Delivery Services Have Been Around for a While—Here’s What They Looked Like Back in the Day

Editors of ReminisceUpdated: Oct. 25, 2021

How things got from here to there, way back when.

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Bruce Bertram/Reminisce Magazine

Dairy delivery

Ernie Bertram, 10, poses with the Decker’s Dairy truck in front of the Bertram store in Hightstown, NJ, in 1933. Ernie’s son Bruce, of South River, NJ, says the bottle-shaped vehicle was popular in parades and at events. These meal delivery services will change the way you cook.

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Daniel Yurovich/Reminisce Magazine

Baked goods right to your door

Looking Dapper, Michael Yurovich, 19, shows off the day’s specials during a stop along the regular delivery route for Essex Bakery in Lorain, OH, in 1930. Michael’s son Daniel, of Vermilion, OH, shared this picture.

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R.B. McAtee/Reminisce Magazine

Ice cream delivery

We all scream for ice cream, even in wartime: R.B. McAtee of Arlington snapped this picture of horses pulling the Southern Dairies’ ice cream truck for deliveries in the midst of the WWII gas shortage. One of the truck’s dual tires had been removed to save rubber for the war effort, too. Check out these fascinating ice cream traditions from around the world.

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Joan K. Hunt/Reminisce Magazine

Moving truck

“My great-grandpa J. Ad Johnson ran a moving business using draft horses in San Ysidro, California. This picture was taken in 1916 in Tijuana, Mexico. ” -Joan K. Hunt

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Tom Kremer/Reminisce Magazine

Groceries to your door

For years, the grocery truck belonging to my father, Lawrence Kremer, was a welcome weekly visitor to area farms in northwest Ohio. Farmers could sell their eggs and poultry and buy needed goods, all without having to leave home.

Originally Published: August 22, 2017

Originally Published in Reminisce