For those of you who may not be familiar with the Atlanta area, the Rich’s department stores were THE place to shop in Atlanta for many, many years. Their wares were upscale, and their customer service was topnotch. A few years ago, they were bought by Federated Department Stores which also owns Macy’s. Since the Macy’s brand was more widely known, the Rich’s stores were rebranded as Macy’s.
With that short history lesson aside, we recently found some Rich’s receipts from 1970 for the purchase of 1969 proof sets.
The first is the cash register receipt.
A few observations are worth noting.
First, this receipt is not like those printed from today’s point-of-sale terminals. This one includes accounting codes along with the price of the goods sold. Each proof set cost $9.75 for a total of $29.25 to which a 3% tax was added for the $0.88. An additional $0.50 – perhaps for shipping and handling – made the total for the three sets $30.63.
The second observation is the tag line on the receipt, “Rich’s A Southern Institution Since 1867.” Since this receipt was dated January 17, 1970, Rich’s had already been in business for over 100 years.
To go along with the above receipt, another Rich’s receipt included the customer’s name, address and account number in addition to the total charges.
In all likelihood, this person is no longer living, but her name was hidden for protection. The address shows Tallapoosa, GA which a simple Google search shows is roughly one hour west of Atlanta on the “bottom side of the ABC triangle – Atlanta, Birmingham and Chattanooga” in today’s vehicles on more efficient multi-lane roads.
In 1970, this lady was probably affluent, at least in the area, to drive to Atlanta to shop. Plus, in 1970, the drive was probably two hours or more to get to the nearest Rich’s store, which for her was in downtown Atlanta. A large part of her journey would have been on two-lane country roads.
Too, though, she may have done some of her shopping by telephone with its long distance rates or by mail. For this purchase, the gentleman in the “coin department” wrote her a note that all of her order could not be satisfied, but the remainder would be sent as soon as possible.
On the other hand, she could have ordered the sets while visiting the store for delivery when the proof sets arrived in the store’s inventory.
But, did she buy these 1969 proof sets for herself? For her husband? Or, perhaps for children or grandchildren.
Considering how much she paid per set, she probably was not on the US Mint’s mailing list for proof sets. At $9.75 per proof set, she paid almost – not quite, but almost – double what the US Mint charged per set. The US Mint’s issue price for the 1969 proof set was $5.00 each. They may have added shipping, handling and/or insurance fees to that $5.00, but they would not have charged an additional $4.75 per set.
We hope the end recipient of the 1969 proof sets, whether her or someone else, enjoyed them. Unfortunately, for whoever recently sold them, the proof sets did not recover the price she paid back in January 1970.