Sheaffer Resale Price Maintenance And Ftc In 1936 And Beyond

[mac.kozinsky]

Hi Everyone, Cześć

 

Browsing through the annual reports of FTC, I noticed, in the report for 1936, a long list of companies which were mentioned in the following context:

 

ORDERS TO CEASE AND DESIST

 

UNFAIR TRADE PRACTICES PROHIBITED IN 161 CASES

The Commission issued 161 orders to cease and desist from the use of unfair methods of competition and other violations of law

during the fiscal year, as compared with 126 issued during the last fiscal year. The list is as follows:

 

LIST OF RESPONDENTS

(…)

Sheaffer Pen Co., W. A

 

 

 

Was the reason for this somehow connected to the Robinson-Patman Act? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinson%E2%80%93Patman_Act

Anyone knows more? Details?

 

In this book: Beyond the Broker State: Federal Policies Toward Small Business, 1936-1961 ... by Jonathan J. Bean, we read, regarding early 1950s:

 

In this competitive environment, manufacturers found it difficult to enforce their fair trade agreements. (Ironically, fair trade may have contributed to the growth of discount stores by providing them with a “yardstick” that could be used to measure savings.)⁶¹ Several leading manufacturers, including General Electric and Westinghouse, cut off sales to discounters, but even they had to lower their prices in response to consumers’ demands. Manufacturers in­curred a great deal of expense and bad publicity in pursuing legal actions against violators of their fair trade agreements; the Sheaffer Pen Company, for example, spent 4 percent of its sales revenue on legal expenses related to the enforcement of the company’s RPM agreements.⁶² The costs of enforcement limited the use of fair trade to the nation’s largest manufacturers.⁶³ Manufac­turers also found it impossible to prevent the transshipping of their products to discount houses. Thus, in 1955, the Sheaffer Pen Company abandoned fair trade because “we found that Sheaffer merchandise still found its way into discount houses.”⁶⁴

 

Sounds similar to the situation described in Daniel Kirchheimer's article, doesn't it? https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/266552-sheaffer-lifetime-nib-numbers-explained-at-last/

 

About RPMs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resale_price_maintenance

 

TIA for any hints and responses

Regards, Pozdrawiam,

Maciek

 

PS.: It was supposed to be FTC in the topic title

Edited December 14, 2014 by mac.kozinsky