European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 14, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                I i and residence Many salespersons come Over As work for a while and do not report to the German they avoid taxes and Are subject to no if they remain More than a few they May eventually Register with the German of the Over in Indi Muali who sell books in including the lit agents for pm Only the ii registered with Usa eur were required to show proof of their residence and work permits to military because the companies Are Selling to americans there is a possibility the Feder Al Trade commission Etc could take a hand in regulating the activities of the and an Etc spokesman said the commission would like to know More about the alleged unfair or fraudulent practices of the but there has never been an Etc consent concerning any of the sales practices in checking  she so est Europe by these Etc records Indi and an Etc attorney in David said flatly theres Little Chance the Etc can do much to he doubts the ftps jurisdiction stretches across the in the final the military con Sumer usually is left to his own wits in dealing with encyclopedia in this situation the Wisdom of caveat emptor May be a code to live by George Eberl staff writer a Afes rules govern be Havior and practices of Book salespersons wort ing Exchange cafes even issues let ters of introduction to k identify each salesperson and his but evidence shows the system Doest that control Over More than 100 listed encyclopedia agents for three companies is negligible to reasons vary rapid sales personnel turnover is tur Bulent beyond practical control 0 an cafes staff of two must run the multimillion Dollar program there is a confusion of responsibility Over who checks out agents cafes letters of introduction wind up in the hands of unauthorized sales and cafes disclaims responsibility for the comings and goings of its letter one powerful reflection of the Swift turn Over of sales personnel is this 10 weeks after cafes published a list including 113 encyclopedia european chiefs for the three pm companies scratched is of those names while updating their sales who checks out this transient array salespeople cafes officials say any background Check is the duty of the hiring we can ask for a Check of an individual u we have but we dont routinely do said cot Nohl cafes procurement management but world books John butt and Cas George Turpin and fre Weyh of Gro Lier interstate old cafes the background Check on prospective said Weyh woodwards business Dale Woodward is cafes contracting officer for the encyclopedia Busi is one of a staff of and he said in Munich that be is responsible for the from contracts to Eom Usa eur and Legal and administrative officials wid the Exchange service takes care of such either directly or through investigative but Petersen said their function is to control not he admitted cafes could not vouch for the ethics of each individual but added that the ethics of the program Are beyond he also emphasized that letters of introduction Are not intended As Access Docu one thing is Clear Little precaution is taken to find out about these salespeople usually moving freely on and off military installations in and while the letter of introduction May not be intended to be an Access pass to military bases and in most it is just show the letter to a Busy Gate guard and he Waves Salesman Petersen office issues the letters according to no applicants have been turned Down la the past year or control of these letter bearers is the local commanders Petersen Access to any Post or base is not cafes he local commander must police his guards and make sure they do their the transience of salespeople complicates keeping track of some of the faster moving peddling personnel called Gyp salesmen who sets standards Sles and phantoms by business Veter their nomadic character appears to baffle even the sales in Rush said about half his sales Force had remained with him since he joined world Book in 1872 six weeks he scratched 25 of the of his agents from the 10week old cafes during the three months following the 28 publication of the cafes Woodward said he received several of the outstanding letters he might have expired during that in one Grolier european vice pres ident Weyh did not recognize the name of an agent listed As one of Tus but that Neville did show up when Britannica Turpin updated his share of the cafes concessionaire Crabbe was a Britannica world books Rush Shook his head As he updated his portion of the cafes he noted agents being listed who had not been with him for several this musical chairs of salespeople helps to make a Sham of attempts to control or regulate these migratory it int surprising if letters fall into wrong hands rollers Weyh said it int easy to recover the letter when an agent what can you do about the letter if the Guy takes it with him i cant do anything except to notify Weyh the four step cafes process for void ing an invalid letter ends with notification of store agents have the letters to use according to at least one of Post company to one of Post sales official said he knew of an agent in England who used the letter to gain entry to a commissary for grocery several of Post sales people made no Bones about it in their the tetters of introduction Are despite the cafes assertion that they Are Only issued to identify a person and or her product beyond the issues of lists and this reality supported by Docu interviews and observation Little actual control is exercised to govern the movement or personnel selection of those wandering bands of Book 1977 the stars and stripes Page As