Richard Warren Sears

Richard Warren Sears (born December 7, 1863 in Stewartville , Minnesota , † September 28, 1914 in Waukesha , Wisconsin ) was an American entrepreneur and founder of the mail order business.

Life

Sears grew up in Spring Valley . After his father James lost his $ 15,000 fortune on the stock market and passed away in 1879, 16-year-old Richard had to provide for the family. He learned telegraphy and worked for the Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway .

Sears bought a batch of pocket watches that a local dealer had refused to accept for $ 50 and resold them to passengers or railroad employees. It couldn't have been a better time, because in 1883 the railways had introduced four time zones to standardize the complex timetables, and pocket watches were suddenly in great demand.

In 1886, 23-year-old Sears invested his $ 5,000 profits in a watch business and named it the RW Sears Watch Company . He advertised his watches in local newspapers and moved business from Minneapolis to Chicago. Because the clocks sometimes needed minor repairs, he hired a young clockmaker, Alvah Curtis Roebuck , in 1887 .

In 1893 she founded the mail-order firm Sears, Roebuck and Co . The first catalog from 1888 only showed watches and jewelry on 52 pages. In 1893, the catalog already comprised 196 pages and also offered sewing machines, shoes, riding saddles and other everyday items. In 1895 Alvah Roebuck decided that he wanted to get out of the business because the new business was asking too much and his health was suffering as a result. The business was growing too fast in his opinion and he got scared of the obligations, so he asked Sears to pay him off with his 1/3 stake for $ 25,000. Not having that much cash, Sears offered Roebuck's stake to Chicago businessmen Aaron Nusbaum and Julius Rosenwald , Nusbaum's brother-in-law, for $ 37,500 each. In 1896 Rosenwald became Vice President of Sears, Roebuck and Co. In 1896 they published the first comprehensive catalog.

In the 1890s, 75% of Americans were rural or small town settlers. It often took them half a day to get to the next post office to collect their mail. Richard Sears had benefited from having his catalogs classified as "educational" material at the lowest rate. With the introduction of Rural Free Delivery (RFD) in 1896, it became possible over time to distribute the catalogs all over the country.

In 1901, Rosenwald and Sears agreed to buy out Nusbaum and offered him a million dollars for his stake. Nusbaum refused and asked for $ 1.25 million, which he also received.

At the age of 44, Richard Sears announced his resignation as president of his company on November 1, 1908, and sold his block of shares for ten million dollars. The reason he gave the poor health of his wife.

Sears died of kidney disease in September 1914 at the age of 50. His net worth was estimated at $ 20 million.

In one of his catalogs his life can be read as follows:

In the little company history, it is said of Mr. Sears that he got his first commercial training when he was about 15 years old, walking behind a plow on a farm in the west for a wage of about $ 10 per month from sunrise to sunset , harvesting and making hay, summer and winter, and here he learned what it meant to make half a dollar. He got a $ 25 a month job on the railroad and for 12 hours of work, and he quickly realized that 50 cent pieces don't grow on trees. (This refers to the request to pay 50 cents to ship each catalog.)

When Mr. Sears started his business with a clerk in a small room 10 by 12 feet square about 12 years ago, his only goal was to succeed, and he went along with it very small profit margins satisfied. He answered all letters, packed and shipped the goods, wrote the invoices and worked late into the night. The plan worked and the business grew from the start. Larger space was rented and more staff were hired and in 1895 a new partner was added (our current President and Treasurer), the business re-established and a building at 173 Adams Street in that city, 75 × 180 ft., (23 × 55m) 5 stories high with about 300 employees. In 1896 we moved to our current 6-story building, 100 × 170 feet, and employing 600 people. In 1898 the building was enlarged to 170 × 170 feet, 7 floors and 1,200 employees. In 1899 and 1900 further extensions were added and our office staff increased. This year our building was expanded to include a nine story house that spans a full square, a full city block over four streets of Fulton, Desplaines, Wayman and Jefferson, making it one of the largest trading houses in the world.

We are the owners of the land and the buildings. We employ over 3000 people. We are the largest mail order company in the world.

So much for the value of 50 cents and why we know what we are talking about when we ask you, for your own benefit, to send us 50 cents for Catalog No. 111 to send.

gallery

Company history
Catalog 107 from 1898
The company building across four street corners
The extension for the paint factory
Catalog for lighting 1900
Instructions for painting and varnishing 1904

Individual evidence

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Sears, Richard Warren
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American entrepreneur and founder of the mail order business
DATE OF BIRTH	December 7, 1863
PLACE OF BIRTH	Stewartville, Minnesota
DATE OF DEATH	September 28, 1914
Place of death	Waukesha , Wisconsin

[1] Stewartville on National Register of Historic Places (NRHP)

[2] Rural Free Delivery (RFD)