Origins

   My personal research indicates that the use of the telephone for sales or fundraising goes back to the 1920's! At that time, a typical situation would be gathering leads for the sale of the then new electric appliances, mostly washing machines. A caller would use a phonebook to canvas for interest, then a salesman would be sent out to follow up. Of course, not all homes had electricity yet. To digress, early washing machines were powered by a low RPM, single cylinder "hit and miss" gasoline motor. Most of these were scrapped during WW2, but I actually saw and heard one run in Tillamook, Ore. in 1971.
   My first exposure to the industry was in Berkeley, Calif. in 1977. Two friends of mine were selling office supplies, specifically "toner" (used in Xerox-type copiers) nationwide in a nearby phone room. The pitch was to say that the supplies were just sitting in a warehouse outside of town (whatever town you were calling). The place my friends were working shut down, and they connected with an even funkier operation that wanted then to call from a WATTS line (early free long distance system) from their apartment. Strictly commission. They invited me to give it a try. One the first pitch, the office manager I was calling interrupted me to say in a sneering voice, "...and I suppose the stuff's in a warehouse just on the outside of town?"
   I said to my friends "you've got the wrong guy!" and I bagged it. They stuck with it and made a few sales, but when they got paychecks they were unable to cash them. I can't honestly recall whether the checks were bad or if their total lack of ID was the issue. Anyway, I wanted nothing more to do with it. And I didn't......until about 5 years later.
   I had returned to Portland at the end of 1981 after living in San Francisco for 2 years. My friend Dan Blessinger insisted that I try selling tickets for the Portland Police Association's annual circus. The annual circus had replaced the annual policeman's ball as the fundraiser of choice; but occasionally, even into the 90's I would contact very elderly people that assumed the tickets were for the ball. "We don't dance" would be a common rebuttal. Eventually, going into the millennia, police-sponsored ticket-based fundraisers were finally replaced with crime-prevention promotions that garnered a donation without tickets changing hands.
   Anyway, the money sounded better than bussing tables, so I agreed to give it a try. That started in January 1982 and I got 2 dollars for each 16 dollar ticket that I sold. It wasn't exactly a boiler room. but it was in the basement of the Boilermaker's Union Hall......and that's how it all started for real.