Sears & Roebuck Shipping Rates 1896

Below is a very small selection of the shipping rates for Sears & Roebuck from their 1896 Spring catalogue. Note the prices are set for a per 100 lbs. A fellow writer, from one of the writing groups I'm in, mentioned how her grandmother told stories about how items came to the farm from their orders to Sears and other places. The train simply stopped on the tracks (at the edge of their farm) and left the items on the side of the tracks then continued on their way.

Sears & Roebuck went into detail about the way to order, how to figure the shipping charges, etc. By placing a freight rate chart they not only helped their customers but saved themselves the headache of extra billing for freight.