# The World Of The Door To Door Salesman - 1952



## Meanderer (Oct 17, 2015)

*$7,000,000,000 for Door-to-Door Salesmen (Apr, 1952)*

According to this article in 1952 fully 2% of the American workforce were door-to-door salesmen. I wonder what it is now? I love how they speak approvingly of one organization’s “pyramiding partnership”.
http://blog.modernmechanix.com/7000000000-for-door-to-door-salesmen/


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## RadishRose (Oct 17, 2015)

Interesting, Jim. It goes along with an opinion I posted elsewhere about home deliveries back then. I was thinking a lot of families didn't have a second car like so many today- or even one car, so bringing goods to the home was needed. 

I remember the store on wheels, the milkman, breadman, dry cleaner , also the door-to- door Fuller Brush man and the door- to door- Avon lady.


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## Meanderer (Oct 17, 2015)

You're right, Rose. the man's home was his castle, and the merchants, and tradesmen, came to the castle! HAHA!


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## oldman (Oct 18, 2015)

I remember those guys. Every so often on would show up trying to sell their wares, but some came pretty often. Fuller Brush, Electrolux Vacuum Cleaners, Jewel Tea Co. all come to mind. Then, we also had the butcher, the egg man, the milk man and the frozen food guy.


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## Meanderer (Oct 20, 2015)

Please leave!


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## Butterfly (Oct 27, 2015)

I remember the Fuller Brush man well.


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## RadishRose (Oct 28, 2015)

oldman said:


> I remember those guys. Every so often on would show up trying to sell their wares, but some came pretty often. Fuller Brush, Electrolux Vacuum Cleaners, Jewel Tea Co. all come to mind. Then, we also had the butcher, the egg man, the milk man and the frozen food guy.




I recall Electrolux but not tea, butchers, eggs or frozen food guys. I guess our store on wheels had those. But we had the popcorn guy with his little white truck. The back was a giant popcorn machine behind glass. He didn't last long, sorry to say.


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## Manatee (Nov 1, 2015)

During WW2 my mother walked to the grocery store with a wooden shopping cart.
In 1943 my father put the car up on blocks and didn't drive it until the following year.  Gas was rationed.


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## NancyNGA (Nov 1, 2015)

My aunt married the Fuller Brush man.


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## chic (Nov 2, 2015)

Truly, Nancy?? :sentimental:

I only remember the milk man in his little truck delivering fresh milk and dairy products daily. No rag men or fuller brush men.


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## NancyNGA (Nov 2, 2015)

chic said:


> Truly, Nancy?? :sentimental:



No kidding.  According to my mother, that's how they met. They lived in town then.  Out in the suburbs, door to door salesmen weren't so common.


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## Meanderer (Nov 3, 2015)

In his younger days, Billy Graham was a Fuller Brush salesman.


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## Pappy (Nov 3, 2015)

I tried selling Singer sewing machines one summer. Ha, what a joke that was. I came close to selling one, one time, but it was an old women that I knew couldn't afford one, so I put the stopper on that sale. I had to live with myself, too. Lasted about two months. The kids needed milk.


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## AZ Jim (Nov 3, 2015)

Don't forget the Watkins man....They could sell ya something to clean carpets, polish furniture or cure cancer as they told it.


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## imp (Nov 3, 2015)

Manatee said:


> During WW2 my mother walked to the grocery store with a wooden shopping cart.
> In 1943 my father put the car up on blocks and didn't drive it until the following year.  Gas was rationed.



My Dad as a Tool & Die Maker, was considered "war-critical", and I believe he was given a near-unlimited gasoline stamp.   imp


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## imp (Nov 3, 2015)

The most outrageous "salesman" to come to our door was our Alderman. He handed out dollar bills to secure folks' votes! Only in"Crook County" Illinois.   

imp


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