do you remember

[grammaterry]

Kirby did door to door cold calls. I do believe I called the ad for the sewing machine to come demonstrate. He didn't just knock on the door. Same with the encyclopedia guy. And the priest would come and solicit money, and avon and fuller brush and the milk man. People were hungry then and were looking to get some commission. My first husband tried to sell vacuums door to door when he came back from Viet Nam. I remember one woman wanted to buy one and he told her he didn't think she should because she had all these hungry children and nothing in the house. HE ended up buying her groceries and left without a sale after he cleaned all her carpets.

[MHG Winnower]

Don't remember a sewing machine salesman, but I still have the Electrolux vac and the receipt for it. We did have Electrolux and Fuller Brush when I was a mere child. Had local farmers driving the neighborhoods selling produce and pastry salesmen too. Also sellers of pots, pans, knives....you name it. Really, it was not horse and buggy days. How times have changed!!!

[jjkaiser]

This is all so interesting. I had no idea all these items were sold door to door! I wish a pastry salesman would come knocking on my door this morning!

[MaggieSue]

Oh my, so many memories, 1967 bought a Universal sewing machine from a door to door sales man. Had it for twenty years finally the timing went out and could not be fixed. Also bought a vacuum from door to door sales man.

[Hulamoon]

We had a Helms bakery truck in our neighborhood and you could put a sign in the window that you wanted him to stop and honk outside. That was fun. Do you remember those?

[SuzanneOrleansOntario]

My mom would fall for all these salespeople pitches. My dad was so upset. She bought encyclopaedia, bible story books, vaccum, China dishes and her best purchase was a huge mixmaster. She got it free if she signed up for a year delivery of powder milk. Well, we were drinking powdered milk, yuck. They did send some TAngpackages. MY MOM HAD THIS MIXMASTER UNTIL WE SOLD THE HOUSE. I GUESS IT WAS A SMALL PRICE TO PAY.

We mostly get door to door for lawn care, roofers, fences, painters, duct cleaners, charitable organizations, religion converters. We used to get a lot of scammers who claimed to work for utilities, wanting to check hot water tank, furnaces. It is now illegal for most door to door. I never gave the, the time of day. If I need a service done, I call who I want and get a few estimates. Having said that we did get roped into a demo of a Rainbow vaccum. I thought they were too pricey, but DH fell prey to the sales pitch. It works well but very awkward and heavy to carry on other levels.

[GuitarGramma]

We bought a set of fine knives from a fellow who wouldn't leave the house until we bought. I needed a new dishwasher so badly, and I told the guy that if I bought his knives, I couldn't get a new dishwasher. He just wouldn't stand up to leave until we bought the knives. We didn't want to be rude because we'd met this guy when we ran into a friend from church, and we didn't want to be rude to a friend's friend.

Later, our friend's wife told us she'd chewed out her hubby for letting the knife salesman get our contact info. She knew this would happen. It was validation that there was probably nothing we could have done differently. (And what could our friend do? The salesman asked us for our phone number. He couldn't very well have jumped up and grabbed the number out of the salesman's hands, now could he?)

I never got that dishwasher. We sold the house before we saved up enough money again.

[Sandy Navas]

Anyone else remember the Watkin's man? https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C...w=1163&bih=536


And today we have Schwan's - and while they do drop buy and drop off a catalog now and then, they haven't pressured us. Someone on our street does use them, however.

And then there is the Bible salesman:

This door-to-door entrepreneur became rather bored with his job of selling Bibles, so he decided to become a boss, hiring three people to sell Bibles for him. He interviewed three people. The first came in and said, “I want to sell Bibles for you.”“OK, you’re hired. Here’s your kit, go sell!”The second came in and said, “I want to sell Bibles for you.”“OK, you’re hired! Here’s your kit; go sell!”The third came in and said, “I- i – I wa – wa- wa-want t-t-t-t-to s-s-s-s-ell to sell, to sell, to sell, Bi – bi – bi – Bibles, sell Bi -Bibles f-f-f-fo-for y-y-y-y you Bibles for you!”“No,” shouted the man, “this will never work! You can’t sell Bibles for me!”The applicant replied, “B-b-b-b-but I r-r-r-eall, but I really, really, n-n-n-n-need th-th-th-this, really need tthis job!”As there were no other applicants, he man said, “OK, I’ll give you one shot at this, but I expect you to PRODUCE!”At the end of the day, the first applicant comes back and reports, “I sold 8 Bibles today.”The second reports, “I sold 11 Bibles today.”The third worker reports, “To-to-to-to t-t-today, I-i-I so- so, I so-, I so-, I so- I sold 28 Bi- bi- b- bibles!”“Great,” says the man. “However, I want you to sell a lot more Bibles than that, so get out there tomorrow and MAKE ME SOME MONEY!”At the end of the second day, the first worker comes in and reports, “Today, I sold 21 Bibles.”The second worker reports, “I sold 29 Bibles today.”The third worker reports, “To-to-to t-today, I-i-I so- so, I so-, I sold 79 Bi-bi-bi- sold 79, sold 79 Bibles.”“Fantastic,” said the man, “since you’re doing so well, so much better than these other two bums, why don’t you tell them what your sales technique is.”Replied the worker, “I-i-I j-j-j-j-ju-ju-ju-just wa, wa, wa, just wal- wa- wa- walk, just walk up to up to up to just walk up to them and and ask, them and ask, them and ask if th-th-th-th ask if they w-w-w-w-w- wa- ask if they want t-t-t-t-o-o- if they want to b–b-b-b-b if they want to buy a Bi-bi – want to buy a Bi–b–a – a- abi – buy a to buy a Bi-bi-bible, or d-d-d-d-d do th-th-they do they w-w-w-ant me to READ it to ’em?”

[TMP]

I don't remember any one coming to our house to sell sewing machines. I do remember early one morning I was pregnant with my son and I was so sick the entire 9 months. Someone was at the door and I was so nauseated . It was a Jehovah witnesses. I answered the door (something I don't do now if I don't know you) and he stuck his foot in the door and proceeded his spill to save me. I said if you don't move your foot I'm going to throw up on it . His foot didn't move and I couldn't help it I threw up on him.

I remember as a child a man coming around the neighborhood selling vegetables he grew. Do you remember when the drug store made deliveries and the doctor came to the house when you were sick ?

[cv quilter]

Anyone else remember the Watkin's man? https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C...w=1163&bih=536


And today we have Schwan's - and while they do drop buy and drop off a catalog now and then, they haven't pressured us. Someone on our street does use them, however.

And then there is the Bible salesman:

[FONT="]This door-to-door entrepreneur became rather bored with his job of selling Bibles, so he decided to become a boss, hiring three people to sell Bibles for him. He interviewed three people. The first came in and said, “I want to sell Bibles for you.”[/FONT][FONT="]“OK, you’re hired. Here’s your kit, go sell!”[/FONT][FONT="]The second came in and said, “I want to sell Bibles for you.”[/FONT][FONT="]“OK, you’re hired! Here’s your kit; go sell!”[/FONT][FONT="]The third came in and said, “I- i – I wa – wa- wa-want t-t-t-t-to s-s-s-s-ell to sell, to sell, to sell, Bi – bi – bi – Bibles, sell Bi -Bibles f-f-f-fo-for y-y-y-y you Bibles for you!”[/FONT][FONT="]“No,” shouted the man, “this will never work! You can’t sell Bibles for me!”[/FONT][FONT="]The applicant replied, “B-b-b-b-but I r-r-r-eall, but I really, really, n-n-n-n-need th-th-th-this, really need tthis job!”[/FONT][FONT="]As there were no other applicants, he man said, “OK, I’ll give you one shot at this, but I expect you to PRODUCE!”[/FONT][FONT="]At the end of the day, the first applicant comes back and reports, “I sold 8 Bibles today.”[/FONT][FONT="]The second reports, “I sold 11 Bibles today.”[/FONT][FONT="]The third worker reports, “To-to-to-to t-t-today, I-i-I so- so, I so-, I so-, I so- I sold 28 Bi- bi- b- bibles!”[/FONT][FONT="]“Great,” says the man. “However, I want you to sell a lot more Bibles than that, so get out there tomorrow and MAKE ME SOME MONEY!”[/FONT][FONT="]At the end of the second day, the first worker comes in and reports, “Today, I sold 21 Bibles.”[/FONT][FONT="]The second worker reports, “I sold 29 Bibles today.”[/FONT][FONT="]The third worker reports, “To-to-to t-today, I-i-I so- so, I so-, I sold 79 Bi-bi-bi- sold 79, sold 79 Bibles.”[/FONT][FONT="]“Fantastic,” said the man, “since you’re doing so well, so much better than these other two bums, why don’t you tell them what your sales technique is.”[/FONT]Replied the worker, “I-i-I j-j-j-j-ju-ju-ju-just wa, wa, wa, just wal- wa- wa- walk, just walk up to up to up to just walk up to them and and ask, them and ask, them and ask if th-th-th-th ask if they w-w-w-w-w- wa- ask if they want t-t-t-t-o-o- if they want to b–b-b-b-b if they want to buy a Bi-bi – want to buy a Bi–b–a – a- abi – buy a to buy a Bi-bi-bible, or d-d-d-d-d do th-th-they do they w-w-w-ant me to READ it to ’em?”

Watkin's Man....YES

Jewel Tea Man...YES (anyone else?)

Fuller Brush Man.... YES (anyone else?)

The Bible Salesman...OMG I think I bought from him!!!