned as an administration about
what people s impressions of Reed College are going to
be,” she says "My concern would be that people outside
might say scrounging plays into bizarre behavior ”
The results of the survey indicate that scrounging is
not considered bizarre within the ivy-covered institution
The school is scheduled to charge $9,720 for a student
living on campus in 1982-83, including $7,070 for tuition
and $2,650 for room and board
Only 68 students said they found the practice 'offen
sive," 143 said it was "a nice tradition, and 288 said it was
a good use of leftovers "
"In times like these, where there's so much waste
going on, it seems like a good idea to consume food that
would be thrown away,” Muelder says
"I wait by the slop place where people come to bus
their trays I ask them if they would mind if I take their
leftover food Then I take their food if they don't mind and I
eat it. It's very organized All the people who are scroung
ing line up: it's not chaotic at all
"I feel good about it," she says, "I don’t feel
embarrassed ft seems like a very normal, natural thing to
do Nobody would do it just for show
Rooney says the survey involved Reed faculty, staff
and students She said hundreds of students estimated that
there were 50 or less scroungers on campus
But of those responding, 169 said they had tried it and
115 said they did it for a "source of food ” Seventy-eight
said they scrounged for convenience' and 34 students
said they were just being "social There were 232 who
said they never scrounged
One scrounger says the reason for scrounging is
purely economic
"If some people are too proud, that's their problem
but I'm not that proud," says Benn Lewis, a 20-year-old
theater major "Nobody would do it without the economic
concern "
But Matthew Bergman of Seattle, Reed s student body
vice president, disagrees
"It seems just to be a social pattern,” he says "It's
sort of neat that students are willing to do this to get an
education, (but) I don’t see it as being a very big deal
There are so many other things going on here — acade
mics — that people don't pay much attention to it "
Patience also is necessary, says Viktor Weygandt, a
22-year-old literature and history major from Albany, Ore
"I find if I wait long enough, I can get almost a balanced
meal."
40th and Donald
Open eves until 7
345-8289
Guitar Strings
Quartz Guitar Tuners 2^2
Prices good with coupon only, expires May 29, 1982.
Wednesday,
May 5
United States
Precious Metal Group
Seminar
Subject: Career and
Investment Opportunities in
Gold, Silver and Precious
Metals
Room 1 08 EMU
Part 1 Part 2
3 to 5 p.m. 7 to 9 p.m.
FREE
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