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Enterprise and Society Advance Access originally published online on August 17, 2007
Enterprise and Society 2008 9(1):125-164; doi:10.1093/es/khm070
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Business History Conference. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oupjournals.org.

The Larkin Clubs of Ten: Consumer Buying Clubs and Mail-Order Commerce, 1890 – 1940

Howard R. Stanger

Howard R. Stanger Wehle School of Business, Canisius College, Buffalo, New York

Email: stangerh@canisius.edu

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The direct selling industry has a long history, with roots snaking back to the nineteenth-century "Yankee peddlers" who roamed the countryside selling tools, teas, and liniments door-to-door. Its reputation has suffered from the prevalence of misleading and illegal schemes such as pyramids, which generate income by paying money or other compensation solely for the act of recruiting, charge high entrance fees, and sell products of questionable value.1 Nonetheless, some advocates note that direct sales work, which often involves family and flexible working hours, has provided an excellent alternative to the traditional bureaucratic employment relationship that has historically been less receptive to women.2 The Larkin Company's "Clubs of Ten" provide business historians with an early example of a direct selling organization. The Larkin Clubs succeeded impressively in the early twentieth century only to decline during the Depression. That trajectory supplies a fascinating case study for understanding the strengths and weaknesses of . . . [Full Text of this Article]


   Competing Distribution Systems and the Rise of Direct Selling Organizations in the United States
 

   The Larkin Company and the Rise of Direct Mail-Order Sales
 

   The Larkin Clubs
 

   The Decline of Mail-Order and Its Impact on Larkin Company
 

   Larkin's Responses to Shrinking Mail-Order Commerce
 

   Conclusion: Larkin Company's Decline and Its Retailing Significance
 

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