WEBVTT - How did the Sears catalog take over the world? 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:03.000 Guess what, mango? What's that? Will? You will not believe 0:00:03.040 --> 0:00:04.600 what I found when I was looking through this old 0:00:04.600 --> 0:00:07.160 box of things from my childhood. So what's that? All right? 0:00:07.200 --> 0:00:09.959 I'm gonna show it to you? Ready for this? What 0:00:10.160 --> 0:00:12.879 is that? A calculator? Why that? It is one of 0:00:12.960 --> 0:00:15.640 the most coveted items in elementary school back in the eighties. 0:00:15.680 --> 0:00:17.560 Were these a big deal in Delaware? Of course they were. 0:00:17.680 --> 0:00:19.520 They definitely were in Alabama. And you know where I 0:00:19.560 --> 0:00:22.280 got it? Where's that? The Sears catalog? Did you used 0:00:22.280 --> 0:00:24.320 to look through the old Sears catalog? Yeah? I used 0:00:24.320 --> 0:00:26.560 to thump through it. Oh man. It was so huge 0:00:26.560 --> 0:00:27.960 for us. And for some reason, I never saw it 0:00:27.960 --> 0:00:29.920 in my own house. I think my parents must have 0:00:29.960 --> 0:00:32.959 just been good at making it disappears something. But at 0:00:33.040 --> 0:00:35.760 mama's house, you know, a grandmother has to have this 0:00:35.920 --> 0:00:38.519 on the coffee table. She always had it sitting out 0:00:38.560 --> 0:00:41.600 and I would thumb through seriously every page of it, 0:00:41.760 --> 0:00:46.280 circling things like remote control cars, ThunderCats figures. That's where 0:00:46.280 --> 0:00:49.800 I got the light, right, so many awesome toys in there. Yeah, 0:00:49.840 --> 0:00:52.559 there's really something so magical about it, all right? And 0:00:52.600 --> 0:00:54.840 did you did you see my calculator. Watch I get 0:00:54.840 --> 0:00:58.200 that on my face. Anyway, as the holidays are approaching, 0:00:58.200 --> 0:01:00.400 we were talking about the old Sears catalog recently and 0:01:00.640 --> 0:01:03.000 wondering how did it become such a big deal and 0:01:03.440 --> 0:01:05.959 what are some of the weirdest things ever offered in it? 0:01:06.240 --> 0:01:08.520 And speaking of weird, we talked about doing this topic 0:01:08.760 --> 0:01:11.240 months ago and it's just so strange that, seriously, it 0:01:11.280 --> 0:01:14.280 is just by accident that this ends up publishing on 0:01:14.640 --> 0:01:17.640 Black Friday. So anyway, that's what we'll be talking about today. 0:01:17.720 --> 0:01:37.320 Let's get started hei their podcast listeners, Welcome the part 0:01:37.319 --> 0:01:39.839 time Genius. I'm Will Pearson and it's always I'm joined 0:01:39.840 --> 0:01:42.399 by my good friend man guest and sitting on the 0:01:42.400 --> 0:01:44.360 other side of the soundproof class man. I don't know 0:01:44.400 --> 0:01:47.200 if you've noticed this, but Kristen has this fancy new 0:01:47.280 --> 0:01:49.720 office chair out there. I think it's an executive chair. 0:01:49.760 --> 0:01:53.240 It's like high back and everything. Wow. That's our friend 0:01:53.240 --> 0:01:56.800 and producer Tristan McNeil. And on today's show, we're ushering 0:01:56.840 --> 0:01:59.280 in the holiday shopping season with a fun look back 0:01:59.320 --> 0:02:02.040 at the golden age of Sears. Now, you know, it's 0:02:02.040 --> 0:02:05.040 no secret that the iconic American retailer has seen its 0:02:05.080 --> 0:02:07.440 better days, and in fact, there's a good chance you 0:02:07.480 --> 0:02:10.120 haven't stepped foot in a Sear store and quite some time, 0:02:10.280 --> 0:02:12.440 or maybe even never at all. But you know, with 0:02:12.440 --> 0:02:14.839 a hundred and thirty one years under the company's belt, 0:02:14.880 --> 0:02:17.959 we thought, why focus on the negative exactly, So instead 0:02:17.960 --> 0:02:20.440 we're gonna explore the solid hundred years or so when 0:02:20.440 --> 0:02:22.880 Sears was at the top of its game, and we'll 0:02:22.919 --> 0:02:25.120 cover some of the company's breakthrough ideas and not get 0:02:25.120 --> 0:02:27.280 a sense of how a humble mail order service became 0:02:27.360 --> 0:02:30.880 this massive retail giant. You know. So I want to 0:02:30.919 --> 0:02:33.560 mention upfront that today's episode works is kind of a 0:02:33.560 --> 0:02:35.880 companion to the show we did on Amazon just a 0:02:35.919 --> 0:02:37.919 couple of weeks ago. And it's not to say that 0:02:37.960 --> 0:02:39.880 you have to have listened to that one, but you 0:02:39.919 --> 0:02:42.680 have to listen, you do. Okay, stop, now, go back 0:02:42.720 --> 0:02:44.280 and listen to that one. But you know, they're all 0:02:44.400 --> 0:02:47.800 kinds of interesting parallels between the two companies. So I 0:02:47.800 --> 0:02:49.480 guess you are better off if you're up to date 0:02:49.520 --> 0:02:51.720 on Amazon. Yeah, and and that's really one of the 0:02:51.760 --> 0:02:54.120 great things about a company has long lived as Sears 0:02:54.200 --> 0:02:56.920 like it takes on all this added historical value that 0:02:57.040 --> 0:02:59.760 makes it way more interesting than like your typical retail 0:02:59.840 --> 0:03:02.720 chan and so for younger companies, Series is kind of 0:03:02.760 --> 0:03:05.400 this primer of what a business should and shouldn't do 0:03:05.440 --> 0:03:07.000 in order to weather the ups and downs of the 0:03:07.000 --> 0:03:10.440 American economy. But series is longevity also makes it useful 0:03:10.440 --> 0:03:13.520 in other ways to like take the company's famous catalogs, 0:03:13.840 --> 0:03:16.320 those at up being these great visual records of how 0:03:16.360 --> 0:03:18.839 our society, styles and habits have changed over the last 0:03:18.840 --> 0:03:21.040 century and a half. It was interesting reading up on 0:03:21.080 --> 0:03:23.160 this something I had not thought about before. But often 0:03:23.200 --> 0:03:26.400 producers will use Sears catalogs as references when they're working 0:03:26.400 --> 0:03:29.519 on period films or Broadway shows. You know, they're also 0:03:29.560 --> 0:03:31.720 a good way to find costumes or props that are 0:03:31.760 --> 0:03:34.440 true to the era being depicted. And it's not just 0:03:34.480 --> 0:03:37.080 Hollywood either, you know, historians rely on the catalogs to 0:03:37.160 --> 0:03:39.600 look back and kind of get an accurate timeline of 0:03:39.640 --> 0:03:43.320 when certain products or styles first appeared. Yeah, that's pretty awesome, 0:03:43.360 --> 0:03:45.280 and those catalogs are such a big part of the 0:03:45.280 --> 0:03:48.000 series legacy. We should definitely talk more about them. But 0:03:48.360 --> 0:03:50.160 first I want to go back to the pre catalog 0:03:50.240 --> 0:03:52.000 days and get a sense of how series really got 0:03:52.000 --> 0:03:54.440 to start, all right, So I'll set the scene here. 0:03:54.440 --> 0:03:56.760 It's it's eighteen eighty six, and you've got a twenty 0:03:56.800 --> 0:03:59.360 two year old man named Richard Sears, and he's working 0:03:59.400 --> 0:04:01.800 as a telegraph off operator and a station agent at 0:04:01.840 --> 0:04:05.160 a railroad in Minnesota. It's kind of a boring job, 0:04:05.240 --> 0:04:08.080 but the downtime allows Sears to start a side gig, 0:04:08.080 --> 0:04:10.600 and he's selling lumber and coal just to kind of 0:04:10.880 --> 0:04:14.160 supplement his income. Well, one day, a shipment of pocket 0:04:14.200 --> 0:04:17.400 watches comes in, but the local jeweler refuses to sign 0:04:17.480 --> 0:04:19.880 for it. It was pretty common in those days that 0:04:19.880 --> 0:04:23.880 the companies would send these unsolicited merchandise to small town retailers. 0:04:23.920 --> 0:04:26.640 They'd they'd act like it was this accidental shipment and 0:04:26.640 --> 0:04:28.200 then say, you know, but you can have it at 0:04:28.240 --> 0:04:32.120 this deeply discounted price. But he sends this opportunity for 0:04:32.160 --> 0:04:35.520 this new side business. So Sears buys the unwanted watches 0:04:35.839 --> 0:04:39.120 well below cost for himself. He then proceeds to sell 0:04:39.200 --> 0:04:41.840 to other railroad workers up and down the line. Of 0:04:41.920 --> 0:04:45.120 the next few months, he turned this fifty dollar investment 0:04:45.160 --> 0:04:48.719 into a five thousand dollar profit. Yeah, it's an amazing story. 0:04:48.800 --> 0:04:51.200 So let me pick it up here. He's emboldened by 0:04:51.200 --> 0:04:53.520 that kind of result, right, So Sears decides to take 0:04:53.520 --> 0:04:56.240 a stab at the American dream. He quits his job, 0:04:56.560 --> 0:04:59.159 orders more watches, and then starts to R. W. Sears 0:04:59.200 --> 0:05:02.040 Watch Company with in six months, then a year later 0:05:02.320 --> 0:05:04.560 his business is booming. So he moved the company to 0:05:04.640 --> 0:05:08.240 Chicago and he starts producing this mail order catalog. Now, 0:05:08.279 --> 0:05:11.359 admittedly the series catalog starts small. It's less than a 0:05:11.400 --> 0:05:15.400 hundred pages, and it advertises nothing but watches. A hundred 0:05:15.400 --> 0:05:17.920 pages of watches. Yeah, but but but then it also 0:05:18.000 --> 0:05:22.359 guarantees something revolutionary. And that's the first ever unconditional money 0:05:22.360 --> 0:05:24.760 back guarantee. So as many times you see that, like 0:05:24.800 --> 0:05:27.760 on TV or whatever, this all started with Sears. That's 0:05:27.800 --> 0:05:29.960 pretty interesting. I mean, it's a great idea from a 0:05:30.000 --> 0:05:33.040 marketing perspective, no question. And you know, it added a 0:05:33.120 --> 0:05:35.680 nice sense of security to the prospect of these people 0:05:35.839 --> 0:05:38.720 really kind of seeing it as sending strangers money through 0:05:38.720 --> 0:05:42.279 the mail. And but but in practice, this revolutionary policy 0:05:42.320 --> 0:05:45.920 turned into a huge headache for Sears. Happened pretty quickly. 0:05:45.960 --> 0:05:48.719 I mean he was making thousands of dollars from watch 0:05:48.760 --> 0:05:51.760 sales each month, but the cost of these refunds and 0:05:51.760 --> 0:05:55.200 the replacements, it really started to eat into these profits. 0:05:55.200 --> 0:05:56.680 But he was pretty smart about it. So what he 0:05:56.680 --> 0:05:59.680 did next was he hired someone to repair the defective watches, 0:05:59.720 --> 0:06:02.320 which would make it much cheaper than you know, for 0:06:02.320 --> 0:06:04.600 for him to be able to honor this guarantee. Right, 0:06:04.640 --> 0:06:07.600 So that's when alvat Roebuck enters the picture. He's this 0:06:07.640 --> 0:06:12.160 watchmaker and repairman who he quickly becomes Sears full blown partner, 0:06:12.520 --> 0:06:15.000 and together they expanded the business to include all sorts 0:06:15.000 --> 0:06:17.880 of other products. So you've got jewelry than supporting goods, 0:06:18.160 --> 0:06:22.080 quickly moves into clothing, bicycles, uh, you know, lots of 0:06:22.120 --> 0:06:24.280 household products. You don't want to name every single one 0:06:24.320 --> 0:06:26.800 of them. I could. So Actually at this point, was 0:06:26.839 --> 0:06:29.279 it was Sears still all male order, or if they 0:06:29.360 --> 0:06:32.440 already entered the physical store space as well. Yeah, so 0:06:32.480 --> 0:06:35.040 Sears actually didn't open a brick and mortar store until 0:06:36.520 --> 0:06:39.599 for its first thirty years, it was strictly a catalog company, 0:06:39.640 --> 0:06:41.920 and that was a great business model for them because 0:06:42.000 --> 0:06:44.360 nearly two thirds of the country's population lived in these 0:06:44.440 --> 0:06:47.599 rural regions. This was back in the eighteen nineties, but 0:06:47.760 --> 0:06:51.000 they decided to capitalize on this newly completed railroad system, 0:06:51.279 --> 0:06:53.599 and through that, Sears and Roebuck were able to build 0:06:53.600 --> 0:06:56.080 this loyal customer base in parts of the country that 0:06:56.160 --> 0:06:58.960 had the most untapped market potential. Yeah. I mean, the 0:06:58.960 --> 0:07:01.240 biggest competition for oil order in those days came from 0:07:01.279 --> 0:07:04.719 these general stores scattered through American small towns, and because 0:07:04.760 --> 0:07:07.560 most of those were either under stocked or overpriced, it 0:07:07.720 --> 0:07:10.160 really weren't that much of a threat. Well yeah, I mean, 0:07:10.160 --> 0:07:12.600 if anything, the general stores were the ones in danger. 0:07:12.960 --> 0:07:14.800 In fact, I read that the store owners in some 0:07:14.960 --> 0:07:18.440 towns started offering prizes to local kids who would bring 0:07:18.480 --> 0:07:21.160 in copies of the Sears catalogs. And it wasn't that 0:07:21.160 --> 0:07:23.960 the shopkeepers were interested in like studying the competition or 0:07:24.000 --> 0:07:26.640 matching their prices. They just wanted to get all these 0:07:26.640 --> 0:07:29.400 things and then have these huge public bonfires where they 0:07:29.440 --> 0:07:33.000 would burn all the catalogs. That's pretty extreme, but I 0:07:33.000 --> 0:07:36.200 mean serious. Stated goal was to save consumers money by 0:07:36.240 --> 0:07:39.600 cutting out the middleman, and those general stores were the middleman. 0:07:40.320 --> 0:07:42.760 But that wasn't series is only competition. They had already 0:07:42.760 --> 0:07:45.560 come under attack from other mail order retailers like you 0:07:45.600 --> 0:07:48.760 know Montgomery Ward. They had actually been selling city goods 0:07:48.760 --> 0:07:51.920 to rural clients for about twenty plus years before Sears 0:07:51.920 --> 0:07:54.360 got into the business. That's right, Montgomery Ward. I mean, 0:07:54.400 --> 0:07:56.720 it has less of a presence today than Sears, so 0:07:56.760 --> 0:07:58.920 it's kind of easy to forget that they were actually 0:07:58.920 --> 0:08:01.520 the first on this mail order scene. Yeah, and as 0:08:01.520 --> 0:08:03.920 you'd expect, the companies were arrivals from the start, though, 0:08:04.240 --> 0:08:07.360 Sears grew so rapidly that it started to outpace Montgomery 0:08:07.400 --> 0:08:10.560 Award in the eighteen nineties. By nine hundred, Sears of 0:08:10.600 --> 0:08:13.880 sales had reached ten million dollars versus Wards about nine 0:08:13.920 --> 0:08:16.760 million dollars. I mean, the rivalry had grown unfriendly by 0:08:16.800 --> 0:08:19.680 that point too. So you know, Sears supposedly made his 0:08:19.760 --> 0:08:23.440 catalogs shorter and narrower so that they'd stick out from 0:08:23.440 --> 0:08:26.320 the Ward catalogs. Like when customers would stack the catalogs 0:08:26.360 --> 0:08:28.440 at home, the smaller series catalog would always end up 0:08:28.480 --> 0:08:30.160 on top. Oh, it's pretty clever. I was trying to 0:08:30.160 --> 0:08:32.439 figure out how that worked, but that that makes sense, alright. 0:08:32.480 --> 0:08:34.840 So so obviously, the railroad was a big part of 0:08:34.880 --> 0:08:38.120 Sears success, as was the case for many American companies 0:08:38.160 --> 0:08:40.560 of that era, but we should give a shout out 0:08:40.600 --> 0:08:42.680 to the postal system, which you know, it gave mail 0:08:42.760 --> 0:08:46.360 order companies a huge boost in eighteen ninety six, and 0:08:46.400 --> 0:08:50.000 that's when the Postal Service started guaranteeing mail to all 0:08:50.160 --> 0:08:53.200 rural areas, so no matter where someone lived, they were 0:08:53.240 --> 0:08:54.880 allowed to get their mail there, and so it made 0:08:54.880 --> 0:08:57.840 it much easier for Sears and its competitors to get 0:08:57.880 --> 0:09:00.559 their catalogs into these homes of even most out of 0:09:00.559 --> 0:09:03.560 the way customers. Of course, the Postal Service didn't start 0:09:03.559 --> 0:09:06.240 shipping packages until you know, a few years later in 0:09:06.360 --> 0:09:08.640 nineteen thirteen, so customers still had to go to their 0:09:08.640 --> 0:09:11.319 nearest railroad station in order to pick up their orders. 0:09:11.360 --> 0:09:13.560 But you know, getting the catalogs at home at least 0:09:13.559 --> 0:09:15.240 save them the trouble of having to go to these 0:09:15.280 --> 0:09:19.040 distant post offices or higher private carriers just to bring 0:09:19.080 --> 0:09:21.679 them their mail. Definitely, and I can't imagine having to 0:09:21.720 --> 0:09:23.840 walk miles to a post office just to pick up 0:09:23.880 --> 0:09:26.679 like what we think of his junk mail today. Yeah, 0:09:26.760 --> 0:09:28.400 you know it is. It's interesting to think of it 0:09:28.440 --> 0:09:31.120 that way now, But those catalogs we're we're not considered 0:09:31.160 --> 0:09:33.440 junk mail at all in the nineteenth century. I mean 0:09:33.480 --> 0:09:36.679 they actually served a purpose not too dissimilar from how 0:09:36.679 --> 0:09:39.280 we use the internet today. You know, you've had anywhere 0:09:39.320 --> 0:09:42.080 at any time people could flip through the pages of 0:09:42.080 --> 0:09:44.680 a catalog and learn about a new piece of technology 0:09:44.960 --> 0:09:47.440 or some breakthrough product, and then they could buy it 0:09:47.480 --> 0:09:49.760 for themselves if they wanted to. And in fact, that's 0:09:49.760 --> 0:09:52.559 another way the postal system helped the mail order industry. 0:09:52.840 --> 0:09:55.160 So they allowed Sears catalog to be shipped for just 0:09:55.320 --> 0:09:58.640 one cent per pound because they were considered public aids 0:09:58.640 --> 0:10:01.920 and the spread of knowledge. I know, I mean that 0:10:02.000 --> 0:10:04.839 sounds silly at first, like what could be crasser than 0:10:04.840 --> 0:10:07.240 a company trying to pass off advertisements of some sort 0:10:07.240 --> 0:10:10.040 of educational service, But I guess if you put yourself 0:10:10.120 --> 0:10:11.640 in the shoes of someone living in the middle of 0:10:11.679 --> 0:10:14.480 Wyoming way back in the eighteen nineties, like a serious 0:10:14.520 --> 0:10:16.720 catalog really would be this window to a world you 0:10:16.720 --> 0:10:19.760 wouldn't otherwise see. And the catalogs were definitely meant to 0:10:19.800 --> 0:10:23.079 advertise products and make money, but consumer education was in 0:10:23.160 --> 0:10:25.480 the mix as well. Yeah, And you know, you sometimes 0:10:25.480 --> 0:10:28.560 hear that Sears taught Americans how to shop, and there's 0:10:28.600 --> 0:10:31.880 clearly some truth to that for millions of shoppers, this 0:10:31.960 --> 0:10:34.760 year's catalog was kind of their first introduction to mail 0:10:34.880 --> 0:10:38.040 order services, and for better or worse, the catalog also 0:10:38.080 --> 0:10:41.760 played a role in the development of America's consumer culture. Yeah, 0:10:41.800 --> 0:10:43.600 that sounds right to me, especially when you look at 0:10:43.640 --> 0:10:46.840 how the catalog ballooned year after years more products were added. 0:10:47.080 --> 0:10:49.440 I mean, in the early nineteen hundreds, the Sears catalog 0:10:49.559 --> 0:10:52.360 was over five hundred pages, and at its peak in 0:10:52.440 --> 0:10:55.960 nineteen fifteen, the General Merchandise Catalog, it's swelled over twelve 0:10:56.080 --> 0:10:58.360 hundred pages. Whoa nine year old will would have been 0:10:58.400 --> 0:11:01.320 so jealous of that. Somebody paid so many circles. So 0:11:01.360 --> 0:11:05.080 it included a hundred thousand items, weighed four pounds, and 0:11:05.080 --> 0:11:07.960 brought the company over a hundred million dollars in annual sales. 0:11:08.080 --> 0:11:10.719 Good lord, but so wait, you said that the catalog's 0:11:10.800 --> 0:11:14.200 peak was in nineteen fifteen, so it started shrinking after 0:11:14.240 --> 0:11:16.240 that was more than a hundred years ago. Yeah, so 0:11:16.360 --> 0:11:18.280 the nation had urbanized quite a bit by then, and 0:11:18.440 --> 0:11:21.760 cars were becoming the rage, and suddenly rural consumers were 0:11:21.760 --> 0:11:24.520 moving to cities where easy access to stores lessen their 0:11:24.559 --> 0:11:27.280 need for mail order services, and Sears kept track with 0:11:27.280 --> 0:11:30.040 the shifting market until nineteen twenty five, when it responded 0:11:30.080 --> 0:11:32.760 by opening their first physical department stores. Yeah, and it's 0:11:32.800 --> 0:11:35.720 it's worth mentioning that by by this point, Richard Sears 0:11:35.760 --> 0:11:37.920 and Alva Roebuck we were out of the picture. I mean, 0:11:38.000 --> 0:11:40.960 Roebuck had sold his interest in the company decades earlier, 0:11:41.360 --> 0:11:43.720 and Sears had retired back in nineteen o eight passed 0:11:43.720 --> 0:11:47.240 away in nineteen fourteen. So rather than Sears himself, the 0:11:47.240 --> 0:11:50.280 company's hugely successful for a into brick and mortar was 0:11:50.360 --> 0:11:53.599 really overseen by General Robert E. Wood. Now, he was 0:11:53.640 --> 0:11:55.760 a military man. That might seem like a little bit 0:11:55.760 --> 0:11:58.559 of a random pick, but he'd actually been a procurement 0:11:58.600 --> 0:12:01.040 officer back in the Panama can Now projects, so he 0:12:01.080 --> 0:12:04.280 did have a lot of logistics background, another background that 0:12:04.320 --> 0:12:06.760 really helped him think about how the company would grow. 0:12:07.160 --> 0:12:10.160 There's actually a Storian here in Atlanta named Jerry Hancock, 0:12:10.200 --> 0:12:12.520 and he was on an episode of Stuff You Missed 0:12:12.520 --> 0:12:14.280 in History Class, which you guys should check out. It 0:12:14.320 --> 0:12:17.120 was a really really interesting episode. But he talks about 0:12:17.240 --> 0:12:20.480 woods contribution in this way. He says, basically, what Wood 0:12:20.480 --> 0:12:22.840 did was he set up a territory system and divided 0:12:22.880 --> 0:12:26.640 the nation into five territories. He supplied those five territories 0:12:26.679 --> 0:12:30.800 by these ten distribution plants combined with retail stores. And 0:12:30.840 --> 0:12:33.000 if you go you can still see the remnants of 0:12:33.040 --> 0:12:36.359 these plants and how they fill orders with these huge conveyors, 0:12:36.720 --> 0:12:40.440 these big spiraling shoots. Each floor would get a ticket 0:12:40.480 --> 0:12:43.400 for whatever items, and they would have the merchandise divided 0:12:43.440 --> 0:12:45.960 by floor and they would fill each order. And in 0:12:46.000 --> 0:12:49.000 the bottom would be this massive mail room where all 0:12:49.040 --> 0:12:52.080 the items would be collected and bundled together, and then 0:12:52.160 --> 0:12:54.880 literally on the back of the building was a railroad. 0:12:55.080 --> 0:12:57.320 They would put the items into the train and ship 0:12:57.360 --> 0:12:59.599 them out. I mean, it's an amazing process and it 0:12:59.640 --> 0:13:02.719 sounds so ahead of its time, but full disclosure. Will 0:13:02.760 --> 0:13:04.760 and I actually work in one of Wood's old distribution 0:13:04.800 --> 0:13:07.760 plans here in Atlanta, and nowadays it's this mixed use facility, 0:13:07.840 --> 0:13:10.320 but you can still find traces of the building's industrial 0:13:10.360 --> 0:13:12.360 past here and it's a great place to work, with 0:13:12.400 --> 0:13:15.920 a great Raman restaurant downstairs. And so general, would we 0:13:16.040 --> 0:13:19.360 salute you? Okay, So I know we're getting into sears 0:13:19.400 --> 0:13:22.040 breaking bortar phase now, but if I'm honest, I'm not 0:13:22.160 --> 0:13:24.520 really ready to leave the catalog behind just yet. So 0:13:24.720 --> 0:13:26.560 what do you say we take a break and then 0:13:26.600 --> 0:13:28.320 we can check out some of the craziest stuff to 0:13:28.320 --> 0:13:30.960 ever grace the Sears catalog. Sounds like a plan to me. 0:13:45.120 --> 0:13:47.200 You're listening to part time genius and we're talking about 0:13:47.200 --> 0:13:50.400 how Sears managed to build a retail empire on the 0:13:50.440 --> 0:13:53.640 foundation of mail order catalogs. All right, Mango, So what's 0:13:53.679 --> 0:13:56.280 one of the weirdest products you came across while rummaging 0:13:56.280 --> 0:14:00.160 through your huge collection of old Sears catalogs? So this 0:14:00.240 --> 0:14:02.160 might be cheating, but I actually found a bunch of 0:14:02.160 --> 0:14:06.160 these really outrageous medicines, you know, the quackery that was 0:14:06.200 --> 0:14:09.080 all the rage in the nineteenth century America. All right, Well, 0:14:09.120 --> 0:14:11.120 first of all, if you preface something by saying this 0:14:11.200 --> 0:14:14.920 might be cheating, it most definitely is cheating. But I'm 0:14:15.000 --> 0:14:17.600 always game for some medical quackery. So so what did 0:14:17.640 --> 0:14:20.280 you find out? So one of the absolute worst remedies 0:14:20.280 --> 0:14:23.760 has to be this one offered in the Spring catalog. 0:14:24.160 --> 0:14:29.720 It's called Brown's Vegetable Cure for female weakness. Which can 0:14:29.720 --> 0:14:32.040 you imagine trying to market something like that today? I 0:14:32.080 --> 0:14:34.480 can't imagine that would go over very well. No. Yeah, 0:14:34.600 --> 0:14:36.720 so I have no clue what was even in the stuff, 0:14:36.760 --> 0:14:39.560 But Sears sold it in big bottles for sixty cents 0:14:39.560 --> 0:14:41.520 of pop, and according to the writ up, they could 0:14:41.560 --> 0:14:44.440 cure everything from mental cramps to back pain to really 0:14:44.600 --> 0:14:48.160 terrifying stuff. So here's some of the quotes it cures. 0:14:48.320 --> 0:14:54.440 Quote A dread from some impending evil, a craving for 0:14:54.560 --> 0:14:58.960 unnatural food, and sparks before the eyes. So if you 0:14:59.000 --> 0:15:01.080 have a craving for un natural food, you could just 0:15:01.200 --> 0:15:03.240 you know, have some of this. Brown's vegetable cure for 0:15:03.240 --> 0:15:06.240 female weakness takes care of that. This is so weird. 0:15:06.280 --> 0:15:09.080 I not remember hearing about any epidemics of sparks before 0:15:09.080 --> 0:15:11.520 the eyes. Such a strange thing. Yeah, so you might 0:15:11.560 --> 0:15:14.520 be right. And the Atlas like fifty symptoms that supposedly 0:15:14.560 --> 0:15:18.400 treats another terrible product. This is uh also aimed at 0:15:18.400 --> 0:15:23.760 female customers. It was Dr Roses French arsenic complexion wafers. 0:15:24.040 --> 0:15:26.360 All right, Now, that just sounds made up. I know, 0:15:26.480 --> 0:15:28.040 I had to read it cause I couldn't remember, but 0:15:28.520 --> 0:15:31.120 I wish it was. It is not made up. These 0:15:31.160 --> 0:15:35.000 were toxic wafers that promised to rejuvenate quote even the 0:15:35.040 --> 0:15:39.560 coarsest and most repulsive skin. And you knew they were 0:15:39.600 --> 0:15:42.120 toxic too, because the very first words in the ad 0:15:42.120 --> 0:15:47.880 coffee are quote perfectly harmless and big bold, not suspicious 0:15:47.880 --> 0:15:50.240 at all. I like how they draw attention to the 0:15:50.240 --> 0:15:52.480 fact that these aren't your typical round of the mill 0:15:52.640 --> 0:15:54.880 arsenic waivers, you know, like you might just find around 0:15:54.880 --> 0:15:59.360 the corner. I mean these these are French arsenic wafers. Yeah, 0:15:59.720 --> 0:16:02.520 you can poison yourself in style here. Yeah. So the 0:16:02.600 --> 0:16:04.560 ad tries to distract from the poison with all these 0:16:04.560 --> 0:16:07.080 references to the magical effects of the wafers and how 0:16:07.200 --> 0:16:12.400 users will experience quote the wizard's touch. Sears must have 0:16:12.440 --> 0:16:16.040 been pretty confident because they recommended women start ordering them 0:16:16.080 --> 0:16:18.320 a dozen boxes at a time, which would have been 0:16:18.400 --> 0:16:22.560 twelve arsenic wave Wow. That is a lot of arsenic. 0:16:22.600 --> 0:16:24.240 But I mean, you do have to remember it was 0:16:24.320 --> 0:16:27.680 French arsenic, so I'm sure it was fine. So all right. Well, 0:16:27.680 --> 0:16:29.520 while women seem to have the line share of these 0:16:29.560 --> 0:16:32.720 dubious remedies inflicted on them, men were also on the 0:16:32.760 --> 0:16:34.760 receiving end of a few of these, at least, so 0:16:35.000 --> 0:16:37.640 I found one example the fall of nineteen o two, 0:16:37.680 --> 0:16:41.320 Sears catalog advertised this belt and it sent electrical currents 0:16:41.320 --> 0:16:44.400 through a guy's growing in order to provide quote, the best, 0:16:44.480 --> 0:16:49.640 most reliable, most harmless yet powerful cheapest cure possible. So 0:16:49.760 --> 0:16:52.520 that's obviously a ton of qualifiers. But what was this 0:16:52.560 --> 0:16:56.120 supposed to cure? Exactly? I mean, like whatever ailes you're growing, 0:16:56.200 --> 0:16:59.680 I guess. I mean, as usual with these medical ads, 0:16:59.720 --> 0:17:02.320 the right up is short on details and super long 0:17:02.400 --> 0:17:06.159 on this bizarre wording and these impossible claims, Like there 0:17:06.200 --> 0:17:10.760 was this promise to cure a week or deranged nervous system. 0:17:11.400 --> 0:17:14.480 So I found another It's called curtis Is Consumption Cure 0:17:14.800 --> 0:17:18.480 or the Triple C, and it just straight up promises 0:17:18.480 --> 0:17:23.960 to cure tuberculosis. Wow. You know, Sears is pretty lucky 0:17:24.000 --> 0:17:26.399 that the FDC wasn't around back then, because I can't 0:17:26.400 --> 0:17:29.000 imagine any of this stuff would have flown now. So 0:17:29.200 --> 0:17:31.679 you know what the strangest part is. So, according to 0:17:31.720 --> 0:17:35.199 the company, Richard Sears wrote just about every line of 0:17:35.200 --> 0:17:39.000 coffee and the catalogs. But you're kidding, right, No, it's true. Alright, Well, 0:17:39.040 --> 0:17:41.359 there was this funny nineteen o two add for something 0:17:41.400 --> 0:17:44.760 called a toilet mask, so I'm impressed by his copywriters skill. 0:17:44.840 --> 0:17:47.480 So the acid cured rubber is said to be coated 0:17:47.520 --> 0:17:51.520 with just healing agents. Wait, so is the assets supposed 0:17:51.560 --> 0:17:54.159 to improve your complexion like the arsenic wafers. Well, the 0:17:54.240 --> 0:17:57.239 acid is supposed to burn off things like freckles and 0:17:57.320 --> 0:18:00.359 liver spots. Sort of. I guess I don't know that 0:18:00.400 --> 0:18:03.760 i'd call acid burns and improvement over freckles though. Okay, 0:18:03.800 --> 0:18:06.080 so most of these are pretty disturbing products, so I'll 0:18:06.119 --> 0:18:09.160 go ahead and mention another that kind of fits the bill. Apparently. 0:18:09.200 --> 0:18:12.919 In the series, catalog offered a set of illustrated lecture 0:18:12.960 --> 0:18:17.960 slides that depicted quote realistic views of the assassination of 0:18:18.000 --> 0:18:21.520 President McKinley. Oh god. Yeah. Customers could relive the national 0:18:21.520 --> 0:18:24.320 tragedy from the comfort of their living rooms using the 0:18:24.440 --> 0:18:28.760 handy stereo opticon slide projector, which was also available through series. 0:18:28.960 --> 0:18:31.399 That is horrible, I mean, I do feel I need 0:18:31.440 --> 0:18:34.080 to point out the series also sold some pretty wholesome 0:18:34.080 --> 0:18:37.080 things through the catalogs too, So, for example, the nineteen 0:18:37.160 --> 0:18:40.720 thirties Sears advertised live baby chicks for sale. Each chick 0:18:40.800 --> 0:18:43.919 costs ten cents and the company actually guarantee they'd be 0:18:43.960 --> 0:18:47.320 delivered safe and alive or your money back. Well. I 0:18:47.560 --> 0:18:49.480 like this positive direction you're heading in, but I want 0:18:49.480 --> 0:18:51.280 to drag us back into the mud because I have 0:18:51.400 --> 0:18:53.960 to mention one of my favorite all time uses for 0:18:54.040 --> 0:18:56.840 the series catalog, which is that they provided the nation's 0:18:56.840 --> 0:18:59.639 toilet paper of choice in the late nineteenth century, so 0:18:59.720 --> 0:19:02.800 that Sears was selling toilet paper by mail. No, the 0:19:02.840 --> 0:19:05.480 catalogs themselves used to be the go to choice when 0:19:05.560 --> 0:19:09.840 rural Americans had to you know, w yeah, I believe 0:19:09.840 --> 0:19:11.600 it or not. The paper pages of the catalog were 0:19:11.600 --> 0:19:14.120 actually a big step up for most people. For those 0:19:14.160 --> 0:19:16.280 who didn't have a lot of expendable paper on hand 0:19:16.359 --> 0:19:18.800 in the late eighteen hundreds, corn cops were the next 0:19:18.800 --> 0:19:21.280 best option, or maybe a muscle shell if you happen 0:19:21.359 --> 0:19:24.080 to live near the coastline. I was trying to figure 0:19:24.080 --> 0:19:26.120 out which of those sounds worse, But I don't really 0:19:26.119 --> 0:19:27.679 even want to go down that path, so let's just 0:19:27.720 --> 0:19:30.280 not talk about that exactly, Which is why people were 0:19:30.320 --> 0:19:33.320 so happy when Sears started selling them giant free catalogs 0:19:33.320 --> 0:19:36.240 twice a year. And supposedly we looked at this a 0:19:36.320 --> 0:19:39.200 single catalog could meet the outhouse needs of a farm 0:19:39.200 --> 0:19:43.040 family for an entire season, So you can imagine just 0:19:43.200 --> 0:19:46.400 how upset folks were where the company switched from cushy, 0:19:46.440 --> 0:19:52.080