New Tech Causes Marital Rift In The Community

Mailing invoices to clients seemed like a natural and harmless progression for a growing business in 1958.

👋 Hello, I’m Kevin Ferguson, author of 🍷 Rain on the Monte Bello Ridge,🍷 a memoir about health, aging and winemaking. (Book summary) 🍇 This is my newsletter. It includes book research and early release chapters about winemaker Mario Gemello and his centenarian widow, Kay Gemello. 📖 They are my lovable maternal grandparents. You can subscribe by clicking on this handy little button.

Here’s a middle chapter. Hope you enjoy it!

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New Tech Causes Marital Rift In the Community

One day in 1958, my Uncle John came into the Gemello liquor store looking for work. He was about 12. Louie Sarto, who ran the store, was marveling at his new printing machine. He was eager to use it to upgrade his invoicing process.

This breakthrough technology was the type of printer that left ink stains on your hands if you were too eager to grab the paper immediately after printing.

 “Hey, you’re good with numbers,” Sarto said to John. “Take these carbon copy receipts. Calculate them. And send these people invoices.”

1940s: Uncle John with Grandpa Mario in the Gemello liquor store

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This was just before the credit card craze of the ‘60s, so most Gemello store customers paid on the spot. But a number of Sarto’s regulars were allowed to buy “on credit,” and get invoiced at the end of the month. 

Sarto had revolutionized the upsell. When he’d see a customer loading his shopping cart, he’d ask: Having a party? 

This would send Sarto’s mind into sales mode. Need wineglasses? Party napkins? Snacks? Party packages are right over there.

Some of these party planners would become Sarto’s “on credit” VIP customers, leading to an increased stack of unpaid receipts needing to be organized, tallied and filed for invoicing each month. 

Ordinarily, these monthly invoices would be waiting for the customers the next time they came in. But this one day, John took the task one step further. Having access to their addresses, he mailed the invoices out.

A couple days later, a few of these VIP customers called the store with rage in their voice.

“Don’t ever send these to my house!” one caller exclaimed.

Turns out, the invoices were getting intercepted by their wives, who were getting new insight into their husbands purchasing habits.

A few weeks later, Sarto informed John there’d been a minor change to the invoicing process. 

Handing him the list of customers, Sarto said: “If they have an X next to their name, we’re going back to the old system. They’ll come in to get their invoices.”

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