12 Vintage Jobs That Don’t Exist Anymore

In 2018, more and more jobs are getting cut back due to advancements in technology. As wonderful as it is to have these advancements in areas that desperately need it, it also means lots of people have lost work.

There are many jobs from decades ago that don’t exist anymore. If you asked your child or grandchild what a “lamplighter” is, they’d have absolutely no idea what you were talking about!

1. Lamplighter

Way back in the day, street lamps did not have electric lights in them. Instead, lamps were lit every evening by a lamplighter who used a wick on a long pole. Lights would then be put out in the morning using the same pole, this time with a hook on the end.

2. Log Driver

A log driver used to move logs (tree trunks) from a forest to sawmills and pulp mills downstream on a river using the current. It was the way to move logs in the early logging industry in both North America and Europe. Understandably, this method didn’t always work with all tree types, as some are much denser than others and didn’t float well.

3. Enemy Aircraft Detection

Before there was radar, this was the way of the world in between 1917 to 1940. Acoustic locators were used to detect noises from enemy aircrafts as they were approaching. By the end of World War II, radar had become the norm, which eliminated the need for this job.

4. Milkman

Do you remember the days of walking out of your front door and fresh milk was waiting for you? In the ‘50s and ‘60s this was a staple of daily life. But once it became cheaper and easier to get milk from the local grocery store, milkmen become unnecessary.

5. Elevator Operator

It is very, very rare to see an elevator operator these days. But back in the day, it was standard for elevators to have an attendant that manually operated the elevator. It wasn’t as simple as pressing a button originally, as many older elevators had a huge lever that the attendant would need to pull.

6. Bowling Alley Pinsetter

When you used to go bowling, there wasn’t a machine that reset the pins. It was a person! They reset the fallen pins, cleared away any knocked over pins, and they even had to return the bowling ball to the bowler.

7. Switchboard Operator

Do you remember the days of dialing a zero and speaking to an actual person? In the early days of telephones and up through the 1960s, switchboard operators manually connected calls by putting the phone plugs into the appropriate jacks.

Go to the next page to find out which other jobs are no more!