Background
"Before rural free delivery, people who lived in the country had to hitch up a team of horses and travel over dirt roads that might be very muddy or snow-packed. Employing a person to deliver the mail in rural areas was once a radical idea. Most people believed it would be too expensive and complicated for the federal government to provide this type of mail service. But by the end of the 19th century many people wanted mail service to farm homes. The new mail service not only brought bills directly to farmers’ homes, but more importantly newspapers, letters, and packages from Sears."
- Lisa L. Ossian, author of "The Depression Dilemmas of Rural Iowa"
- Lisa L. Ossian, author of "The Depression Dilemmas of Rural Iowa"
In the late 1880's, 65% of Americans lived in rural areas. Few cities had 200,000 or more residents. Country life was tedious, and neighbors were distant. Shopping opportunities were limited by geography, transportation, and scarcity of stores. This resulted in a wide discrepancy between wholesale and retail prices. It was on this stage that the Sears, Roebuck and Company was formed.
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"Always there was an element of secrecy involved in price quotations. Brogan shoes could be bought wholesale for seventy-five cents a pair, but they retailed at prices from $1.25 to $2.25...before any commodities were loaded onto a customer's wagon the price was practically doubled." |
“Without that catalogue our childhood would have been radically different. The federal government ought to strike a medal for Sears, Roebuck company for sending all those catalogues to farming families, for bringing all that color and all that mystery and all that beauty into the lives of country people.”
- Harry Crews, author of "A Childhood: the Biography of a Place"
Rachel Keifer, Emily McGovern, and Alayna Stepp
Word Count: 1199 |
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