Practical uses of runic alphabet?

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I would expect the runic alphabet, pre-800s, to have been used for things like instructions for the identification of useful plants, brewing alcoholic beverages, recipes, family records, etc.. However, this is just operating on the simple premise that ancient cultures had the same practical, everyday needs as any other. I don't have any relevant information on this, so I would be interested to know whether and how runic script was used besides for purposes of divination.

It's an alphabet (well, there are several slightly different ones), it was used for ordinary writing as well as inscriptions. It coexisted with Latin in England, for example. It's either derived from Latin or from a related language - you can see there are many letters with similar shapes.

Most writing has been used in the same way. Ancient Sumer culture left behind vast amounts of tedious inventory and finance reports.