With mail order catalogs, rural Americans could choose from among a much wider variety of goods than at their local general store. THF119939 and THF115221
Nowadays, shopping opportunities are everywhere, as a way to buy the things we need, as well as entertainment in leisure time. we walk the mall, we walk the aisles of the big box stores, we browse the shelves of the fashion boutiques, we roll our carts down the aisle of the grocery store, we stop at the convenience store, we flip through the store catalogs that we get delivered to the door and we shop online. we can even shop from the comfort of our smartphone or tablet. shopping is now a 24/7 opportunity filled with endless choices of products made around the world.
At the end of the 19th century, things were quite different. most Americans lived on farms or in small towns; purchase options were limited. however, the advent of mail order shopping was opening up a world of new possibilities.shopping localwhere did most rural people shop at the end of the 19th century? usually small stores located in a nearby town or city or perhaps a general store located at a country crossroads. these stores offered a narrow selection of items that catered to the needs of the locals, yet offered shoppers the tactile experience of handling products before deciding to buy. factories churned out consumer goods of all kinds, advertising trumpeted the merits of products to potential customers, and railroads made it easy to ship those products to rural and urban stores, so that rural shoppers within America could get some of the same. or similar items found in the city.
Still, small-town merchants couldn’t afford to stock an infinite variety of products to expand their customers’ choices. therefore, rather than selecting from dozens of shoe styles or tableware patterns, or printed fabric designs, rural customers often chose whatever product was on hand at the local merchant’s store. Mail Order Debuts During the last decades of the 19th century, American farmers developed a growing discontent with institutions that they felt were stealing too much of their hard-earned profits. effort: “middlemen”, such as grain elevator operators, who felt they were paying too low a price for their crops. and the shopkeepers who, in their opinion, charged them too high a price for the products they bought at retail. Farmers organized themselves into “farming bosses,” also known as granges, to protest these inequalities and seek opportunities to form cooperatives through which they could buy goods at wholesale prices.
aaron montgomery ward of chicago recognized that his innovative idea for direct mail marketing fit well with this growing discontent on the part of farmers. in 1872, montgomery ward & The company launched what would become the first general mail order company in United States history. In advertising his company as “the original wholesale grange supply house,” Ward claimed that the company sold its products to “agricultural employers, farmers, and mechanics at wholesale prices.” His recipe for success—high volume, a wide product selection, ease of handling, and low prices—allowed Ward to extend the advantages found in the urban market directly to rural customers.
like montgomery ward & the company’s mail-order business grew rapidly, other companies joined. The other mail order giant, Sears, Roebuck and Company, also located in Chicago, began offering mail order in 1888. By 1900, these two mail order houses were the two largest merchants in the world. Countless other companies offered a variety of products, from ready-to-wear to hardware to farm equipment, using direct mail-order marketing to expand their reach to customers across the country.
mail order catalogs linked city and country. the attractive products displayed on its pages represented what was new and modern to its rural readers, promising higher standards of living and material progress through the attractive goods and labor-saving devices displayed there. Mail-order catalogs offered rural residents a “taste” of the urban experience, offering products found in the stores and department stores that flourished in the business districts of America’s burgeoning cities. the catalogs, of course, also widened the selection of merchandise for some people in the city.
Montgomery Ward & Company launched America’s first general mail order company. Over 22 years later, their 1894-1895 catalog still proudly trumpeted this fact: “Originators of the Mail Order Business.” THF119789A Cornucopia of Material DelightsFlipping through these mail order catalogs brought a visual feast of tens of thousands of products—some satisfying needs and some gratifying wants. For a farm family whose lives and daily activities brought little variety, these catalogs opened a world of new material possibilities: fashionable ready-made clothing, hats and hat trimmings, jewelry of all kinds, sewing machines, cook stoves, and hardware for use on the farm or stylish hinges to update farmhouse doors. Even carriages and automobiles could be shopped for by mail.
The northern Indiana family shown in this circa 1900 parlor photograph could have obtained many of the goods by mail order—even the piano. THF119591The photograph above depicts a middle-class family from a farm or small town surrounded by the mass-produced goods that provided an attractive, comfortable lifestyle. Many of the items could have been purchased from a mail order catalog. (Keep in mind that, while rural residents might have access to many of the same goods, they often had far less spending power than urban America.)Delivering the Catalogs—and the Goods
From placing the order to delivery of the goods, the image on the cover of this 1880s Jordan Marsh catalog suggests the ease of “successful” shopping by mail—allaying any concerns for those new to the process. THF119786Mail order catalogs came to farmers—not surprisingly-through the mail. Yet, for many years, that did not mean convenient delivery to their doorstep. Though city dwellers had enjoyed free home delivery of mail since 1863, rural residents still had to pick up their own mail at the nearest post office—even though they paid the same postage as the rest of the nation. Bad roads and distance often meant that farmers rarely picked up their mail more than once a week. So placing a catalog order could take longer for farm folk than city dwellers. A farm family might pick up a catalog on a trip to town one week, then place the order the next time someone went to town. Payment for mail orders was made by money order, purchased through the post office.In 1896, the success of mail order retailing helped encourage the introduction of rural free delivery, which began as an experiment with mail being delivered at no charge to customers on a few rural routes. Delivering mail throughout the countryside soon proved successful and sustainable, and additional routes continued to be added. In July 1902, rural free delivery became a permanent service. Now all rural Americans enjoyed mail delivery to their homes, opening their mailboxes to find not only letters from family and friends, but a growing number of mail order catalogs presenting enticing goods for their consideration.In 1896, the success of mail order retailing helped encourage the introduction of rural free delivery, which began as an experiment with mail being delivered at no charge to customers on a few rural routes. Delivering mail throughout the countryside soon proved successful and sustainable, and additional routes continued to be added. In July 1902, rural free delivery became a permanent service. Now all rural Americans enjoyed mail delivery to their homes, opening their mailboxes to find not only letters from family and friends, but a growing number of mail order catalogs presenting enticing goods for their consideration.
In 1896, the success of mail-order retailing helped fuel the introduction of free rural delivery, which began as an experiment with free mail delivery to customers on some rural routes. mail delivery throughout the countryside soon proved successful and sustainable, and additional routes continued to be added. in July 1902, free rural delivery became a permanent service. now all rural Americans enjoyed mail delivery to their homes, opening their mailboxes to find not only letters from family and friends, but also a growing number of mail-order catalogs featuring enticing products for their consideration.
How did the requested merchandise reach the person who requested it? Before the advent of free rural delivery, people could pick up small packages at the post office. private courier companies delivered larger packages shipped to the nearest railway station and transported them to the customer’s home. farmers can use their own railcars to transport goods shipped by rail.
Heavy or large packages sent by mail were shipped to the local railroad station. An express company would then deliver them to the customer. If the customer owned a horse-drawn wagon, they might pick up the package at the railroad station themselves. THF204912
After free rural delivery began, mail carriers delivered packages weighing up to four pounds to their customers’ mailboxes. by law, heavier packages had to be delivered by private courier companies.
in January 1913, the us. the postal service established parcel service—goods could now be delivered directly to homes. it was an instant success, greatly boosting mail-order business. During the first five days of the postal parcel service, nearly 1,600 post offices handled more than 4 million postal parcels. in the first six months, 300 million packages had been delivered. weight and size limits were gradually expanded. by 1931, parcel post deliveries included packages weighing up to 70 pounds and measuring up to 100 inches.
In the early years of rural mail delivery, farmers could use whatever was at hand as a mailbox—pails, cans or wooden crates. When rural free delivery became permanent and universal in 1902, the United States Post Office required rural customers to have regulation mailboxes in order to receive their mail. THF158049Something Gained, Something LostWhile catalog shopping brought variety and convenience to rural Americans during the late 19th and early 20th century, there was an important trade-off. The face-to-face communication and personal relationship that had existed between a local storekeeper and his customers was eroding, helped along by national advertising which told potential customers what to buy—rather than customers seeking the advice of the storekeeper. Too, stores became increasingly self-serve. This trend toward less personal, “non-local” shopping continued to grow throughout the 20th century for rural and urban people alike, involving not only orders by mail, but by phone and, eventually, the internet. In the 21st century, sales of consumer goods increasingly take place online.
However, more recently, people have come to appreciate the attentive personal service offered and the unique products offered by many local retailers. Many shoppers combine the advantages of shopping online for the wide variety of products available there, with the personal touch and service-oriented experience of shopping locally. National campaigns that encourage this local shopping trend are Small Business Saturday, which takes place over Thanksgiving weekend, encouraging shoppers to patronize small retailers.
shopping, mail order, by jeanine head miller