10 | TEN | 7+3 | 5×2 | ten | X – postcard, Cooper & Beatty, Tony Mann, 1963

This clever postcard by designer Tony Mann tackles one of the more persistent challenges in running a business: how to remind clients that a 2% early payment discount applies only if payment is made within ten days. By 1963, this was a well-known policy – and a well-known problem, as many clients would delay payment for thirty days (or more) and still take the discount.

Rather than scold, Mann devised a playful solution. He created a rebus of the word ‘ten’ in six different forms – 10 | TEN | 7+3 | 5×2 | ten | X – and paired it with an old wood engraving of two raised hands that both signal the number ten and form a visual ‘stop’ gesture. The result is humorous, pointed, and unmistakably clear. – Rod McDonald

Artifact Text

10 | DIX | 7+3 | 5×2 | dix | X
Please, gentlemen … you are breaking our hearts. The 2% discount is on payments made within TEN days! Cash the same day in our hot little fists is great! Five days is pretty good, too. Nine days is O. K. But TEN days … that’s the 2% limit! Don’t break our hearts, gentlemen. Please? Cooper & Beatty, Limited  401 Wellington Street West