<div dir="ltr">So why was Sears pushing Die Hard car batteries for so many years?</div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Jan 31, 2017 at 5:28 PM, Alameda County Central Railroad Society <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:accrs@mail.accrs.org" target="_blank">accrs@mail.accrs.org</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">Message From: Dean & Margaret Lewis <a href="mailto:lewis2@earthlink.net">lewis2@earthlink.net</a><br> <br> <br> <br> <br><u></u> <div bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000"> <span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">I found this </span><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">very interesting. </span> <div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">Read to the end to get the whole point. </span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br> </span></div> <div><img id="m_60053950765850707947CE92F0C-BF7D-4F6D-A291-F93754A3ABA7" alt="image1.jpeg" src="cid:part1.07040508.04070302@earthlink.net"></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><b>Buying a watch in 1880. </b></span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br> </span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">If you were in the market for a watch in 1880, would you know where to get one?</span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">You would go to a store, right?</span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br> </span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">Well, of course you could do that, but if you wanted one that was cheaper and a bit better than most of the store watches, you went to the train station!</span><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">Sound a bit funny?</span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br> </span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">Well, for about 500 towns across the northern United States , that's where the best watches were found.</span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br> </span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">Why were the best watches found at the train station?</span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br> </span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">The railroad company wasn't selling the watches, not at all.</span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">The telegraph operator was.</span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br> </span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">Most of the time the telegraph operator was located in the railroad station because the telegraph lines followed the railroad tracks from town to town.</span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br> </span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">It was usually the shortest distance and the right-of-ways had already been secured for the rail line.</span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br> </span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">Most of the station agents were also skilled telegraph operators and that was the primary way that they communicated with the railroad.</span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br> </span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">They would know when trains left the previous station and when they were due at their next station.</span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br> </span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">And it was the telegraph operator who had the watches.</span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br> </span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">As a matter of fact, they sold more of them than almost all the stores combined for a period of about 9 years.</span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br> </span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">This was all arranged by "Richard", who was a telegraph operator himself. He was on duty in the North Redwood, Minnesota train station one day when a load of watches arrived from the East. It was a huge crate of pocket watches. No one ever came to claim them.</span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br> </span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">So Richard sent a telegram to the manufacturer and asked them what they wanted to do with the watches.</span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br> </span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">The manufacturer didn't want to pay the freight back, so they wired Richard to see if he could sell them.</span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br> </span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">So Richard did.</span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br> </span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">He sent a wire to every agent in the system asking them if they wanted a cheap, but good, pocket watch.</span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br> </span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">He sold the entire case in less than two days and at a handsome profit.</span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br> </span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">That started it all.</span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br> </span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">He ordered more watches from the watch company and encouraged the telegraph operators to set up a display case in the station offering high quality watches for a cheap price to all the travelers.</span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br> </span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">It worked!</span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br> </span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">It didn't take long for the word to spread and, before long, people other than travelers came to the train station to buy watches.</span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br> </span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">Richard became so busy that he had to hire a professional watch maker to help him with the orders.</span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br> </span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">That was Alvah.</span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br> </span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">And the rest is history as they say.</span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br> </span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">The business took off and soon expanded to many other lines of dry goods.</span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br> </span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">Richard and Alvah left the train station and moved their company to Chicago -- and it's still there.</span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br> </span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">YES, IT'S A LITTLE KNOWN FACT that for a while in the 1880's, the biggest watch retailer in the country was at the train station.</span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br> </span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">It all started with a telegraph operator: Richard Sears and his partner Alvah Roebuck!</span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br> </span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">Bet You Didn't Know That! </span></div> <div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">OK, Maybe you did; I didn't! </span></div> <div><br> </div> <div><br> </div> <div><br> </div> </div> </div> <br>______________________________<wbr>_________________<br> Accrs mailing list<br> <a href="mailto:Accrs@mail.accrs.org">Accrs@mail.accrs.org</a><br> <a href="https://mail.accrs.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/accrs" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">https://mail.accrs.org/cgi-<wbr>bin/mailman/listinfo/accrs</a><br> <br></blockquote></div><br></div>