Technology has changed the way we buy goods dramatically, with so much shopping now done online with the click of a mouse.
A trip to the supermarket no longer needs much human interaction with hand-held scanners replacing a bit of craic with a shopkeeper or at the cash-till.
So we’ve decided to take a dander back in time to when services came with a personal touch.
Our gallery includes great old images of delivery men using a horse and cart – and their own broad shoulders – to bring milk, spuds and coal to houses across Belfast.
There’s the Ormo drivers standing proudly in a long line beside their vans which used to “float” around the streets.
Dressed in smart long white coats with brown money bags, they brought fresh bread from the bakery on the Ormeau Road to your front door.
We’ve also put in great images showing the city at work in many trades which have now disappeared into history.
They range from an iconic still of young girls from a linen mill to distillery and cigarette factory workers.
Two of the most moving images are of young paper delivery boys in Shaftesbury Square as the Belfast Telegraph is handed out, and a crowd of ship workers all wearing their “duncher” caps and donkey jackets.
And the picture of the road workers on Oxford Street has more than meets the eye.
A closer look shows they have uncovered an old underground railway tunnel that used to carry steam trains travelling on the Belfast Central Railway from where they entered the tunnel on Laganbank Road to were it came out on Donegall Quay.
The trains carried goods from the docks to the main rail networks and parts of the old tunnels were later developed into what became the pedestrian "subways" around Ann Street that still exist today.
We hope you enjoy the gallery as much we we did putting it together.
As always, get back to us with your thoughts via our comment section and don’t forget to check out more great pix at the Old Belfast Facebook site.