File:Bell telephone magazine (1922) (14755840422).jpg

Identifier: belltelephonevol3132mag00amerrich (find matches)
Title: Bell telephone magazine
Year: 1922 (1920s)
Authors: American Telephone and Telegraph Company American Telephone and Telegraph Company. Information Dept
Subjects: Telephone
Publisher: (New York, American Telephone and Telegraph Co., etc.)
Contributing Library: Prelinger Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive

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hedule obtains the neces-sary revenues with the lowest prac-ticable rates and in ways which will keep revenues as stable as possible,thus minimizing the need for futurerate increases. It encourages morepeople to have telephones and to usethem more. It meets the needs ofgroups of customers whose require-ments are different from the average.It promotes a high quality of tele-phone service and at the same timehelps to keep down the costs of fur-nishing It. And the distribution ofcharges among customers Is fair andreasonable. The first step in designing a sched-ule to accomplish all this Is to set upthe different classifications of tele-phone service. Unlike a departmentstore, which sells a variety of articlesas obviously different as pins andpianos, the telephone company hasbasically just one thing to offer: themeans by which people beyond shout-ing distance can talk with one an-other. For pricing purposes, this onebasic service has to be classified as Design for a Good Rate Schedule 231
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TELEPHONE SUBSCRIBERS FAIR RETURNTO INVESTORS Adequate rates are the only source of money to give-—good service to customers—fair wages to employees—fair return to investors local or toll, business or residence, in-dividual or party line, and so on. The next step Is to determine thetype of rate to apply to each class;for example, whether a fixed monthlycharge or a charge per message; If amessage charge applies, whether Itwill vary with distance, length of con-versation, or other factors. Finally, the specific rate for eachservice item is determined, not In Iso-lation but as an Integral part of theentire rate schedule. This is essential because no onetalks to himself by telephone. Con-sequently, each customers service de-pends on the service furnished to others. Rate treatment Influences theamounts and types of telephone serv-ice customers take and the calls theymake. So each rate in the scheduleaffects not only the customer who paysit but also every one who may wantto talk with

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