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submitted 2 weeks ago by PugJesus@piefed.social to c/historymemes@piefed.social

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[-] rumschlumpel@feddit.org 10 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

save a few pennies

Parcels tend to be an order of magnitude cheaper than transporting a person via trains, car/carriage etc. If you were poor, sending the kid via parcel might have been the only option to get them to a place. Though obviously it's a piss-poor option, great way to kill, cripple or traumatize your child for life. Travelling via parcel might be doable for the 2-3 days a parcel might take today, but in those days parcels weren't delivered that fast. Imagine being stuck in a dark, small box for 2 weeks.

[-] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 9 points 2 weeks ago

To be fair, pennies were worth a lot more in 1913.

In 1913, 1 penny was worth 0.01 1913 dollars.

Today, 1 penny is only worth 0.01 2026 dollars, so you can see it's quite a difference.

[-] bluesheep@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 weeks ago

Good God I didn't even realize that it would've easily taken more than a day to ship the child, that's horrifying

[-] Danquebec@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 weeks ago

I don't understand. That seems impossible. The kid is shipped with several liters of water inside the box? And they just poop and pee in there?? And what kid would agree to that? It makes no sense. I feel like there must be more to this story.