BS: Back When a Candy Bar Cost a Nickle

Subject: BS: Back When a Candy Bar Cost a Nickle
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 05 Jun 21 - 11:39 AM

When candy bars cost a Nickle
.
Donna and I had lunch yesterday at one of our favorite places, and I got in a conversation with our young waiter. He's a a friendly kid, and I enjoy talking with him. There was a sign on the door of the restaurant saying, "looking for cook." I asked him if had applied, and he said, "No way." That would not be a good move for anyone, and we both laughed.

"When I was a teenager, I had a job as the cook in a small restaurant and soda fountain. I also waited on people sitting at the counter and made all the ice cream and soda menu,. At the time I was, a double scoop of ice cream in a cone was ten cents. My father could top that. It was only a Nickle when he was a kid. I feel like the last living remnant of a world long forgotten. When I was at the University of Wisconsin in the mid to late fifties, the Madison Journal paper cost ten cents. They had vending machines on the street, and they were on the honor system. You could reach down a and take a newspaper, and put ten cents in a slotted box. It wasn't compulsory. You could just take the paper and walk away. Now, young adults can say, "I remember when a newspaper only cost a dollar."

You won't hear any little kids singing "Shave and a hair cut, two bits."

Subject: RE: BS: Back When a Candy Bar Cost a Nickle
From: Donuel
Date: 05 Jun 21 - 11:52 AM

I saw gas cost a nickle.

Subject: RE: BS: Back When a Candy Bar Cost a Nickle
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 05 Jun 21 - 12:23 PM

I remember getting 2 shillings on occasion to buy lunch at school - pie, chips (crisps) & a cake. Then in 1966 we changed to decimal currency & 2 shillings became 20 cents.

Today a pie costs around $5, a bag of salt & vinegar chips around $2.50 & I'm not sure what a cake costs as I don't have a sweet tooth, but croissants ranges from $2.50 to $5 depending on the bakery.

When I started work in 1970 a paper cost 6 cents, today I pay $3.90 six days a week, & $4.40 on Saturdays. Of course I was only earning $25 a week then.

Ah, the Good Ol' Days

Subject: RE: BS: Back When a Candy Bar Cost a Nickle
From: meself
Date: 05 Jun 21 - 12:31 PM

Reminds me of a friend of mine when I was a teenager, up in Toronto looking for work. He was sitting in a burger-joint one afternoon, when the owner and cook got into an argument. "That's it - I quit!" the cook said, throwing down his apron. My friend jumped up and said, "I'll take the job!"

Always felt a little sorry for that cook - my friend must have taken the wind out of his sails a bit.

Subject: RE: BS: Back When a Candy Bar Cost a Nickle
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 05 Jun 21 - 12:33 PM

C'mon now, Donuel! You must be twenty years older than me, and I know you're not over one hun dred. :-) In the Miswest in the fifties they had gas wars and I saw gas down to 15-20 cents a gallon, but that w2as only for short periods of time.... like two or three weeks.

Subject: RE: BS: Back When a Candy Bar Cost a Nickle
From: Bill D
Date: 05 Jun 21 - 01:38 PM

When I worked for the Physical Plant at my university, we had to dismantle the old chemistry lab for new construction. In the center of the two-sided lab tables was a small opening running the length. When the sections were moved, odd things were found that had gotten dropped for years. One was a Hershey bar 8oz..with a 5¢ price!
The other was an old empty Luck Strike cigarette package that was green! During WWII, free cigs were sent overseas with the slogan "Lucky Strike Green has gone to war!"

...and re: prices. In 1947, I was in 2nd grade on New Orleans. The ice cream cart came by (pedaled) and popcicles were 6¢... one day we kids were upset to learn the price was now 7¢! Only a penny? Yeah, but look at the % of change.
   In the 1960s, when I worked in grocery stores, there were prices like 23¢ for a can of peas, and if it went up to 25¢, people noticed.
Now, very large profits can be hidden in prices with often end in $0.99. (and TV sets at $999.99?? Who do they think they're fooling?)

Subject: RE: BS: Back When a Candy Bar Cost a Nickle
From: Jos
Date: 05 Jun 21 - 02:24 PM

I heard somewhere that the prices ending in 99 cents/pence were introduced to make sure the till was opened to give the customer the penny change. Otherwise, if the customer gave the correct money, whether in dollars or pounds, the cashier could just pocket the money without there being any record of the sale.

In fact, when I see something priced at £1 it somehow looks like a bargain, whereas 99p doesn't (as 99 is a bigger number).

Subject: RE: BS: Back When a Candy Bar Cost a Nickle
From: Bill D
Date: 05 Jun 21 - 07:08 PM

Sounds like an interesting rumor/speculation to me. And that theory doesn't explain prices for TV sets and cars. Or..(in the USA, the price on the gas/petrol pumps? ALWAYS $2.49.9 I suspect it has simply become just a standard practice to hide actual costs.
If you have a product, whether made or from wholesale, that your analysis says that your needed profit shows it can be sold for $3.63, what do you think will appear on the retail shelf? Right..$3.99.
   "Sometimes", it the regular price is $3.49, a sale price will be $2.99... and similar prices. But even sale prices are carefully adjusted to move a product, and they often hide items whose "sell by date" is approaching. There are, of course, genuine "loss leader" items for holiday seasons, etc.

Be very sure the stores and manufacturers do not want YOU to know the actual production & wholesale price(s).

Subject: RE: BS: Back When a Candy Bar Cost a Nickle
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 05 Jun 21 - 08:53 PM

My first job was in a bookshop, in the back room, parcelling said books, & we had a Sale. The owner didn't just reduce some
prices, he also BOUGHT extra stock for his sale - I was disillusioned & my life was blighted at only 18 ...

My sister's first after school job the same year was in a fashionable mod (remember mod?) clothing shop & the owner got in jeans at $1 each & wanted to sell them at $20 (my weekly wage was $25) but his young staff objected & they sold at $10 or $15. Ah, the Good Old Days

cynical sandra

Subject: RE: BS: Back When a Candy Bar Cost a Nickle
From: Mrrzy
Date: 05 Jun 21 - 08:59 PM

Put another dime in the juke box, baby!

Subject: RE: BS: Back When a Candy Bar Cost a Nickle
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 05 Jun 21 - 09:46 PM

Mrrzy: Teresa Brewer: Put another nickle in, in the Nicklodeon. (Music, Muusic, Music, When I was a teenage in the early fifties, you could get 5 plays for a quarter.

Subject: RE: BS: Back When a Candy Bar Cost a Nickle
From: Mrrzy
Date: 06 Jun 21 - 08:50 AM

Wasn't it spelled nickel?

Subject: RE: BS: Back When a Candy Bar Cost a Nickle
From: leeneia
Date: 06 Jun 21 - 06:08 PM

Lots of things were different when a Hershey bar cost a nickel. Some differences were good, some were bad.

No bottled water. People didn't have to have water on their person all the time.

We rode bikes without helmets or lights.

As kids we left the house and went wherever we wanted for as long as we wanted, until suppertime or twilight.

No seat belts.

Some people whipped their kids with belts, and neighbors just listened to the screams.

People didn't gabble about other people's sex lives all the time. (I don't care if you are LBGTQI or A. I'm expecting the day when we have a sex classification for every letter of the alphabet.)

Hugs only occurred between small children and adults they loved.

School was so boring it was unbelievable, and apparently that was regarded as natural.

Golf courses had lots of golfers on them.

Disney movies offered glamour and magic.

Subject: RE: BS: Back When a Candy Bar Cost a Nickle
From: banjoman
Date: 07 Jun 21 - 06:21 AM

Anyone remember penny arrow toffee bars . In Liverpool in the 1950's we could buy a penny return ticket on the tramcar and could then travel anywhere and back for one penny
Six pennyworth of Chips was a treat on Friday evenings and the local shop would sell you two ounces of sweets for three pence.
WE had more beatings than hot dinners at school and a visit to the school dentist was the extreme in pain.
Those were the days??

Subject: RE: BS: Back When a Candy Bar Cost a Nickle
From: JennieG
Date: 07 Jun 21 - 06:30 AM

The "good old days" weren't always good.......

Subject: RE: BS: Back When a Candy Bar Cost a Nickle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 07 Jun 21 - 06:30 AM

I had to look up what nickels and dimes were. I knew they were American coins but couldn't get to their values.

I remember shillings and pennies and converting to decimal (one shilling became 5p in the UK) but can't really remember what they bought then.

I can put a later price on petrol as I had a weekend job as a forecourt attendant when I was around 16/17, say 1976/77. It was around 75p a UK gallon then. Talk at one time used to speculate on petrol reaching £1 a gallon. It's long been over that for a litre, very loosely speaking, a fifth as much.

Subject: RE: BS: Back When a Candy Bar Cost a Nickle
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 07 Jun 21 - 02:40 PM

A couple of lines from a song of mine:

"For the good old days are still to come
Though the hard times are not over."

It's creepy to think that in thirty years, maybe kids these days will look upon these times as "The good old days."

Subject: RE: BS: Back When a Candy Bar Cost a Nickle
From: leeneia
Date: 08 Jun 21 - 12:39 AM

Continuing my post just above:

Clover was part of a normal yard, and little blue butterflies (which love clover) were common. Now when I see a little blue butterfly, my heart lifts.

We used to pick up double handfuls of fine dirt and put it on the slide to make it more slippery, and nobody ever complained about our dirty clothes.

When girls swam in pools, we had to wear icky bathing caps.