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SoCalDem

(103,856 posts)
Sun Apr 26, 2020, 08:31 PM Apr 2020

Amazon did not "invent" home delivery

Younger people fell in love with the idea, and older folks re-embraced it. That's why Amazon succeeded.

Home delivery used to be the norm.

Early Boomers were probably children when it started to end, but people living in my grandparents' era were delivered to..

Grocers delivered, and if necessary, most neighborhoods had a Mom & Pop "store" in the downstairs front room of their house where you could get some canned foods/spices/candies.

There was a bread truck that made scheduled deliveries and also sold from the truck.

Pharmacies delivered. Doctors made house calls.

Milk, cheese, butter was delivered.

Ice Cream was delivered, and of course, there was "the ice cream man" who sold it individually from his truck.

People ordered from Sears, Penneys and Mongomery Wards catalogs and their merchandise was sent to the closest store or was delivered through the mail

People living in larger cities had meals delivered from take out places.

Back then people only had one car (if they even had a car) so deliveries made sense. Actual in-person shopping was an event. "going downtown" was a special day involving window-shopping, real shopping, and eating at a restaurant.

Produce was often grown in back yards or people knew someone who grew stuff.

Post-WWII advertising agencies (Think Mad Men) created the NEED for bigger, better, shinier, and just MORE MORE MORE.

We were told that we DESERVED better. Fattened up by the war machine, our factories were raring to go and with the rest of the world in shambles, we had "the only show in town"..

We had become consumers, and we've never stopped, until recently.

It will be interesting to see how eager people are to go back to the way things were recent;y, or how many will have had enough time to start to back off the mega consumption and may have learned to appreciate the unscheduled free time. Maybe also they will put more value on what they have instead of what new shiny thing they "want".

43 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Amazon did not "invent" home delivery (Original Post) SoCalDem Apr 2020 OP
"Home delivery used to be the norm". My tired brain went to "the Wells Fargo Wagon" scenei niyad Apr 2020 #1
So did mine! csziggy Apr 2020 #9
LOL, and we have Winthrop Paroo (Ron Howard) at 2:40 Brother Buzz Apr 2020 #28
We had a milkman and a bread man. Couldn't have had Xmas without Montgomery Ward Walleye Apr 2020 #2
I always HATED the "limit 1" sign SoCalDem Apr 2020 #4
Oh yes popular book in my house. We would mark the things we wanted from Santa. Walleye Apr 2020 #7
"We had become consumers, and we've never stopped, until recently." Ferrets are Cool Apr 2020 #3
"We" as a society..not me personally SoCalDem Apr 2020 #5
Sears catalog Skittles Apr 2020 #6
Montgomery Ward, too. Iggo Apr 2020 #15
Which, Corgigal Apr 2020 #40
I don't think anyone thought that DrToast Apr 2020 #8
Invented needs. Bad for the planet, bad for community. lostnfound Apr 2020 #10
Hey,don't knock home Wellstone ruled Apr 2020 #11
I'm old enough to remember having a milk man who delivered dairy products, eggs and sometimes totodeinhere Apr 2020 #12
Helms bakery trucks with the pull out drawers full of fresh donuts. Yum! SammyWinstonJack Apr 2020 #13
Oh yeah! shanti Apr 2020 #26
We had a milk delivery, July Apr 2020 #14
I don't think we stopped buying things at all even the last month jimfields33 Apr 2020 #16
With so much home delivery of groceries... MicaelS Apr 2020 #17
Can't say that would happen here shanti Apr 2020 #27
I am 62 and on disability. MicaelS Apr 2020 #39
And I totally understand that n/t shanti Apr 2020 #43
This message was self-deleted by its author shanti Apr 2020 #42
For a short while I worked in a drug store and delivered prescriptions. rickford66 Apr 2020 #18
Amazon has saved me Meowmee Apr 2020 #19
Yes I remember my parents got delivery of something called a Dem4Life1102 Apr 2020 #20
We still do!!! LeftInTX Apr 2020 #23
Really? Why? Dem4Life1102 Apr 2020 #35
The paper-only version will have special editions, "in-depths", "investigations", "commerations" LeftInTX Apr 2020 #36
My grandfather was a pharmacist who owned his store and my dad delivered prescriptions for him on dsc Apr 2020 #21
I remember the Sears catalogs from the 1970s neeksgeek Apr 2020 #22
Same exact reaction here misanthrope Apr 2020 #33
We only had one car in Japan and my mom didn't drive LeftInTX Apr 2020 #24
Didn't the changes happen with rise in personal automobile use ? JI7 Apr 2020 #25
I think many people walked to the store. LeftInTX Apr 2020 #31
I also remember potato chips and pretzels in cans being delivered Tribetime Apr 2020 #29
Sears, the ultimate in home delivery ornotna Apr 2020 #30
So true most women stayed home marlakay Apr 2020 #32
Oh that is cool!! Love it!! LeftInTX Apr 2020 #37
I love my mom but not close to her marlakay Apr 2020 #38
Sears is the closest comparison JCMach1 Apr 2020 #34
Don't forget the diaper services! Horse with no Name Apr 2020 #41

niyad

(112,426 posts)
1. "Home delivery used to be the norm". My tired brain went to "the Wells Fargo Wagon" scenei
Sun Apr 26, 2020, 08:39 PM
Apr 2020

from "The Music Man".

SoCalDem

(103,856 posts)
4. I always HATED the "limit 1" sign
Sun Apr 26, 2020, 08:42 PM
Apr 2020

on the catalog desk..Had to go THREE times, so each of my boys could have their very own Sears Xmas catalog

Ferrets are Cool

(21,059 posts)
3. "We had become consumers, and we've never stopped, until recently."
Sun Apr 26, 2020, 08:42 PM
Apr 2020

Have we?
I don't think so. Once you have that addiction, you are hooked.

lostnfound

(16,138 posts)
10. Invented needs. Bad for the planet, bad for community.
Sun Apr 26, 2020, 08:59 PM
Apr 2020

The US government did a lot of things to encourage consumer spending. This included telling families that it was “psychologically better.” for children to grow up with their own bedrooms, rather than sharing beds and dressers in a room with siblings. Advertising and mass marketing became like steroids for the economy.

I’ve often wondered if advertising for nonessential stuff were to be banned, how much of a benefit would that be to the planet. Ordinary people are pushed to buy more and more stuff, while making less and less money, which causes stress, financial hardship, conflicts, and environmental pollution.

If people had actually decided they wanted something on their own, and seek it out without prompting from commercials, how much would consumption fall?

The resources spent on fans, pet rocks constantly changing fashions, and the sense that you have to remodel the kitchen and bathroom of every house you ever move into, and paint in the latest trendy colors – those resources could be used to help people in the community who don’t have food or housing at all.

When I was young, I also wondered why society didn’t plant fruit trees and nut trees In public spaces to help alleviate hunger. I just saw about a program the other day, I talked about Polin and how we have an abundance of pollen because some government publication back in the late 1950s recommended that all city planners only plant male trees. They decided that female trees were too messy. I can’t help but think maybe there was another reason. Maybe somebody decided the fruit and nuts collected from a tree on public land was fruit and nuts that would not be purchased.

 

Wellstone ruled

(34,661 posts)
11. Hey,don't knock home
Sun Apr 26, 2020, 08:59 PM
Apr 2020

delivery. Did it after school for the Summer in the Sixth grade. Borken's Mercantile Store. Used my Coaster Wagon,usually could get three boxes on my wagon at one time. Small town One mile by one mile.

totodeinhere

(13,034 posts)
12. I'm old enough to remember having a milk man who delivered dairy products, eggs and sometimes
Sun Apr 26, 2020, 09:02 PM
Apr 2020

other things. And our local grocer also delivered. All you had to do was call in your order.

July

(4,750 posts)
14. We had a milk delivery,
Sun Apr 26, 2020, 09:31 PM
Apr 2020

and, from time to time, a fruit and vegetable man who came around the neighborhood with his truck.

jimfields33

(15,450 posts)
16. I don't think we stopped buying things at all even the last month
Sun Apr 26, 2020, 09:36 PM
Apr 2020

Amazon is working very hard to get orders out. This I think will be the norm now that everyone has to rely on Amazon. This virus just quickened the end of brick and mortar shopping. Those small book stores probably won’t reopen. Barnes and Nobel might be able to hang on a little longer. Specialty store are probably gone for good.

Response to MicaelS (Reply #17)

rickford66

(5,498 posts)
18. For a short while I worked in a drug store and delivered prescriptions.
Sun Apr 26, 2020, 09:52 PM
Apr 2020

Got to drive the owners big Oldsmobile. This was in addition to working the cash register and sweeping up of course. A couple of my friends delivered groceries for a couple Mom & Pop grocery stores. Most of the items were behind the counter and you told the clerk what you wanted or gave them a list from your Mom. Ya got to pick out some cookies from a big bin. We had the bread man (man those hard rolls) , the milk man (cream on top), the egg man. We got to watch when the Fuller brush man stopped by to show his case of goodies. Dibs on the Sears Christmas Catalog when it came. Three butcher shops within two blocks from our house. Loved to watch him wrap meat up in that brown paper and pull the string down from above and tie it up. Three shoe repair shops where we got old heels for hopscotch. The five and dime where 5 cents got you a red rubber ball to play all Saturday and the YoYo Clown came by once a year to do tricks. This all ended before to 70's.

Meowmee

(5,164 posts)
19. Amazon has saved me
Sun Apr 26, 2020, 09:54 PM
Apr 2020

I managed to get numerous non perishable food and other items I could not get shipped from anywhere else. Grocery delivery has been the worst. Long waits, over priced and messed up orders, out of lots of things. I was able to stop partial payment on one instacart order that charged for something not received and by some miracle they actually responded to an email / online complaint about another order they messed up and gave me a credit.

Shopping is how I get my exercise for the most part due the various health conditions so if it is ever safe again and I am still living here I will go back to my local shopping at some point in time. I have not been able to get any deliveries from the grocery stores I normally shop at. They are just totally unprepared for something like this and from what I heard from neighbors who do get deliveries they were not very good before this either.

LeftInTX

(24,541 posts)
36. The paper-only version will have special editions, "in-depths", "investigations", "commerations"
Mon Apr 27, 2020, 01:10 PM
Apr 2020

from time to time

dsc

(52,129 posts)
21. My grandfather was a pharmacist who owned his store and my dad delivered prescriptions for him on
Sun Apr 26, 2020, 10:12 PM
Apr 2020

his bike as a young teen. He even paid into what was then the relatively new program of Social Security.

neeksgeek

(1,214 posts)
22. I remember the Sears catalogs from the 1970s
Sun Apr 26, 2020, 10:36 PM
Apr 2020

When I was a child, it was always fun to browse.

I was in college in the late 90s when Amazon and eBay first started up... it really shocked me that Sears didn’t immediately get into the online shopping act. Delivery is exactly what they originally built their business on.

misanthrope

(7,405 posts)
33. Same exact reaction here
Mon Apr 27, 2020, 04:03 AM
Apr 2020

I was stunned in the 1990s when Sears didn't take advantage of the inroads they had long established in home delivery through catalog sales. And look where they are now.

LeftInTX

(24,541 posts)
24. We only had one car in Japan and my mom didn't drive
Sun Apr 26, 2020, 10:58 PM
Apr 2020

I don't remember delivery anything. (Except "care packages" and "christmas presents" from relatives in the US)

LeftInTX

(24,541 posts)
31. I think many people walked to the store.
Mon Apr 27, 2020, 02:43 AM
Apr 2020

My grandmother did. She never drove. She walked to the store until she died in 1992.

They were dirt poor immigrants. There was a small IGA store about a block from her house. They lived in a company town, so there was no way that any delivery was going out to them. They always paid cash. The only thing they ordered were books from Armenia.

My grandfather had a car, but he wasn't the type to take his wife grocery shopping.

marlakay

(11,370 posts)
32. So true most women stayed home
Mon Apr 27, 2020, 02:53 AM
Apr 2020

Like my mom and dad took car to work. We had bread man, milk man, etc and a small grocery store about 10 min walk away which I rode my bike to.

The glass milk bottles were sterilized and used over so it was very green back then that way especially since things were made to last and you didn’t have to buy a new one every few years.

I got very sick when I was 7 of the measles with 104 temp and doctor came to the house.

This morning as I looked at my 2 adult daughters and my 92 yr old mom and me on FB chat all with prayer hands doing Yoga with Adrienne together I thought there is something special about this time I hope we keep with us. I feel closer to them now.

LeftInTX

(24,541 posts)
37. Oh that is cool!! Love it!!
Mon Apr 27, 2020, 01:18 PM
Apr 2020
The elders in my family are gone.

We lost an aunt last week. (Actually my dad's cousin, so I wasn't too close to her) She was 93 and had 6 wonderful children. She was in assisted living and was declining before corona virus. She had moved to Tennessee to live near her daughter a few years ago, and her children were scattered all over the country. I think of how hard this is for them.

I assume they are having zoom meetings, but they were a close family. My aunt was a talented violinist and all of her children are so musically talented. Their get togethers have always been talent shows. It's so hard that they can't have a funeral and get together with their family.

marlakay

(11,370 posts)
38. I love my mom but not close to her
Mon Apr 27, 2020, 02:11 PM
Apr 2020

I was always a daddy girl and he died in 2000. My mom is close to my older daughter who is 40 and her senior apt home is 45 min from her. I offered to have her move to my state when we had to move her from regular apt but she wanted to stay in CA near granddaughter. There was none affordable in her city.

Her birthday is next week and without visitors I am sending her flowers, balloons and chocolates by local florist we are all going in on it. So so grateful florists are considered essential. When older people especially are stuck in their apts alone they need all the cheer they can get. When we do yoga on Sunday my mom just lays in bed and watches us but I looked up and saw her doing the zen prayer hands yesterday with all of us in 4 boxes on my ipad and it made me smile. 😁

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