What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?
“BOXES of MEDICINES made up, as usual, on the shortest Notice.”
After the partnership of Carne and Wilson dissolved in 1770, apothecary Robert Carne placed an advertisement in the South-Carolina and American General Gazette to advise prospective customers that he “now carries on the Business at the Old Shop on the Bay.” He intended to provide the same services without disruption, asserting that his shop “will continue to be supplied as amply and regularly as at any time heretofore” and that clients could depend that “their Orders will be speedily and punctually executed.” In effect, Carne promised good customer service.
That service extended to provisioning customers with “BOXES of MEDICINES,” which Carne “made up, as usual, on the shortest Notice.” Apothecaries and druggists in Charleston and other towns sometimes noted that they offered the convenience of putting together such boxes. The contents consisted of a variety of the most popular medicines and supplies to prepare purchasers for the most common maladies. In some advertisements, apothecaries noted that they produced different sorts of boxes, some for families, some for country doctors whose patients might not have access to the same range of medications available in urban ports like Charleston and Philadelphia, and some for plantation owners and overseers to tend to the illnesses of enslaved workers.
These boxes provided customers with the convenience of making a single purchase rather than shopping for the many components individually. That also benefited the apothecaries who furnished the “BOXES of MEDICINES.” Carne and others could include a variety of tinctures and nostrums that clients did not yet need and might never need yet wished to have on hand. This inflated sales and generated additional revenues in a manner easily framed as a supplementary service that primarily benefited customers. As Carne entered a new stage of his career, it made sense for him to draw special attention to these boxes in a note at the conclusion of his advertisement, complete with a manicule to direct the attention of “the Publick in general, and his Friends in particular.” Such boxes stood to produce greater profits than individual orders.