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Stene Pioch has been an Avon representative for the past 42 years. Mrs. Pioch has decided to hang up her catalog and will retire from the business when she has filled her current order. She has won several Ms. Albie awards given for top sales.

The crystal bowl on Stene Pioch’s dining room table holds several white cards embossed with the words “Congratulations, you’re a winner.”

Simple words, but they help define Mrs. Pioch’s nearly 42 years as an Avon lady.

The crystal bowl doesn’t rest alone on the lace covered table. There are several pieces of jewelry, a gold Citizen watch, decorative plates, makeup sample cases, perfume and cologne bottles (one is a golden bust of Abe Lincoln), a Mickey and Minnie Mouse poster, tins, order forms and a Miss Albee Barbie.

“You haven’t seen nothing yet, honey,” Ms. Pioch says with a laugh.

And she’s right. More items are boxed away in the basement and several were passed along to family members when the Piochs downsized.

A cardboard box of product books saved throughout the years rests on a ledge near the gas fireplace in the living room. Richard Pioch reaches in and pulls out a red hardbound book from the 1970s. On one page, cream sachets are being offered for the special price of $1.

“I just put out my last book,” Mrs. Pioch says, “I’m retiring.”

Delivering beauty

door-to-door

When Mrs. Pioch started selling Avon, there were no multiple product books left on tables at work, no Internet site to click and order.

“You had one book,” she says. “You went door-to-door.”

You also had a case in which you carried your samples. And, you sold only in your assigned territory, Otherwise, you’d get fired.

Mrs. Pioch’s territory was both sides of 10th Street, one side of 11th Street and one side of 12th Street, plus side streets like Powell, Lincoln and Ridenbaugh.

“You knew who the Avon lady was because she always had her bag,” Mrs. Pioch says.

Shirley Proffit is one customer who has known her Avon lady for 40 years.

“I think she just came to my door,” Mrs. Proffit says when asked about her first meeting with Mrs. Pioch.

Mrs. Proffit has always placed her order in person and received her order in person, as well. Bubble bath is one of her favorite products.

“We lived on North 10th,” says Pat Hoffelmeyer, another longtime customer. “A friend of mine knew Stene and knew that she sold Avon, so I called and asked her to come.”

And Mrs. Pioch has come to Mrs. Hoffelmeyer’s home for the past 35 years. Moisture therapy hand cream is one of Mrs. Hoffelmeyer’s favorite products.

Both Mrs. Hoffelmeyer and Mrs. Proffit will place one more order with their longtime Avon lady. Several of Mrs. Pioch’s 20 or so customers (she had somewhere between 40 and 50 customers in the earlier years) most likely will place orders, as well.

And Mrs. Pioch will deliver them as she always has, dressed nicely, no jeans.

Back in the day, the company and its managers expected their Avon ladies to look and act professionally. Don’t ever leave an order unless you get the money was one rule Avon ladies were supposed to follow. You were expected to attend all meetings. Mrs. Pioch says local meetings were held at the Hotel Robidoux, which once graced downtown St. Joseph.

Mrs. Pioch’s manager, Helen Church, would check up on her ladies. She’d check the representative’s book with customer names and expect each month to see that list grow.

Mrs. Pioch knew what was expected. Mrs. Pioch’s four children would help bag the orders. Mr. Pioch also would help. And, if the family was going on vacation, the Avon orders went out first.

Although that other cosmetic company may give pink Cadillacs to its representatives, Avon also had its perks. Only a fraction of them are displayed in the Piochs’ home.

Looking back and moving forward

Mrs. Pioch opens the display case in her living room and starts counting.

“I have 23,” she says of the Victorian ladies in various poses gracing the shelves.

Those ladies are Miss Albees, just one of many gifts from the Avon company, a way to say job well done.

“This Albee is for our 100th anniversary,” she says lifting a white clad lady from the shelf. Mrs. Pioch received that one in 1986, 100 years after Avon — then called the California Perfume Company — was founded. Mrs. P.F.E. Albee was the very first lady to go door-to-door.

In order to get that Albee, an Avon lady must sell a certain amount of products. When Mrs. Pioch earned her first, representatives had to sell $4,000 worth of products. Now, she says, it’s $10,000.

Mrs. Pioch puts her Albee back on its shelf and closes the glass door. The Albees will stay, but the items gracing the dining room table will be packed away again and, along with the box of products, books will be returned to the basement.

This Avon lady is no longer calling.

Lifestyles reporter Cathy Woolridge can be reached at cathyw@npgco.com