Pigpen wrote: "But mostly I want to know (especially of Mrs. 1930's), can she share any tips for avoiding packaging and disposables?"

Our family store began in the 1920's. I can remember things VERY WELL from the '50's and of course nothing much changed for decades. One thing that I loved: we had special cubbyholes for the different size PAPER BAGS: about 8 different sizes, ranging from very small to really large. Another staple of oulde-time stores: the big spools of twine and the huge commercial rolls of plain brown paper. Of course there were no recyclables in those days, but everything was RE-USABLE. Girls brought lunch to The Abbey in plain paper bags which they neatly refolded and brought back home; ditto the waxed paper used for sandwiches. The big issue, of course, for food stores NOW: there is NOT a lot of profit in ordinary unprocessed raw food; all the money is to be made from processed convenience foods (which typically have a lot of packaging). Furthermore, because of the huge amount of pilferage, blister packs are necessary (a small item encased in some clear plastic which is then attached to a big cardboard display card.) Also, the size of a modern store makes it impossible for cashiers to memorize prices (as we did in oulden times), hence the development of the UPC bar codes which need to be attached to some kind of rigid label. Likewise, our growing need-desire for food safety has led to the development of the safety seals both under a lid and around a cap. Many people don't like buying items in BULK which might have been touched by other shoppers (I am not making this up). We (shoppers and suppliers) are now contending with contamination worries plus the fears (real and imagined) of sabotage. Single-serving sizes are another hideous modern trend. Luv from Script (dinosaur who has never been inside a WalMart, Costco, Sam's Club etc)