Everything Old is New Again: Grocery Delivery

The words in Peter Allen’s song title Everything Old is New Again tells it like it is. In his Colorado Kid, author Stephen King used the same line when he wrote, ”Sooner or later, everything old is new again.” The song and the book have nothing to do with each other, except that Allen and King are right. Over time, much comes full circle, prompting some to shrug and say the wheel continues to be reinvented. Again. And again.

It’s even true with something as innocuous grocery delivery, which is coming back into vogue. Here and there in recent years, big city grocery stores offered grocery delivery, however it was COVID 19 that brought those stores to light. The idea spread. Arranging for someone else to do the shopping is easy for those online. One simply submits a grocery list, credit card information for payment, adds delivery instructions, and then selects a date and time for delivery. Voila! The groceries show up. Or, one can find products on Amazon, and have them delivered by mail.

Algoma grocery deliveries can be documented to just after 1900 when merchant Rudolph Pauly ran the meat market on the southeast corner of 4^th and Clark. It was before World War l when Pauly made big news ordering a tricycle. A tricycle? Pauly didn’t have a toy section in his market, and although it might be hard to believe, the tricycle was for business purposes. During May 1902, Algoma’s bicycle dealer, Julius Meyer, ordered a trike for Pauly who planned to use it for meat deliveries. The tricycle was said to be strong, but simple, having a box between the rear wheels. It was said the bicycle could be powered by a small boy even though the box was built to hold at least 150 pounds. The machine ran as light as a bicycle, prompting the Record to say if the machine proved as satisfactory as Pauly thought, more of the businessmen might use them. Businessmen did. One hundred years later such tricycles are used by the ice cream vendors in cities.

RFD mail carrier leaving Ellisville about 1910

At the end of November 1904, Kewaunee County was fully served by Rural Free Delivery, RFD. It meant mail was delivered to rural areas finally offering country folk access to what their city cousins enjoyed. RFD brought catalogues such as Sears-Roebuck, Speigle, and Montgomery Ward, whetting appetites beyond what was satisfied by area merchants. Whatever folks wanted to order -  whether a bride’s trousseau or baby chicks - the mail carrier made sure it was delivered.

By 1908, Congress was in the midst of establishing rural parcel post offering special postage rates for food stuffs, dry goods, drugs, books and other merchandise. Postage began at 5 cents for the first pound and 2 cents for each additional pound.

On the cusp of U.S. entry into World War l, Milwaukee Daily News, in February 1917, ran an article about grocery delivery and the costs the American housewife failed to appreciate when she called to have a 5-cent cake of year delivered. The News pointed out the costs in maintaining delivery horses or the motor trucks, and the costs of paying deliverymen. The paper estimated that the cost of delivery was 8% of the price of the item, which meant that a grocer who didn’t deliver could sell the same goods for 8% lower than the grocer who had equipment to maintain.

Milwaukee Daily News went on to say that delivery was high class service that resulted in higher living costs. A woman who picked out her own groceries got better quality and saved money by paying cash. The paper advocated “cash and carry” to help eliminate some of the high costs of living. By 1923 Wisconsin Department of Markets was investigating cash and carry versus delivery stores.

Bach Mercantile, on the northwest corner of 4^th and Steele, advertised itself as a cash and carry store in the late 1930s. A few years earlier, Bach touted delivery and charging groceries to one’s account. In 1949, the new Fotey store on the northwest corner of Division and Jefferson offered cash and carry prices, and as late as 1956, Algoma’s Gamble Store was advertising Philco radios at the cash and carry price of $14.00. Gamble’s carried groceries earlier.

In a move to meet competition from chain stores, merchants in some areas organized to place their businesses on a strictly cash basis.  Stores had carried customers “on account.” Periodically, the charged accounts were settled. The Depression, however, put a huge burden on the shoulders of merchants often unable to collect on the accounts for those they generously floated. Deliveries kept on.

1933 Record Herald ad

In 1934 newspaper ads, P.J. Dart, manager of Algoma’s branch of Wisconsin Telephone Co. pointed toward emergencies a reason for telephone service, but added food for thought: it would lighten the housewife’s role if she just had a phone for ordering her groceries. As access to telephones grew in Algoma, grocery stores offered delivery service.

By World War ll, just about every store in town had a delivery vehicle. It was a time when gas was rationed and women were joining the paid workforce, taking the places of men who were drafted. These women worked for hire while juggling  families, meals. gardens and all the things it took to run a 1940s household when there were few labor-saving devices.

Barely a month following U.s entry to World War ll, grocery delivery became a “defense need.” Foretold was how local housewives could call a store at any time during the day and expect groceries within a few hours. Recognizing the need for conservation of resources, all 10 of Algoma’s grocers and meat markets met to organize. Cooperating in the delivery effort were Ahrndt Food Market, Algoma Farmer’s Co-op, Cashway, Earl’s I.G.A., Horak’s, Katch’s, Kashik’s, Nell’s Schaida’s and Sedivy’s. It was decided two deliveries would be made each morning. Within time, the schedule was reduced. There were inconveniences but such things were contributions to the war effort. 

There was no online capability in 1942 when grocery orders were phoned in to the store. A clerk put the order together, noted the total on the purchaser’s account, and the delivery boy got the groceries out as quickly as he could. Grocery delivery made a difference.

Katch's 1953, Record Herald photo

Katch’s delivered around town even into the 1960s when this blogger was a teen-ager with a part-time weekend checkout job. Hoogie and Jerry were the popular “delivery boys” who took the van out to deliver as little as a pound of butter or a bottle of vanilla. Although there was no charge for the delivery, on a good day the boys might luck out with a 10 cent tip!  By then, delivery in Algoma had been taking place for at least 60 years.

Deliveries didn’t stop with the grocery stores. During World War ll and for at least 15 years later, Mrs. Silver, a Green Bay fashion saleswoman, stopped at farms across the county with samples of the latest in dresses and hats. Women could try on the merchandise and order in a size to fit them. Garments would be delivered and paid for on a subsequent visit. When in October 1936, Algoma Hospital let it be known that it needed a sewing machine, it was Mrs. Silver who donated one. In the mid-1950s when so many residents were getting tv sets, the Red Buttons’ show was a favorite among Silver’s customers. Her son Joe was associated with the program and New York tv. Heady stuff in a small town.

Record Herald ad, 1938

There were other product deliveries. Watkins’ merchandise was in demand and Kewaunee’s Mr. Sevcik had a route as did the Fuller Brush man who brought cleaning items. A little later, the Avon lady made appearances and brought beauty products to the privacy of one’s home. Mauer’s Grocery encouraged residents to phone in their beer requests. Such deliveries also offered a little privacy for those whose habits were judged by others

A computer crash, or hack, means no ordering today, sending the blood pressure up for those who never thought of Plan B. It happened with telephones too but nobody became “unglued.” There were strikes after World War ll, one of which was a nation-wide walk out by telephone workers in April 1947. Grocery delivery was still on the Wednesday-and-Saturday-only wartime basis, but Algoma area women knew exactly what to do. As the Record Herald pointed out, area women learned long ago how to shop and when the phones were down, there was no sudden congestion in stores or at meat counters. Algoma women were prepared.

Everything old is new again, including groceries deliveries.

Sources: Algoma Record Herald. The painting is from NLJohnson Art. Other graphics are from Algoma Record Herald.