HOW FITTING IT IS that Chicago is home to this year’s catalog conference.

The mail order business was born here, and the whole Midwest was its nursery.

And judging by recent events, the industry might also end up being buried here.

First, let’s visit Minnesota, where Fingerhut has taken its last order and pink slips have been dispensed to thousands of people.

This is one of the vilest actions ever seen in this field. Federated took a good business and wrecked it, and then couldn’t wait to get out. Anyone who would think of working for that firm ought to think twice.

Now let’s return to Chicago, where the big news at this moment is the sale of Lands’ End to Sears. List brokers nearing retirement can afford to get misty-eyed about the past, but this is not a sentimental business, and so we must ask: Is this another Fingerhut waiting to happen?

Not that Lands’ End is in trouble

How fitting it is that Chicago is home to this year’s catalog conference.

The mail order business was born here, and the whole Midwest was its nursery.

And judging by recent events, the industry might also end up being buried here.

First, let’s visit Minnesota, where Fingerhut has taken its last order and pink slips have been dispensed to thousands of people.

This is one of the vilest actions ever seen in this field. Federated took a good business and wrecked it, and then couldn’t wait to get out. Anyone who would think of working for that firm ought to think twice.

Now let’s return to Chicago, where the big news at this moment is the sale of Lands’ End to Sears. List brokers nearing retirement can afford to get misty-eyed about the past, but this is not a sentimental business, and so we must ask: Is this another Fingerhut waiting to happen?

Not that Lands’ End is in trouble