“30 years faithful”

The sales vans were the focus of Migros’ thirtieth anniversary celebrations. Two loyal Migros drivers took to the streets of Zurich in an old Ford Model T, exactly thirty years after their debut.

Exactly as they did on that day 30 years earlier, Oskar Bachmann and Alfred Iselin steer their fully loaded Ford Ts out on to the street. It is eight o'clock in the morning, and once again, the passers-by stop and inquisitively watch the vehicles pass, but this time for a different reason. Thirty years earlier, Migros AG sent its sales vans out to the districts of Zurich for the very first time. Today, the Federation of Migros Cooperatives celebrates its 30-year anniversary. Both drivers follow the same route once again and sell the goods at the same prices as in those days – however, each customer is allowed to purchase only one article, so that stocks last for as many customers as possible.
Migros presents its nostalgic sales vans as the focal point of its anniversary celebrations as the mobile sales vans have become a symbol of the company. Back in 1931, Gottlieb Duttweiler showed off an old Ford T on a plinth in the distribution centre at Limmatstrasse. On a plaque is written: “Er hat’s geschafft.” (He did it.) Although in the same year, the number of shops overtakes the number of sales vans, the importance of the mobile shop is not lost.
Towards evening on 25 August 1955, Oskar Bachmann and Alfred Iselin steer the empty, sold-out vans back to the depot. The Migros anniversary motto also applies to these two long-standing employees: “30 years faithful – in the service of the people, in the fight for rights – and in the coming decades too!”