Mail Order Startups Trivia Quiz

Answer: Cowboy dusters

John Peterman started a mail order catalog business in 1988 after he tried to sell cowboy dusters from "The New Yorker". The catalog was distinctive because of the drawings of the merchandise (without models, so the clothes were floating in air) and the descriptions written for each item. Their first color catalog was distributed in 1989.

Answer: Raincoats

In 1910 John Blair tried to sell black raincoats for a fellow student at the University of Pennsylvania. He was only able to sell one to an undertaker. Determined to create a more attractive coat, he developed a raincoat with an outside of black wool adhered to vulcanized rubber, trimmed with a Scottish plaid on the inside. Letters were mailed to undertakers, and the coat sold quickly.

In 1916 the company name was changed from New Process Rubber Company to New Process Company. The company name was changed to Blair in 1989.

Answer: Maine Hunting Shoe

Leon Leonwood Bean was an avid outdoors-man, and set out to solve the problem of perennially wet boots by designing and producing a boot with rubber on the bottom and leather above. With a 100% money back for dissatisfied customers, he mailed out a circular to non-resident Maine hunting license holders in 1912.

He had to return 90% of the money from the first orders, but then had a better quality boot made.

Answer: Home-made fishing flies

Norm Thompson retired from owning various local businesses in Portland, Oregon, after World War II. This allowed him to spend much more time fly fishing. He began selling his home-made flies in 1949 through advertisements in various magazines. In 1951 the business went to his son-in-law, Peter Alport, who made changes which included adding the mail-order catalog.

Answer: Automobile seat covers

The Fingerhut family ran a sewing business. In 1948, William had the idea to produce automobile seat covers, and sold many to his brother Manny, a manager of a used-car lot. Manny then had the idea to sell to all car owners. They ran a test market of 100 owners and received eight orders. They soon began to acquire lists of new-car buyers and the mail order began to prosper.

Answer: Watches

Richard Warren Sears started with a mail-order watch business, the "R.W. Sears Watch Company". Soon after, he would meet Alvah C. Roebuck, a watch repairman. In 1893 they formed Sears, Roebuck & Company.

The catalogs had many items that were not available locally to rural families. The company name would become Sears, Robeuck and Co. when it was required that they incorporate with a new company name for their initial public offering in 1906. The catalog was discontinued in 1993.

Answer: Reading lights

Steve Leveen and Lori Granger Leveen found that they didn't have enough lighting in their new home to comfortably read. So, they did some research and began trying to sell halogen lights. They credit their first break to an ad in "The New Yorker" for "serious lighting for serious readers", which brought 47 customers. Their first mail-order catalog was published in 1990.

Answer: Military surplus optics

Norman Edmund started the Edmund Salvage Co. with World War II surplus. His first add was in "Sky & Telescope" offering "Unusual War Bargains in Lenses and Prisms" and a booklet titled "Fun with Chipped Edge Lenses". Their first mail order catalog was shipped in 1943. The company name was changed in 1948 to Edmund Scientific Co.

Answer: Maternity clothing

Immigrating to New York from Lithuania in 1897 at the age of 16, Lena Himmelstein began working as a seamstress. She married David Bryant, but was widowed soon after their son was born. When she opened a bank account, her name was misspelled as Lane.

Most women stayed home during pregnancy, but a customer asked for a dress to hide her pregnancy and allow her to host a dinner party. Lena began making these for her shop and eventually this became her focus.

She married Albert Malsin, and he began running the business while she focused on the designs. It was difficult to get newspaper ads for maternity clothes, so sometime between 1910 and 1917 a mail order business was started. By 1917 the catalog would bring in over a million dollars in sales.

Answer: Comice pears

Samuel Rosenberg sold his Seattle hotel in 1910 and purchased 240 acres of pear orchards. His sons, Harry and David, took over the business when he died in 1914. They began marketing the pears as "Royal Riviera" and were successful until the time of the Great Depression.

In 1934 they made a business trip to New York to try to drum up interest in their pears, but were having no luck. Rather than have the sample pears spoil, they sent them to top business men with a letter encouraging them to purchase as a gift for friends and colleagues. That strategy worked and this was also the year that they began sending out their first mailings.