Community Stories

Things were cheaper- not that long ago

JwRosenthal
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So doesn’t feel that long ago to me, but my mother handed me a stack of shit while visiting her tonight for Passover (happy Passover everyone!).

This little time capsule threw me for a loop:

IMG_7411.jpeg


March 3rd, 1990. Chevron at the corner of PCH and Sunset for a full tank of super for my Toyota Landcrusier- and 5 candy bars apparently.
 
140dave
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Yup, but somehow it didn’t seem cheap then either.

It was just a few months after your fill up that cigarette prices rose to $1.25
I was in college and a gallon of gas was more important and cost less than a pack of cigs so I gave ‘em up to stay on the road. True fact regardless of age or generation; it’s hard to get a date riding the bus.
 
JwRosenthal
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140dave 140dave
Yup, but somehow it didn’t seem cheap then either.

It was just a few months after your fill up that cigarette prices rose to $1.25
I was in college and a gallon of gas was more important and cost less than a pack of cigs so I gave ‘em up to stay on the road. True fact regardless of age or generation; it’s hard to get a date riding the bus.
I was thinking the same thing- they were $1.10 a pack or $10/carton at the time of this gas purchase- I remember it well. When they went over $2.50 a pack I said that’s it!! 👎
 
rendo
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Stupid question, but what was the process of filling the tank back then using a credit card? Did you have to go inside and have them swipe your card first, then fill the tank and go back inside to sign the slip?
 
STANDY
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Love how old people think 33 years is not that long ago… 😁😁
 
SC1
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rendo rendo
Stupid question, but what was the process of filling the tank back then using a credit card? Did you have to go inside and have them swipe your card first, then fill the tank and go back inside to sign the slip?

Not sure about James and life in California but for me...

Full Serve: an attendant filled your tank and you either handed them cash or your CC.

Self Serve: you filled your tank and then walked yourself + cash or CC and paid inside the store or at the Full Serve kiosk where an attendant would be.

Drive Offs were exceptionally rare and a very big deal.

Different time.
 
JimInOz
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rendo rendo
Stupid question, but what was the process of filling the tank back then using a credit card? Did you have to go inside and have them swipe your card first, then fill the tank and go back inside to sign the slip?
It was in the days when we were all trustworthy, not fill and run pricks like you get today.

You just pulled up, filled up, walked in and swiped.
 
SC1
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I'm 59 and my second job ever was working part-time at an Arco gas station while I was in Jr & Sr High... it was only Full-Serve and absolutely mandatory to check tire pressure, oil, WWF & clean all the windows + sideviews for each customer unless the customer told you otherwise... and of course gas up their vehicle as well.

Made min wage ($3.35/hour + tips)... and had to run the car wash too if someone wanted a wash ~ Sundays & Fridays were brutal because we offered free washes with a $10.00 gas purchase.
 
SC1
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JimInOz JimInOz
It was in the days when we were all trustworthy, not fill and run pricks like you get today.

You just pulled up, filled up, walked in and swiped.

And even better (not to sound like That Guy)... the one G&D (Gas and Dash) I experienced as a gas attendant (and three shoplifting incidents when I worked as a 3rd shift stock boy at the local supermarket) you were not only allowed legally, but encouraged by management, to "engage" the perp... being a big yet fast boy I had some serious fun kicking the shit out of three of those four humans while waiting for the police to arrive (the fourth, a drunk older lady, at the supermarket, kicked the shit out of me while I had her pinned down - bit me seven times and absolutely shanked me in the nuts with a closed fist... I didn't let go of her but man did she leave some physical & psychological scars).

By contrast: my daughter worked PT at a supermarket last year to get some spending coin... she told me repeatedly about shoplifters and what she was instructed to do by management:
"Ask them to please put it back... if they don't and exit the store call the police with the best descriptors you can offer. Under no circumstances are you to engage them in any manner after asking them politely to put the merch back."

I was fυcking gobsmacked at that. World gone soft.
Edited:
 
Canuck
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I quit smoking my pipe in 1980. 43 years ago. Then, a 50 gram package of Borkum Riff pipe tobacco was either $1.59, or $1.69. 20 years ago, out of interest, I enquired as to the price of the same 50 gram package of tobacco. $16.00, I was told. My collection has cost me very little since I started spending my tobacco money on it!
 
ghce
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STANDY STANDY
Love how old people think 33 years is not that long ago… 😁😁

Christ, I've got underwear and Tee shirts older than that.
 
Braindrain
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ghce ghce
Christ, I've got underwear and Tee shirts older than that.

Tell me they're your car rags that you never threw away... please, not the other scenario....
 
ghce
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Braindrain Braindrain
Tell me they're your car rags that you never threw away... please, not the other scenario....

Oh yes of course 😁
 
Dan S
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I don't know, James. I'm not sure you're old enough to claim that 1990 was not that long ago. It's more than half you lifetime I'll wager. 😲
 
sheepdoll
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My time machine experiment failed again.

30 years seems like yesterday. 'specially when I am playing with watches and things I got in the 1990s. Of course it was half a lifetime ago.

Now if I only knew what to get for the next 30 years... I seem to be impulse purchasing the same sort of materials I was 30 years ago. Then there are the computer electronics, which at 8 years are completely not worth spending time on. The pipe organ console on the other hand is 100 years old. My friend gave me a new set of speakers so I am working out how to place them.

On the other hand I have more ready access to information. Spent much of the day reading threads on a do it yourself timegrapher (Vibograf) Turns out one can make a replacement pick-up microphone crystal from cream of Tarter and Baking soda.
 
JwRosenthal
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Dan S Dan S
I don't know, James. I'm not sure you're old enough to claim that 1990 was not that long ago. It's more than half you lifetime I'll wager. 😲
I was 17 years old at the time (still like candy but not 5 in a shot).
12 years after that I bought this for $800
IMG_4757.jpeg

And this for $2.2k
 
IMG_6576.jpeg
Twocats
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For 10 Irish pounds in 1990 I used to be able to have a night out in Dublin including 4 x pints of Guinness, box of 10 Rothmans, bus fare there and back plus a single of chips to soak up the booze. I was on 60 punts a week senior apprentice wages so I suppose it's all relative.

Either way we are all being screwed by the system as all our central banks print money out of thin air yet we have to pay tax on this printed money, utterly mind boggling shit.
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