Credit managers had a busy weekend, worked several times around the clock freezing past due accounts. When their stores opened this week, they found that they had about 25% fewer able-to-charge customers. Frozen were the accounts of many an old and valued patron. Strange and wonderful were the tactfully worded notices from credit managers to these solvent but delinquent payers.
In New Yorkwhere 1.2 million accounts are usually paid 64 days after customers receive their billsabout 300,000 accounts were frozen.
All this was part of the Government's program for closing a bit of the...