25 Vintage Photos That Show How Delivery Worked Before Amazon
I can’t imagine life without delivery. Groceries, packages, and takeout all just show up now after a couple of taps on my phone. But looking at these old photos makes me realize how different it used to be. Back then, delivery people weren’t just dropping stuff at your door. They were hauling heavy crates, balancing glass milk bottles, or tossing newspapers before sunrise.
There’s something kind of charming about it. No tracking numbers. No “your driver is approaching” alerts. Just trust that the person on the bike, wagon, or truck would actually show up. These vintage photos are a little time machine into a world before Amazon and DoorDash, when delivery was all muscle, hustle, and maybe a horse or two.
Here are some old school photos of delivery people that really show what the job was like in the past.
1. “The Ice Man, Houston TX 1928”
2. “A milkman delivery, 1950.”
3. “A Japanese man rides his bike carrying Soba noodles on his shoulder in Tokyo, 1935.”
4. “Paperboys in old Mexico. 1960.”
5. “Man delivering soba noodles on a bicycle. Tokyo, Japan, 1955”
6. “A milkman makes a delivery to Streatham Grammar school in London. (1939)”
7. “Two men stand by a Coca-Cola delivery truck, c. 1910 “
8. “My wife’s grandfather sometime in the 1960’s when he was a Sunbeam Bread delivery guy.”
9. “1960s, My Great Uncle, the Milkman.”
10. “Ice delivery girls, 1918.”
11. Parcel Post truck, 1913
12. “The Real Meaning Of ‘Keep Calm And Carry On.’ Milkman During The London Blitz 1940”
13. “The milkman – 1950s, Worcester, MA”
14. “USPS Horse-drawn sled, ca. 1920”
15. “Milkman making his deliveries despite the flood in Buckinghamshire, 1954.”
16. “1909: First Coca-Cola delivery truck in Knoxville, TN – a ‘Rapid Truck’ manufactured in Pontiac, MI”
17. “The Central Brewing Co and their Waverly Electric delivery truck, NYC 1911”
18. Louis Vuitton delivery cart in Paris, 1888.
19. “Men carrying pots. Korea, around 1900”
20. “1958: ‘Cosmo the Robot’ being tested to make deliveries and run errands, France”
21. “Newspaper boys- London, 1908”
22. “A mAilman posing with his heavy load of Christmas mail and packages, Chicago, 1929. “
23. “Food delivery, Ray, Iran, 1959”
24. “Western Union Delivery Boys, 1938”
25. “My dad when he used to do Schwan’s deliveries, 1994”
