I’m just old enough to remember the Fuller Brush Man coming to our door in the early 1960s. There were lots of door-to-door salesmen back then; most people had their milk delivered daily, and many would buy their bread from the Helms Bakery truck, which slowly cruised down the street blowing a distinctive whistle. In-home shopping took place on the doorstep, not the Internet.
These days, door-to-door selling is frowned upon and reserved for kids hawking magazine subscriptions and other somewhat skeptical commerce. But in its heyday, door-to-door selling was a legitimate pursuit and many men (and a few women) made a good living at it. One of the more prolific door-to-door sales organizations was Fuller Brush, a pioneer in that form of commerce. Click on any image for a larger version.
Fuller Brush still exists today, and you can buy Fuller Brush products online and through local distributors. There may even still be salespeople who ply their wares door-to-door, though I have to believe they are few and far between.
Alfred Carl Fuller founded the company in 1906, manufacturing high-quality brushes in his sister’s New England home. From the beginning, Fuller put an emphasis on quality and an ironclad guarantee.
Over the years the lineup of products grew to include many home, business, and personal care products. The company’s three basic rules were make it work, make it last, and guarantee it no matter what. My mother always swore by the Fuller Brush brooms.
Fuller, and then his two sons, ran the company as a family business until it was sold in the early 1970s. Here are two images of the Fuller factory when it was in East Hartford, Connecticut, and the cover of Fuller’s autobiography, A Foot in the Door.
Alfred Fuller encouraged his salesmen to dress well and be observant when they entered a prospect’s home, looking for opportunities to make specific product sales.
Fuller Brush Men (and women) entered into pop culture on many occasions. Here are promotions for two movies that starred Fuller Brush salespeople, and the Fuller memorial in Nova Scotia, Canada. At its peak during the door-to-door years, the Fuller Brush Company did over $100 million in business annually.
When I was 11, I had my own “brush” with door-to-door selling. I was a representative of the Olympic Sales Club and sold greeting cards and wrapping paper to neighbors, relatives, and anyone else I could corner. I was trying to earn enough points to get a new bicycle but never even came close.
I can attest to how difficult it is to sell goods door-to-door. With each knock or doorbell ring, you face rejection and worse, humiliation. Most people are nice, but not all.
So I have a great deal of respect for those brave souls who walked the streets with their sample cases and free giveaways. We still have companies like Avon and Tupperware that specialize in home sales through a legion of local representatives, but random doorbell ringing as a sales method will never be so widespread again.
Times change and fewer people are home these days to receive salespeople. Plus, we’ve become a lot more skeptical and untrusting. I guess we have to be content with the products that come to our door via the UPS or FedEx driver.
Follow Gene on Twitter: https://twitter.com/SAWG
This article was last modified on May 15, 2023
This article was first published on January 28, 2011
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