Packaging Profits

Cleanliness, convenience and economy were the first consequences of packaging in the early 1900s.  Packaging was a new way for old products to become more profitable.  In 1928 when only 10% of household sugar was sold in package form, the American Sugar Refining Company advertised the advantages of packaged sugar against bulk barrels - it was still a novel idea...
   
     "Domino Sugar in five pound bags saves 1.4% cost of spillage over measuring out from a 350                pound barrel.  A retailer will make more money per pound instead of scooping out sugar,                    weighing it, tying it.  We eliminate all handling costs, all expenses, all losses."

Salt was another consumable that was profitable for the grocer when packaged.  Salt was sold in cotton bags for one to five cents each.  The narrow profit margin actually depended on the fluctuation of cotton itself.  Moisture could render much of the household bag of salt unusable in humid weather.  When the Morton Salt Company began packaging salt in cartons with a pourable spout, the cost could be raised 3-4 times for the same amount.  "When it rained it poured."

Many times the products themselves were transformed.  Tea, prior to 1900, was sold in bulk by the grocer and stored in fancy tea boxes.  My Colonial America tea box comes with its own key to lock away precious tea from unwanted users, but by the 1900s, when tea was no longer a symbol of rebellion and the British hold over the nation, tea had dropped in prices and became available in the modern "tea bag" beginning in 1920s.  No need for the English tea pot!

Perfume was ladled out by the druggist prior to 1900 for each customer from his large bottle into smaller plain bottles.  If you are old enough, you might remember the very large display bottles used for advertising.  Luxury packaging in the 1920s made perfume into a gift bottle that went directly to the dressing table.

Matches went from the kitchen fireplace into compact books carried in pockets with their own advertising.  Ice cream became portable with its own edible package with the ice cream cone  in 1918 and the Eskimo Pie in 1921 - an American made name.

Yes, American mass-merchandising and branding was changing the way consumers purchased - beginning with the simple package...

Next time...No packaging, no brands, no business
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Today in Pioneer History: "On March 5, 1770, a mob of American colonists gathers at the Customs House in Boston and begins taunting the British soldiers guarding the building.  The protesters, who called themselves Patriots, were protesting the occupation of their city by British troops.  Snowballs and other objects were thrown and a rifle was discharged into the crows killing Crispus Attucks, and four others...the first causalities of the American Revolution in the Boston Massacre.