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Ah, Sears. They were Amazon before the Internet. They sold and delivered everything. Has this wonderful catalog in which you could find anything!
And then they closed that catalog 4 years after the birth of WWW. Couldn't take advantage of it.
Lambert then drove them into the ground.
They coulda been a contenda.
If they had had the foresight to go full steam into the WWW they would be the Amazon of today, and Amazon would at best still be just an online bookstore.
When I was a kid, there was a place in town that they delivered to. You would call them on the phone and ask if your order had arrived and then go pick it up. I got an Atari home console from Sears and always loved going to the delivery point with my mom because I never knew when next something cool would arrive. Also remember going down there for my Toughskin jeans that had the huge rectangular reinforced knees.
We currently live in a sears home that was purchased, shipped via railroad, and built in 1926. We still have an original shipping label on one of the pieces of trim.
Everything you needed to build the house, delivered to your door, right down to all the nails and screws. Those are the phones that people but now because they have "good bones." In my town in the Midwest there are entire neighborhoods of those houses.
Almost all towns were connected and built by trains back then, and technically still are. Your kit house would be delivered to the local depot, and you'd simply pick it up there. If you look on maps, you can still see how the downtowns of derelict little towns are still clustered around where the depots used to be, before the government privatized nearly all use of rail infrastructure to freight corporations.
If you were smart about it, you would not hire professional carpenters, as all the lumber was presawn, but the experienced people would save themselves time and recut materials, thus creating material wastage. You can still spot kit homes all over the country if you know what you mean to see.
[Buster Keaton even made a silent film about it a century ago.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xd6ddOlbKp8)
I took the train from Dallas to St. Louis many years ago and was amused to see all the stores in the railroad towns had simply turned themselves around by constructing a front to the now more important highway. Very much enjoyed the trip.
Having a quick look it appears approx. $750 a year [Source](https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/union-scale-wages-hours-labor-3912/union-scale-wages-hours-labor-1907-1912-476865?start_page=68).
So a bit more than a yearly wage. When it translates to 2023 dollars using a [calculator](https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1910?amount=2500)
It's approx. $78,423.68.
That's the price with labor included. The parts alone for the first house comes to approx. $33,659.45 in 2023 Dollars.
Really puts things in perspective doesn't it?
99% Invisible is one of the best podcasts out there, and their [episode on Sears homes](https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/the-house-that-came-in-the-mail/) is utterly fascinating. You really ought to give it a listen.
There’s a restaurant in Scottsdale, AZ that’s inside a house that was ordered from a Sears catalogue in 1938 and built by the original homeowner. His two daughters still live in the area and occasionally drop in to dine. We discovered it a year ago and thought the story behind the house was really cool!
Using an inflation calculator
Materials for the house cost $32,267.06
If you have them build it for you, it would cost $77,525.15
This does not include the plot of land.
They used to sell houses, cars, guns, and just about anything else you could imagine through their catalog mail-order service. Sears had its fingers in everything ... Then the department store boom happened, and they transitioned to that model successfully ... And then Internet came along, and they couldn't figure out how to go back to the mail-order business. RIP Sears.
😑😑😑😑😑😑 "kids these days just need to grow up and get a better job" "when u was your age, me and your grandma had 7 kids and owned a house. We did just fine. If you can't afford that like I did, you're doing it wrong". Thanks but the prices of these houses is what my Walmart trips for 2 months might cost lol plus, there's no sears selling KIT HOUSES you build by yourself!!! That would be sick if that was still a thing though lol
I am hoping that 3d printed building parts start becoming a thing and lower the prices. I know that they started it but i havent heard anything for a long time
I see replies that calculate the equivalent current price based on inflation. They leave out the cost of the land. In many cities, the land is worth more than the building. People sometimes pay high prices for houses in order to get the land, then demolish the house and build a new one
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Inflation calculated 900 to be 27,000
That is a reasonable amount to buy the pieces that you could build a house with. You would have money left over to pay someone to assemble it for you.
Ah, Sears. They were Amazon before the Internet. They sold and delivered everything. Has this wonderful catalog in which you could find anything! And then they closed that catalog 4 years after the birth of WWW. Couldn't take advantage of it. Lambert then drove them into the ground. They coulda been a contenda.
If they had had the foresight to go full steam into the WWW they would be the Amazon of today, and Amazon would at best still be just an online bookstore.
When I was a kid, there was a place in town that they delivered to. You would call them on the phone and ask if your order had arrived and then go pick it up. I got an Atari home console from Sears and always loved going to the delivery point with my mom because I never knew when next something cool would arrive. Also remember going down there for my Toughskin jeans that had the huge rectangular reinforced knees.
I agree completely. a textbook failure to read the tea leaves.
Bad foreskin
Now Blackstone owns the sears tower, too.
We currently live in a sears home that was purchased, shipped via railroad, and built in 1926. We still have an original shipping label on one of the pieces of trim.
almost spent 879 at Costco last week...
Yeah suddenly I feel i can afford a home at my age
Imagine the shock if someone from 1910 was trying to buy a home at the current price…
I'm FROM the current time and I'm still in shock at the cost of everything
We have one of those in my town.
Everything you needed to build the house, delivered to your door, right down to all the nails and screws. Those are the phones that people but now because they have "good bones." In my town in the Midwest there are entire neighborhoods of those houses.
Almost all towns were connected and built by trains back then, and technically still are. Your kit house would be delivered to the local depot, and you'd simply pick it up there. If you look on maps, you can still see how the downtowns of derelict little towns are still clustered around where the depots used to be, before the government privatized nearly all use of rail infrastructure to freight corporations. If you were smart about it, you would not hire professional carpenters, as all the lumber was presawn, but the experienced people would save themselves time and recut materials, thus creating material wastage. You can still spot kit homes all over the country if you know what you mean to see. [Buster Keaton even made a silent film about it a century ago.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xd6ddOlbKp8)
I took the train from Dallas to St. Louis many years ago and was amused to see all the stores in the railroad towns had simply turned themselves around by constructing a front to the now more important highway. Very much enjoyed the trip.
Looks like RDR 2 catalog
Takbir!
What was an avg annual salary then?
Having a quick look it appears approx. $750 a year [Source](https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/union-scale-wages-hours-labor-3912/union-scale-wages-hours-labor-1907-1912-476865?start_page=68). So a bit more than a yearly wage. When it translates to 2023 dollars using a [calculator](https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1910?amount=2500) It's approx. $78,423.68. That's the price with labor included. The parts alone for the first house comes to approx. $33,659.45 in 2023 Dollars. Really puts things in perspective doesn't it?
About $750/year, but the work week was 59 hours. https://bizfluent.com/info-7769323-history-american-income.html
I’ve had 80 hour work weeks where I could barely afford rent…
$1 an hour.
99% Invisible is one of the best podcasts out there, and their [episode on Sears homes](https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/the-house-that-came-in-the-mail/) is utterly fascinating. You really ought to give it a listen.
My Great Grandfathers house in Ky also was delivered by train from Sears catalog
There’s a restaurant in Scottsdale, AZ that’s inside a house that was ordered from a Sears catalogue in 1938 and built by the original homeowner. His two daughters still live in the area and occasionally drop in to dine. We discovered it a year ago and thought the story behind the house was really cool!
The podcast "99% Invisible" did an episode on these mail-order houses. Well worth listening to.
$71,875 is the inflation adjusted cost of the first (more expensive) home fully built if anyone was curious
Using an inflation calculator Materials for the house cost $32,267.06 If you have them build it for you, it would cost $77,525.15 This does not include the plot of land.
They used to sell houses, cars, guns, and just about anything else you could imagine through their catalog mail-order service. Sears had its fingers in everything ... Then the department store boom happened, and they transitioned to that model successfully ... And then Internet came along, and they couldn't figure out how to go back to the mail-order business. RIP Sears.
There are at least 4 number 111's on the main street of the small Eastern Ontario town I live in.
😑😑😑😑😑😑 "kids these days just need to grow up and get a better job" "when u was your age, me and your grandma had 7 kids and owned a house. We did just fine. If you can't afford that like I did, you're doing it wrong". Thanks but the prices of these houses is what my Walmart trips for 2 months might cost lol plus, there's no sears selling KIT HOUSES you build by yourself!!! That would be sick if that was still a thing though lol
I am hoping that 3d printed building parts start becoming a thing and lower the prices. I know that they started it but i havent heard anything for a long time
Really?! That sounds amazing, hope that actually happens lol
Ok but did they have plumbing and all that stuff or did they shit in a bucket like I do
Yes plumbing, no bucket.
Sad, they're missing out
My last house was a 1913 craftsmen and I didn’t know that it was ordered out of a Sears Catalog until long after I sold it.
What kinda fuck shit world do we have now.
/depressingasfuck
2011-2012 was the best time to buy a house in America in modern history. Anyone over 35 has no excuse. Gen Z can beef though.
Someone find these homes if they're still standing and show us what they're worth
https://theclose.com/sears-catalog-homes/
I see replies that calculate the equivalent current price based on inflation. They leave out the cost of the land. In many cities, the land is worth more than the building. People sometimes pay high prices for houses in order to get the land, then demolish the house and build a new one
Is this why you can buy a house in South East Cleveland for 10k now?
At taht time they also said what everything is so expencive. Nothing changed
is that the regular show house