Estes/Centuri mail ordering in the 1970's and long delivery time

[duckandcover]

When i was doing this as a kid in the early 70's one of the reasons i quit was because it took 2-3 months to get orders. Did anyone else have the
same long wait? I always used post office money orders not personal checks. It has bugged me wondering if they were so poorly run it took months to send
out a package or maybe holding darn good money orders. I can't remember if they usually came by post office or UPS

 

[lakeroadster]

When i was doing this as a kid in the early 70's one of the reasons i quit was because it took 2-3 months to get orders. Did anyone else have the
same long wait? I always used post office money orders not personal checks. It has bugged me wondering if they were so poorly run it took months to send
out a package or maybe holding darn good money orders. I can't remember if they usually came by post office or UPS

Sure enough, 1970's: ordered parts from Estes Penrose Colorado and I lived in Ohio. It took a 3 weeks, best case.

2023: I live in Colorado, order parts from BMS or Apogee online, and they are here within a week. 3 days typically with Apogee.

 

[tsmith1315]

I remember the phrase "please allow 6 to 8 weeks for delivery" on mail order forms back then. Not necessarily Estes, but everything.

It's even referenced in the song "Walkin' on the Sun".

 

[kuririn]

No tracking #.
No internet or email.
We had a LHS in town to turn to for instant gratification.

 

[duckandcover]

I remember the phrase "please allow 6 to 8 weeks for delivery" on mail order forms back then. Not necessarily Estes, but everything.

It's even referenced in the song "Walkin' on the Sun".

I remember Columbia House and RCA House? music clubs making darn sure you got the 8 albums for 1 cent trial offer quick. And then after that you got
and were charged for the monthly album in the subscription plan if you didn't send back the cancel postcard right away. Wow, they made good
money off stupid kids like me. Estes-3 months after i order i get it. Columbia house-3 days after the postcard expires i have a unwanted album and
a terse bill for $7.99

 

[tsmith1315]

I remember Columbia House and RCA House? music clubs making darn sure you got the 8 albums for 1 cent trial offer quick. And then after that you got
and were charged for the monthly album in the subscription plan if you didn't send back the cancel postcard right away

Yep!

I learned that lesson younger with the Revell Model Club. Get a few models for next to nothing and then a monthly delivery. It was really neat at first, and then I realized I was getting models of things I could care less about. And a bill. That probably kept me from buying a few rockets, too. But they were great for firecrackers, and a friend and I made a little 8mm silent movie pulling them with strings, boats in the pond exploding, etc.

I did bite on one Columbia House offer. They had 4 jazz CD's for the price of 1, with nothing else to buy. In my 20's and having learned, I got my 4 CD's and promptly cancelled.

 

[neil_w]

I don't think I ever ordered anything, other than EAC stuff. Which is why finding a LHS that carried a large selection was incredible, since I was always drooling over the less-common stuff in the catalogs. Rich's Hobbytown in Pine Brook NJ had full selection of Estes *and* Centuri. Miss that place dearly.

When I see pictures inside erockets I get flashbacks to that feeling.

 

[rcktnut]

We were really lucky here, had 2 hobby stores and 3 variety stores within 5miles of home to buy Estes kits.

 

[goose_in_co]

I learned that lesson younger with the Revell Model Club. Get a few models for next to nothing and then a monthly delivery. It was really neat at first, and then I realized I was getting models of things I could care less about. And a bill. That probably kept me from buying a few rockets, too. But they were great for firecrackers...

Oooooo.
Firecrackers in Models, that is what happened to most of my not-so-well-built models in the day.
Then my parents moved to New Jersey when I was in 7th grade, where fireworks were illegal, so I started to build rockets.

The only mail order was for the EAC Viper, I don't remember how long it took.

 

[rcktnut]

Yep!

I learned that lesson younger with the Revell Model Club. Get a few models for next to nothing and then a monthly delivery. It was really neat at first, and then I realized I was getting models of things I could care less about. And a bill. That probably kept me from buying a few rockets, too. But they were great for firecrackers, and a friend and I made a little 8mm silent movie pulling them with strings, boats in the pond exploding, etc.

My friends and I used to do the exact same thing with boat models. We also used to set up the green army men and related military items( tanks, artillery, etc. in a garden and bury pill bottles of "stuff" underneath them and blow them up. Looks awesome on film. We also "took care" of my Kenners girder and panel building set. We set our "charges" off with a electric train transformer. We behaved with our model rockets though. My buddy still has all the super 8 films of this stuff. I'll have to get a hold of him once see about getting the films digitized.

 

[hcmbanjo]

I started in 1969.
Orders sent by mail took typically 10 days from Watsonville, CA to Penrose, CO and back.
Orders to Centuri were about the same.
This was 1969, you could order all the kits and launch supplies you wanted -
no engines could be mailed into California.

 

[tsmith1315]

Firecrackers in Models, that is what happened to most of my not-so-well-built models in the day.
Then my parents moved to New Jersey when I was in 7th grade, where fireworks were illegal, so I started to build rockets.

They were illegal here, too. But some nearby states were legal, so everyone would stock up when they went that direction. Even parents would take orders for other families when they were planning a trip that went by a fireworks store.

 

[ksaves2]

Back in the 60's one could order silver salute "kits" from the back of Popular Science. My mother wouldn't let me and my brother do that but she did let us get giant smoke bomb and fountain kits. The oxidizer (probably KNO3) and the other ingredients were put in separate bags for shipping.
I remember the smoke bombs and fountains had very thick walled casings that the maker said were reusable! They were good for one more use mind you. The end plugs were wooden and the nozzle had a hole drilled into it.
The fountains sent up sparks 20 feet, were impressive and the smoke bombs burned for over 6 minutes. Really clouded out the neighborhood when we lit one off. Made the kids happy so no one complained to the authorities. Heck I blew a lot of stuff off and the county jail was two blocks away. The cops never bothered us in Illinois as class C fireworks were technically illegal. I think they grew up with them and left us alone as folks went out of state to get firecrackers and such.

My Uncle Cecil, Aunt Peg and cousins came out from Wyoming and brought a pile of fireworks for us that my brother and I drooled over. In the cache was a mess of silver salutes a.k.a. M-80's. (It was the 60's mind you.) Soooooooo, later that year my bro and I glued 4 of the large fountains together. We had extra fusing we bought from the fireworks suppliers. Mom let us buy fuses. In the space between the fountains, we had stuffed some stick rockets and their fuses. They were larger than your usual bottle rocket and they had little red plastic nosecones were larger diameter and a pretty good report at apogee. For the "grand finale" my brother and I took a hand drill and drilled into the base of the fountains above the wooden end plugs. We stuffed the fuses of the Silver Salutes/M-80's in there so when the fountains burned down, there would be a grand report.

After the municipal fireworks, we went home and some family friends came over. My brother Dave and I said we have something to show everyone. We had pre-planned everything and set the monster fountain up with the rockets in the middle and the silver salutes at the end.

He and I both lit the common fuse with sparklers and ran like hell to get away. Four 20 foot+ plumes of sparks started emanating from the fountains and the large stick rockets started going straight up (thank heavens) and the explosive reports started blasting away. I think we stuffed 15 rockets in there and I still don't know how they all went straight up safely!

As the fountains burned down, everyone thought it was over but I said, "wait for it." Due to density differences of the fountain chemical densities the silver salutes/M-80's went off in sequence which was really cool. BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! That got everyone's attention mind you.

I heard several "Jesus Christ" acclamations. It wasn't swearing but a declaration of what a neat display my brother and I set off.

Never messed with fireworks after that as both my brother and I outgrew it.

Oh yeah, I did blow up beater plastic models with Zebra firecrackers. I always thought they were blew better than Black Cats. Kurt

 

[Huxter]

You guys had it easy! I started in 1969ish in Alaska! Probably only Hawaii had longer ship times! Had to ogle the catalog for weeks at a time. I liked Century at the time - they seemed to have more "cool" rockets - more than just 34FNC rockets.

 

[Rob Campbell]

Many mail order companies shipped by USPS third class, back then, which is one of the slowest mail classes. In the 80's many began shipping by UPS, which is considerably faster. Now, fast shipping is the norm.

 

[prfesser]

Hmm... in 1965-70 I ordered from Estes. Usually 10 days from central PA to Penrose and back. In fact I'd often go to the post office on the tenth day and the package would be there.

 

[dhbarr]

Send off a self addressed, stamped envelope. Wait a couple months for the catalogue to come back.

Send off a money order and filled-out order form. Wait a couple months for the order to come back.

Never rockets when I was a kid, and rarely a few other things. Probably there were better / faster ways to do it then, but I didn't know any better.

Later it was: get annual catalogue, send off a check, wait a few weeks.

Now it's: briefly consider wanting something, click a few buttons, wait a few days, put it in the shop and forget to build it.

 

[cwbullet]

I always felt this took too long in the 70s.

 

[NTP2]

For someone born with video games I have NO clue how you had fun back then

 

[tsmith1315]

For someone born with video games I have NO clue how you had fun back then

Often, we went outdoors.

The fright! The horror! The possibilities! We lived on the edge...

 

[NTP2]

Often, we went outdoors.

The fright! The horror! The possibilities! We lived on the edge...

 

[SolarYellow]

Often, we went outdoors.

The fright! The horror! The possibilities! We lived on the edge...

With no adult supervision.

 

[GlenP]

I remember them sending coupons with each order to use on your next order!

 

[GlenP]

For someone born with video games I have NO clue how you had fun back then

I remember Pong!

 

[Bill S]

Back in the 60's one could order silver salute "kits" from the back of Popular Science. My mother wouldn't let me and my brother do that but she did let us get giant smoke bomb and fountain kits. The oxidizer (probably KNO3) and the other ingredients were put in separate bags for shipping.
I remember the smoke bombs and fountains had very thick walled casings that the maker said were reusable! They were good for one more use mind you. The end plugs were wooden and the nozzle had a hole drilled into it.
The fountains sent up sparks 20 feet, were impressive and the smoke bombs burned for over 6 minutes. Really clouded out the neighborhood when we lit one off. Made the kids happy so no one complained to the authorities. Heck I blew a lot of stuff off and the county jail was two blocks away. The cops never bothered us in Illinois as class C fireworks were technically illegal. I think they grew up with them and left us alone as folks went out of state to get firecrackers and such.

My Uncle Cecil, Aunt Peg and cousins came out from Wyoming and brought a pile of fireworks for us that my brother and I drooled over. In the cache was a mess of silver salutes a.k.a. M-80's. (It was the 60's mind you.) Soooooooo, later that year my bro and I glued 4 of the large fountains together. We had extra fusing we bought from the fireworks suppliers. Mom let us buy fuses. In the space between the fountains, we had stuffed some stick rockets and their fuses. They were larger than your usual bottle rocket and they had little red plastic nosecones were larger diameter and a pretty good report at apogee. For the "grand finale" my brother and I took a hand drill and drilled into the base of the fountains above the wooden end plugs. We stuffed the fuses of the Silver Salutes/M-80's in there so when the fountains burned down, there would be a grand report.

After the municipal fireworks, we went home and some family friends came over. My brother Dave and I said we have something to show everyone. We had pre-planned everything and set the monster fountain up with the rockets in the middle and the silver salutes at the end.

He and I both lit the common fuse with sparklers and ran like hell to get away. Four 20 foot+ plumes of sparks started emanating from the fountains and the large stick rockets started going straight up (thank heavens) and the explosive reports started blasting away. I think we stuffed 15 rockets in there and I still don't know how they all went straight up safely!

As the fountains burned down, everyone thought it was over but I said, "wait for it." Due to density differences of the fountain chemical densities the silver salutes/M-80's went off in sequence which was really cool. BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! That got everyone's attention mind you.

I heard several "Jesus Christ" acclamations. It wasn't swearing but a declaration of what a neat display my brother and I set off.

Never messed with fireworks after that as both my brother and I outgrew it.

Oh yeah, I did blow up beater plastic models with Zebra firecrackers. I always thought they were blew better than Black Cats. Kurt

That sounds like fun. Nowadays, you'd be arrested and called a domestic terrorist or some such.

 

[cwbullet]

I remember Pong!

guilty

 

[NTP2]

I remember Pong!

I programmed pong once, I still don’t know how fun worked I would rather play tennis.

 

[rcktnut]

I'll never forget the fun we had with our Sonic Blasters. 3 of us used to terrorize the neiborhood with them. They were very loud.

 

[cerving]

With no adult supervision.

Hell, we used to tell our moms "I'm going bike riding" and they'd simply say "Be home for dinner." I would not want to be a kid today... no self sufficiency.

 

[Art Upton]

In 1973 I received in the mail paper news letters from Estes. We had lots of Hobby stores, but the farthest one away even had competition rocket Kits , CMR and Enterjet motors. I got a few Enerjets when I grew up , had more money and could drive myself so no complaints from Dad.

I saw a subscribers only rocket I really wanted. The closer in Hobby stores sold most all the main line Estes products, but they did not sell separate parts like tubes nose cones. You would need to buy the designers package they did sell.

So I ordered that kit plus some parts that did not come in the designers kit, I had that already.

Took about 2-3 months, Dad told me they shipped on the lowest cost III class mail and I just had to wait, it would come. And when it did, had the coupons for the next order.