Jobs that aren’t there any more – Bill Poster

I suppose that in some of the big cities there might still be the staple-gun crews that run around tacking band flyers to telephone poles, but they are merely diluted descendants of the mighty bill poster of the 19th century. The phrase “Post No Bills” seemed only a curious  relic to me as a youth, something I saw in cartoons and old movie backgrounds but could make little sense of, the old usage of “bill” or “handbill” as a sheet of advertising having all but vanished. Once there was a thriving business in advertising through posting of bllls, advertising sheets that were glued to buildings, fences, and just about anything that would stand still. This ad is from 1895, when Mrs. M.E. Dundon of Troy proclaimed the power of pasted-on advertising: “The Brush A Power In The Land.” And, more to the point, “Cash Buys Paste.” Indeed it does.