Originally Posted by
KLO
But CD, wasn't that desk and 15-91 well worth writing the monthly check for especially if you made your own clothing and your kids' clothing or home deco items or quilts or whatever else you needed sewn? I would suppose a lot of people could not afford to lay out all the money needed at once to buy one of these setups so a payment plan might have been the only way to buy such a multi-use item.
Oh yes!!! That was my point! Singer was one of the first companies to institute a payment plan so that the average home-maker could afford Singer products on a small budget. And if the lady of the house could get a beautiful sewing machine cabinet that could also replace that old bill desk without needing any additional floor space, so much the better!
My Mother bought her new Singer 301A portable on the payment plan in 1958. I have photo-copies of the contract. Since she didn’t get the fancy Singer Cabinet with it, she had to write the $11.82 check out on the kitchen table each month, to send it to the Singer Acceptance Department, 808 S. Broadway, Fifth Floor, Los Angeles 14, California, due on the 15th of each month. After a trade-in (Singer 66 Treadle $20) and down payment ($50), she paid off $141.80 that way ($12.90 Carrying Charge included). I don’t know if she ever felt bad that she couldn’t dip her pen in a Singer ink well to write her check. She never has mentioned it, and she still has the machine. She saved it for me, and wanted me to take it this past Labor Day Holiday, but I turned it down. She’s living with my sister now, and she only has one sewing machine, so I asked Mom to give it to my sister for a back-up machine. I have two of my Mom’s Mother’s machines, and my sister had no family machines. Besides that, my wife and I already have three Singer 301A machines. My wife uses hers almost nightly.
CD in Oklahoma