Delivered to our Home

[Bearcarver]

Delivered to our Home (Old Days)​

The other day Mike reminded me of the “Fuller Brush Man” we had in the Old Days. That made me think of all the other things that used to be delivered to our door.
So I made a quick list of the ones I could think of, that we had, when I was a Kid, back in the 50s & 60s.
You guys from the South probably had a couple more, since you don’t have the harsh winters, cutting some seasons short a bit.

BTW: Here in 2022, the only one we still have here is Newspapers, delivered by car.

Delivered to our house during 50s & 60s:
Ice Cream (Truck)
Milk Man “Lehigh Valley”(Truck)
Egg Man (Truck)
Sturgis Pretzels (Truck)
Charles Chips (Truck)
Freihoffer’s Bakery (Truck)
Local Veggies (Bicycle from about a half mile up the road)
Rawleigh Salve & other ointments (Car)
Fuller Brush Man (Car)
Newspapers (Bicycle)

Hope this is found to be interesting.

Bear

 

[GaryHibbert]

Good start John. My list will be very small.
--Bread
--milk (cooler trailer pulled by a horse)
--ice (also by horse and wagon)
--Coal (also by horse and wagon)
--Mail & News Paper (living out in the country for last 14 years, everything goes to a mailbox)
Gary

 

[clifish]

My list is even shorter but this is from the 70's when I was a kid (born in 67)
Ice Cream (Truck)
Milk Man
Charles Chips
Newspapers

In the late 60's there also might have been a diaper service (that sounds really gross)

 

[thirdeye]

In the late 60's we had a pizza restaurant that delivered (in a truck with a warming oven) and also a pharmacy that used a VW Beetle with an huge mortar and pestle on the roof.

 

[BGKYSmoker]

Y'all had it easy.

Where i grew up at in the desert of Calif. We were on a dirt rd, no sidewalks, street lights. Propane for heat and a well. We raised our own for meat, cow, pigs, chickens. I milked the cow, fed the critters. My dad hooked the flat TV wire to the chainlink fence so we could get a 3rd channel from bakersfield.

 

[Bearcarver]

My list is even shorter but this is from the 70's when I was a kid (born in 67)
Ice Cream (Truck)
Milk Man
Charles Chips
Newspapers

In the late 60's there also might have been a diaper service (that sounds really gross)

Yup---We got a Diaper Service in1972 for a few weeks, but the diapers were smelling bad, like Ammonia, so we bought our own & Mrs Bear washed them & hung them on a line in the Sun & Air.

Bear

 

[Heart of Dixie]

Doctors made house calls when I was a kid. I guess that is a kind of delivery.

 

[bbqbrett]

Being a kid in the 70s\80s I remember a few things like that.

We had a milkman that delivered all sorts of dairy other than milk. Sour cream, butter, etc. May have done eggs as well but I don't remember for sure.

We had an elderly gentleman that would come selling fruit a couple of times a season.

Neighbors had a diaper service.
Other door to door sales delivery were of course pizza, Fuller Brush, mom did some Avon.
Also had a dry cleaners who did service. Don't see them much anymore but they are still in service and still do pickup and delivery.

 

[Bearcarver]

Doctors made house calls when I was a kid. I guess that is a kind of delivery.

Good Point !!
I didn't even think of that, but some of them did that too.

Bear

 

[MJB05615]

Great thread John. Charles Chips brings back great memories. We had the Milkman when I was very young, ealry 60's. Good Humor and Carvel Ice Cream Trucks, Mr Softee too. Our Family Dr. made house calls. Local Pharmacy delivered prescriptions. I was a newspaper boy with my bike (Sundays were tough). Chicken Delight then Chicken Galore delivered delicious fried chicken. Now more recently we used to have Schwann's frozen foods trucks come once in a while.
Pretty impressive lists for the olden days.

 

[chopsaw]

We had Pevely Dairy in St. Louis . Milk in glass bottles . I remember them bringing it to the house , but also going with my Dad to take the empties back .

Canister vacuum guy .
Coal at Grandma's house .
Used to get Wonder bread too .

Walked to school . Uphill both ways .

 

[LanceR]

Don't forget vacuum cleaner sales and service, knife sharpening services and the rag picker.


Lance

 

[Brokenhandle]

Now I have a craving for Schwan's ice cream! What was that big can MJB05615 ...2 gallons of ice cream? We can still get them here but choose not to... the menu on this site is hard enough to control!

Ryan

 

[MJB05615]

I thought it was a 5 Gallon container.

 

[Bearcarver]

Great thread John. Charles Chips brings back great memories. We had the Milkman when I was very young, ealry 60's. Good Humor and Carvel Ice Cream Trucks, Mr Softee too. Our Family Dr. made house calls. Local Pharmacy delivered prescriptions. I was a newspaper boy with my bike (Sundays were tough). Chicken Delight then Chicken Galore delivered delicious fried chicken. Now more recently we used to have Schwann's frozen foods trucks come once in a while.
Pretty impressive lists for the olden days.

Wow!!
You had a bunch of regulars!!
I left out deliveries that had to be ordered, like Pizza.

These were all regular deliveries:
Ice Cream, when you heard the bells.
Milk Man every other day.
Egg Man twice a week.
Sturgis Pretzels once a month.
Charles Chips once a month.
Freihoffer's Bakery once a week. (Also carried all kinds of Candy!!!)
Local Veggies bicycle lady---Sporadic.
Rawleigh Man once a month, unless ordered.
Fuller Brush Man rarely, because nobody liked him.
Newspapers Daily--Sometimes I helped for a cut.


Bear

 

[PolishDeli]

RIP the good ol days.

Here's the short list of things I get deliverd to my door in 2022:
•Everything

 

[GaryHibbert]

Doctors made house calls when I was a kid. I guess that is a kind of delivery.

Been so long since I've even heard of that, I'd forgotten all about doctors making house calls.
Gary

 

[radioguy]

My father-in-law grew up in a coal mining town just south of Pittsburgh. He told me the story of how he bought his Browning Sweet 16 shotgun and his 30-06 deer rifle. He bought them from a door to door gun salesman. Yes back in the day. He bought both of them on time, he picked them out of a picture catalog. They were delivered by the salesman the next month. He bought them on on "time" , so the sales guy would stop by every month and get a cash payment and marked it in his little book. Bob has passed on and he gave the auto-loader to his daughter, my wife. We both cherish his memory and this story.

Man have things truly changed!

Great thread Bear thanks for the memories!!

RG (aka Tom)

 

[Bearcarver]

Been so long since I've even heard of that, I'd forgotten all about doctors making house calls.
Gary

I was the 3rd sibling born, and the 1st one born in the hospital.

John

 

[OldSmoke]

Mike reminded me of the “Fuller Brush Man”

I used to deliver his flyers for a penny apiece along with my morning paper route. Who lets their seven year old kid get up at 3am to deliver papers anymore?

Along with the rest, we also used to get delivered:

- Sawdust for heating from all of the sawmills. The furnace had an auger to feed the sawdust to the fire. Just like a pellet smoker. It required a smart dad to keep it working. He was very smart.
- Lumber trims from the sawmills for cooking and heating. Guess who chopped it in to kindling?
- Briquets for heating. Made as a byproduct of the manufactured gas process. Delivered in 100lb burlap bags. The men had massive muscles. In the Portland West Hills, they carried them up long stairways, blocks long.
- Heating oil. I loved the truck and was probably a nuisance.
- Groceries from the neighborhood market. Yea, sometimes a treat!
- I’m pretty sure the meat market and meat freezer delivered as well. That ended when the meat market and freezer building burned down one night. It was spectacular and was a topic of conversation for years.