What was advertised in a colonial newspaper 250 years ago this week?

“Proper allowance will be made to those who take a Quantity.”

Shopkeeper John MacCrackan promoted a deal, first on “BEST Bohea Tea” and later on all the merchandise he stocked and advertised, a “general Assortment of European and East-India GOODS.”

Eighteenth-century advertisements rarely listed prices (with the exception of subscription notices for books, magazines, and other printed items), but occasionally shopkeepers and others inserted the price of one or two items. MacCrackan led his advertisement with “BEST Bohea Tea at 6s. per pound.” Readers likely took note of the price; tea was such a popular commodity in the 1760s that many potential customers probably knew the going rate in their community, just as many modern Americans can recite the price of a gallon of gas on any given day. Accordingly, MacCrackan indicated the price of tea at his shop in order to announce that his customers got a deal. (Perhaps MacCrackan’s tea was even a so-called loss leader, an item priced below market value as a means of getting customers into the shop to then tempt them into purchasing other, more expensive wares.) At the very least, MacCrackan wanted readers to know that his price for tea was both reasonable and competitive.

The shopkeeper also made it attractive for customers to buy in bulk (thus increasing his revenue and turning over his inventory) when he noted that the price for tea would be “lower by the Quantity.” Near the end of the advertisement, he extended this offer to all of his merchandise: “Proper allowance will be made to those who take a Quantity.” Purchasing in volume yielded savings for customers.

This may have been most attractive to those who planned to purchase their own stock to resell, perhaps other shopkeepers in New Haven’s hinterland, some of the customers who may have paid in “Some Kinds of Country Produce.” However, MacCrackan sold goods both “Wholesale or Retail.” His advertisement suggest he was willing to negotiate with customers purchasing solely for their own household needs as well as those who intended to resell and further distribute this merchandise.