Last week I posted some old postcards with furniture advertising and August calendars for Sepia Saturday. This week I am posting some similar postcards advertising banks. This type of advertising postcard was usually used by businesses throughout the country. The business names were added to a standardized picture and advertising message
The postcard above has an August 1909 calendar and was used by The Royal Oak Savings Bank of Royal Oak, Michigan with the following message titled Vacation Days:
The vacation spent with the mind at ease permits you to return to your work with greater zest. The real vacation comes to those who have faithfully laid aside a portion of their earnings. When old age comes, the dividends on your labor and talent will take care of you. Money is a willing slave. It permits its owner to rest while it continues to work at interest. The bank book is a credential of thrift and wisdom.The postcard below has an August 1911 calendar and was used by The First National Bank of Willmar, Minnesota. The image of the tree shows graphically how the roots of good financial habits like thrift and savings lead to benefits like independence and a happy old age. The message is titled FINANCIAL ACCOUNTS:
Great Oaks of Financial Success grow from very small Acorns - a small sum opens an account in our bank - but to have a big, healthy financial tree, you must be persistent in your saving. Systematic depositing is the root of financial independence. Get deeply rooted in the habit of depositing, then you will branch out into better things, and be safe against any ill wind that blows. Dollars are financial acorns. Plant them in our bank and watch them grow.
The financial advice on those postcards was true for a long time. Although savings can still protect you from adversity, they no longer grow like they used to. Unfortunately, the current interest rates from banks are so low as to be meaningless. You are fortunate if the bank doesn't decrease your account balance with its various fees!
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Hear, hear regarding bank no-interest. Remember when they used to give you a toaster when you opened an account? Ah, the good old days.
ReplyDeleteI like both cards, but was thinking exactly the same about interest rates. I've heard that banks in certain parts of the USA give customers guns when they open accounts!
ReplyDeleteI have never heard of a toaster being presented when you open an account. Yes interest rates are dismal now. I liked the picture of the summer holiday particularly. Worth saving for.
ReplyDeleteGood thing my husband isn't a blogger because his toes would be hurting about now. He's been a banker since dinosaurs roamed, and he'd be defending the bank that is also CHARGED a lot of fees thanks to the big recession of 2008. Banks pay taxes; credit unions don't. OK, off my soap box -- love these cards. I remember my parents receiving similar cards with calendars at Christmas from local businesses - maybe even the bank.
ReplyDeleteThey probably weren't postcards. I remember small desk calendars with sheets to tear off for each month & some like a booklet or tent.
DeleteI saw a 1950s monthly postcard calendar on ebay this week--the first one I have seen from that era!
DeleteSaving money is rather tricky these days. With four children, a modest income, & not that far along from the depression, my parents didn't have much they could save so as a married adult, I never gave a thought to having a financial advisor, but thank goodness we have one now. There are so many ways to save money - some safe, some not so much - & it's difficult for the layman to know which is which. But if you have a trustworthy financial advisor who knows his (or her) business, it helps. I'm glad we listened to those who suggested such an intermediary.
ReplyDeleteCharming postcards but odd that they are only useful for one month. Oak tree symbolism is a very old marketing cliche that would make a good theme too. Are they printed in Germany or the US?
ReplyDeleteYears ago I was able to live comfortably in London off the 12-15% interest rates that my savings & loan accounts offered. Today I never bother to make deposits into savings as I think I earned less than 30 cents last year.
They are for one month because a new one was sent the next month.
DeleteMy bank has just changed its name for the fifth time in fifteen years -- swallowed up AGAIN by a bigger, more powerful bank. It's pretty sad, really...
ReplyDeleteWow, such powerful messages they had.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was researching the Klamath banks, I learned that the first two "banks" were businesses and that if your credit was good enough you could draw notes from the establishments --- but I dinna believe they sent out calendars. banking is interesting.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful cards, but even though the advice is sound, the tone is a little preachy.
ReplyDeleteYes, I miss those old bank rates. It made sense to deposit into a savings account any spare change one had. It really did grow.
ReplyDelete