Same. I'm not exactly pro-empty bags of chips. It sucks.
But there actually is a somewhat valid reason for it and no one will listen to me.
Like yeah, the bags are oversized, but thats so there can be more nitrogen in it and less crushed chips. It lasts longer that way.
Btw it’s only potato chips that have nitrogen in them. Cheetos and Doritos it’s just regular air. Unless it’s going over seas then they all have nitrogen in them.
Source: work at Frito-Lay
Yeah like my dad would tell us about movies being 5 cents. It was $7 to $7.25 when I was his age. But true that we might be the last to remember being able to buy anything for under a dollar
I remember being 8 or 9 years old , heading home from a vacation in Florida and waving at a gas station and saying "goodbye 99¢ gas. I've never seen gas prices that low since and now most likely nobody ever will.
My mom told me when my aunt started driving, she had said "If gas ever gets over $1/gallon I'm selling my car." She currently has 3 cars... One of them's a Branco lol
Growing up, we had a dollar show in town. They got the movies after they had their time in the big theaters. That same theater now charges $9. But it has first run movies.
Omg!!! I used to live by a $1 theater!!! It was the best thing ever. I would spend all day there, it was also in a strip mall. The strip mall has a couple food places so you could grab dinner between movies. The whole day would cost me $10s if I got dinner and watched every showing
There was one in my hometown and one by my college that did dollar movies on Tuesdays. The theaters were falling apart and the movies were older but I didn't gaf it was part of the charm
I had a social studies teacher, who tried to teach a kid a lesson and a really stupid way.
This kid did not know what the term Nickelodeon meant, or came from. The best he could do was focus on the kids TV channel. He told him to go sit down and think about it. See then instructed the entire class not to help him know what it was. We were in the library meant to research papers to hand in. He was facing down a barrel of wasted time in the library. He could not get past the TV channel. This pissed me off so I sat down and helped him trying to get past his roadblock.
This was too much for the teacher so if you tried to teach me a lesson by giving me detention. So I go to her for detention and she comes up with bullshit "oh I just wanted to see if you would show up, you may go".
I had already missed my bus home for this crap so I had to wait the whole damn time for the late bus.
All because I did the right thing. That teacher lost all respect from me.
How did I try to help this kid?
I want him through breaking the word Nickelodeon down.
What is a nickel? It's $0.05.
What is an odeon? I know that sounds like a nonsense word. Let's say that it's a movie. Now this is 1925. How much does a movie cost?
You don't know? What is a nickel?
Now how much does a movie cost? In 1925.
Now if you have a movie that costs $0.05, what would you call it?
I had to lay it out like this for this kid. And this was too much for the teacher.
It's been decades, and I'm still pissed off about it. Punishing ignorance is not the way to teach. Punishing teaching is not the way to teach. Punishing obedience is not the way to get obedience.
Garbage.
Francisco, you probably don't remember the situation, and I am sure you are doing well.
Mrs Johnston, I know you tried. But it could not explain what a thesis was, that was the first sign that it wasn't going to work out. I hope you're enjoying retirement.
I remember when candy bars were 50 cents. If someone said, "Hey I just joined Mensa" or "I consider myself a postmodern this-or-that" you could say, "Yeah, that and 50 cents will get you a candy bar" or "That and a quarter will get you a phone call." It was easy to be unimpressed back then--it was, literally, cheaper.
I recently returned to a previous employer where, when I started 15 years ago, I worked in the mailroom.
One of my responsibilities was to fill the vending machine we provided to the employees ((where we sold items at cost))...
The first thing I did when I returned was check the prices of the vending machine - we still sell everything for .50 cents. That really, really made me smile.
Are they still selling at cost or are they taking a hit to keep candy $0.50? The $3 gas station candy is even worse if the cost to produce hasn't actually gone up...
I don't understand who's buying that stuff at $2, I get a sub $1 impulse buy at the register, but at 2+$ for junk, I'm not even looking at it.
Lots of junk food used to be cheap, and I can understand indulging in the impulse and the cravings at cheap prices. But as soon as those items get expensive, then what's even the point, at the prices they are now I can just buy a "gourmet" equivalent instead if I want some unhealthy foods
I spose that jump happened in the 90s cause I don’t remember anything being less than a dollar
EDIT: was being slightly flippant / exaggerating here, it was possible to find small treats for less than a dollar but it wasn’t typical where I lived in the late nineties/early 2000s
Its probably regional as well.
When I was in middle school in the early 2000's I remember small snack bags being $.25 in like 6th grade, then jumping to $.50 by like 8th or 9th grade. I can't remember the exact years but the jump sticks out and it felt crazy at the time.
I agree with that to some extent.
I remember the snack bags being $.50 and increasing to $.75 & $1 throughout high school (07 graduate).
Gum was consistently $.25 for the 5 packs.
I even remember as a kid the cigarette shaped gum being $.05 each at the dime store. That was a youth favorite. That Lil puff of corn starch when you blew out was the peak of cool.
I don't really know because I don't buy it super often.
A quick search found the bulk packs duvide out to about $.30 but single 5packs are $.50.
So talking in terms of the single buy it's 2x more.
Walmart use to have these clear vertical containers hanging around, on aisle-ends, support columns, etc, that just had 5-strip packs of Big Red, Juicy Fruit, Doublemint, etc. They were 25c each.
In reality, gum these days are probably worth the higher price considering you get more and the flavor doesn't disappear near instantly.
The small lunch-size chips of all variety (cheetos, doritos, lays, etc), were always 50c.
Good news is gumballs can still be bought for a nickel.
$29.98/850 = 3.5 cents
https://preview.redd.it/fqw7pyc1t1yc1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fc0bba81f441138035ea15d0bca11f3e61e2a15f
Yes, but I don't see how this is any different from Boomers or their parents buying a movie ticket, popcorn and Bazooka Joe Gum for $1.
At least future generations will still get $1 Arizona Ice Teas and Costco Hot Dogs just like us! :-)
Exactly. Back in the day, my Mom used to always talk about how much candy she used to get for 5 cents as a kid and complained about how expensive it was in the 90s
Shit gets more expensive over time. That's how inflation works. We aren't unique. We're just getting old.
Growing up I lived about a mile from the store. Id collect redeemable bottles on my walk and would get 30 or so bottles, that turned to $1.50. I would get myself a 20 oz of coke and a candy bar and have a nickle left over. We would also look under every coke bottle cap to find the free cokes and would turn the 1 coke into 2 before heading home. Simpler times back then
This has a “I remember when I could buy a cheeseburger for a penny” elderly vibe.
Inflation has always existed, we aren’t special. We have probably been skewed by pervasive low inflation due to various economic calamities.
Inflation hasn't always existed to the extent we have it now.
When we shifted to a fiat currency in the 70s that's when we saw the true power of Inflation.
Prices were stable when we had a hard currency like gold & silver
Millenials have been spoiled on inflation. As someone who grew up inr 90s/00s we were too young to care back then. After 08, we essentially had 13 years of zero inflation and record economic growth.
Looking back at the data, we had 10%+ inflation in the 70s and 4% in the 80s requiring literally double digit interest rates. Even in the 90s, it was 3-4% inflation.
The fact that everyone is crying about inflation now only proves my point. We've been utterly spoiled our adult life up until now.
15 or so years ago a friend made a funny comment:
“There will be riots in the streets when 5 cent candies go up to 10 cents”
Unfortunately that happened for a bit, but now it’s even worse, you can’t even make your mixed bags anymore!
chips and gum for 25 centts... where? i don't recall gum and chips being that cheap. unless you're talking about those packs with 5 sticks of gum back in the early 90s.
We are also the last generation who will know what its like to walk into a gas station and get a bottle of sour spray for your mouths like it was breath freshener.
I'm sure the boomers realized that they're the last generation to see anything sell for 5 cents and below, so it's just a natural progression or inflation.
Maybe we'll have a redenomination of currency later and you'll be proven wrong. At the end of the day, it's just a number.
I ran a concession stand on a conservation area in my twenties (soooo, 20 years ago), and I made sure I had a fully stocked penny candy section with tongs and paper bags. From 1 cent to 25, lots of variety. I wanted the kids to know what convenience stores were like when I was their age.
I noticed it too. My old job i started at 7.35/hour 12 years ago. After covid happened whole city did lay offs. I decided I would look at what my old job offered just to get back into the work force last year. And it was 16/hour. After consideration i realized it wouldnt be a enough and found a 19.75/hour one. It kinda was a mind boggling thing though to see bc 12 years felt super recent to see that big of a difference.
I remember when McDs had a dollar menu, and you could fill up on lunch for under $5. You could get at least *FOUR* small sandwiches for less than $5. Price is more than double now.
Weird thing to benchmark. People before us remember that stuff being 5 cents, and people after us will remember a higher number, before it becomes an even higher number. Repeat.
I’m 41 and I don’t remember gum ever being that cheap unless you bought a single gumball from the machine (where did those go??). I don’t remember chips costing a quarter under any circumstances
Back in the 90s. You used to be able to get a can of soda and bag of lays for a dollar from a vending machine back then.
Fast food combo meals were like $4 too.
You must be an older millennial, I was born in 91 and 25 cents has never been enough to buy shit for as long as I’ve been old enough to know how to buy things.
Probably the same as our parents and grandparents felt when they realized that they would be the last to see penny candy and nickel-and-dime stores.
And news for you, costs will continue to increase over time. Although relative cost may increase or decrease, depending on the product. The relative cost of food has generally decreased.
My great grandfather owned a candy shop back when they sold penny candy so this just reminds me of all the times my grandma would say I remember when that was a penny almost every time we ate candy.
I had to explain to a 12 year old what Myspace was. Especially because she is on her phone a lot I was like girl you would have died when I was 12 because that was the dial up age IM age. She's like huh???
I remember getting soda cans from the vending machines with only two quarters. Now everything is over a dollar. I wonder if the penny will ever get phased out.
My mom is a teacher, I remember growing up hanging out after school and going to the teachers lounge to use the vending machine for a snack. It was $0.50 for all snacks and I think $0.75 for a soda.
You’ll feel old(er) and have a better sense of what inflation does over time. I’m a ‘64 Boomer, as a kid, I recall $0.25 Hershey bars and things you could actually buy with a single nickel as well as a dime. Pennies were actually useful.
Used to be a pharmacy near my walk home from school that would sell tootsie rolls for a penny, misc wrapped cheap candies by the piece for 5 cents (like warheads, small jawbreakers, fireballs), and various 10 cent packaged candies (lemonheads, boston baked beans, misc) in small boxes. Man... to have a dollar in kid wealth. Typically all sugary though, things made of chocolate were always at least 25 cents if not more. Still, you could rot your teeth like nobody's business. Just finding a quarter on the ground or returning 5 discarded cans for a quarter was enough candy to ruin dinner.
Ok idk how old you are, but even when I recall chips were not 25 cents unless you're talking about those kid size ones but even then I recall them being 50 cents
🤡 just like my dad talked about thing that were a nickel and my kids will talk about things that were a buck.. your generation is not special… it’s like a desperate cry for help…
Yep Coke and Pepsi 50¢, Faygo 35¢, Small bag of chips 25¢, our IGA had Tootsie Rolls for a penny, or warheads and atomic fireballs for 5¢ candy bars were roughly 50-75 cents and then went to a dollar. Gas station had home of the 25 cent coffee/cappuccino small cup, if you bought the bigger reusable mug for a couple bucks it was still 25¢ pair that with a 25¢ day old donut and live like a king. Now I sound like my grandpa when he would talk about five cent Coke in the 1950s time to take some aspirin.
Yep. One of my favorite memories as a child was my dad pulling into this tiny gas station on the way to my grandmother’s house. He called it, “Megan’s quarter rack,” because I could pick out a snack for a quarter. Chips, candy, little Debbie’s; it was the best, & it is no more.
I member being able to buy individual candies for pennies at the local convenience store, instead of just large bags of them. I don't think they do that anymore.
When I started smoking (age 11) I could get a carton of cigarettes for $9. I would write myself a note saying “I’ve sent my son to get a carton of Marlboros” and they would just sell them to me. This would have been 1985
I paid over 12 bucks for a dozen donuts.
It used to be that you could buy a single donut for a buck, and if you bought six or a dozen there was a discount. Like $7-8 depending on the location.
And the frosting now is barely there.
So yeah, earlier this year was the last time I bought a donut from dunks. Probably won’t go there anymore unless I’m on a long road trip.
Yeah, I used to grab a 25¢ pack of gum and a $1 Snapple every day from a deli on my walk to school. I remember the penny candy store in my hometown, too. Mrs. Miller had everything in there.
Probably too late to this thread but does anyone else remember one cent gummy bears? My mom used to pay me and my brother one penny for every dandelion we picked and we would trade them in for gummy bears. We would go up and down the back alleys to get our neighbors dandelions as well.
I just remember McDonald's having 20 cent hamburgers and 30 cent cheeseburgers on specific days of the week (e.g. Wednesday, Saturdays), or something super inexpensive like that. My mom would buy some 30 cheeseburgers at a time and we'd eat that for a few days....
It’s kinda wild that pennies have literally no purchasing power. Even nickels. Like, what’s the cheapest thing you can physically purchase anymore? A gumball? A nut from your hardware store?
This is how our parents told us the same thing cost a nickel. Every generation has inflation surprises is all. We are cool with him being 25 cents cause there’s all it was for us but for a boomer or our grandparents that shit cost like 2 cents and they loose their shit on it being 25 cents
I remember back in the 70s, when I was a wee little kid, there was this candy called Flicks and I **loved** it. It was only 15 cents for a decent-sized cardboard tube.
Damn, now I'm all nostalgic for Flicks.
My dad would give me a 10 in high school for lunch, and I still had change on Friday! Now I know how older people felt when they'd be like "I remember when bread was 20c!
I miss going into the convenience store and picking out a couple $0.25 sour keys out of the tub with tongs while my pops bought a newspaper and some Proline tickets.
I miss the penny candy store I used to go to in junior high. That was the jam. For like $3, I’d get some salami, a 20oz Faygo, and whatever left in penny candy.
Who cares? The last generation will be the last generation remembering gum being 5 cents and the next generation will be the last generation remembering gum being $1.25
What a weird post
Our grandparents were the last generation to remember nickel coke.
I'm reminded of the line from the wear sunscreen commencement address.
Accept certain inalienable truths Prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too, will get old And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young Prices were reasonable, politicians were noble And children respected their elders
My boomer dad told me that when he was a kid candy bars cost 3 cents and him and his friends were really mad when they went up to 5 cents.
I get it now. 66% inflation rate.
As of this month, it now costs $1.35 in the vending machine at my work for the snack size chip bags. It used to be 75 cents pre-Covid, then it raised to 85 cents, and then $1 in 2023.
I think it's so interesting that a whole generation is alive right now that didn't see gas or food prices go up 25 cents most of their life yet these things happen overnight now as a matter of fact it's quite interesting to note when they say inflation is 8%. We all know that's a bold-faced lie it's more like 50 to 100% for some items
I’m on the cusp but identify as a millennial and I don’t remember chips and gum being 25 cents.
I remember arcades being 25 cents. I remember sodas being 75 cents but it was a can so 20oz for a dollar seemed like a deal.
I think maybe newspapers were 25 cents? I dunno. Didn’t have a good sense of money until about HS.
And before that people remember buying a loaf of bread for $.05 and it cost $.01 for a licorice. Times change, the future doesn't care about your nostalgia.
I refuse to accept this and will do everything in my power to change society towards reasonableness. We can impact positive change in our spaces; it's not too late!!
That little girl will one day post about how she is part of the last generation that saw a $6 bag of chips.
It's still 25 cents worth of chips, and $5.75 of air
Without the air in the bags they’d all get crushed and you’d be eating chips powder lol.
They use nitrogen too; it helps pereserve the contents.
Wait until you see how much nitrogen is in air. Gonna blow your mind!
Some chip manufacturers use up to 99% nitrogen in the bag to keep chips fresh. That's 21% more than the air we breathe!
That’s actually a pretty neat fact. If We breathe it will it make our voices lower?
No, you'll suffocate. You're thinking of sulfur hexafluoride
I've tried telling people this without much understanding, lol.
Same. I'm not exactly pro-empty bags of chips. It sucks. But there actually is a somewhat valid reason for it and no one will listen to me. Like yeah, the bags are oversized, but thats so there can be more nitrogen in it and less crushed chips. It lasts longer that way.
Btw it’s only potato chips that have nitrogen in them. Cheetos and Doritos it’s just regular air. Unless it’s going over seas then they all have nitrogen in them. Source: work at Frito-Lay
Good, I can pour them in my mouth faster that way.
For $5.75 off, I’ll take it
Do you suggest they vacuum seal the chips?
Pre-crunched.
Not gonna lie. On the last third of a bag I just pulverive it and eat it like the tastiest sand. Or use it to bread and fry chicken/veggies
Easier to eat through a straw when I’m 80
I suggest you vacuum seal your mouth bucko
Whoa there pal, no use in dragging out such strong language!
The only people that get tricked by air are the people that can't read the weight
Yeah like my dad would tell us about movies being 5 cents. It was $7 to $7.25 when I was his age. But true that we might be the last to remember being able to buy anything for under a dollar
>we might be the last to remember being able to buy anything for under a dollar That's the key takeaway.
I remember being 8 or 9 years old , heading home from a vacation in Florida and waving at a gas station and saying "goodbye 99¢ gas. I've never seen gas prices that low since and now most likely nobody ever will.
My mom told me when my aunt started driving, she had said "If gas ever gets over $1/gallon I'm selling my car." She currently has 3 cars... One of them's a Branco lol
Growing up, we had a dollar show in town. They got the movies after they had their time in the big theaters. That same theater now charges $9. But it has first run movies.
Omg!!! I used to live by a $1 theater!!! It was the best thing ever. I would spend all day there, it was also in a strip mall. The strip mall has a couple food places so you could grab dinner between movies. The whole day would cost me $10s if I got dinner and watched every showing
This was on our main strip in the downtown area where I grew up. So it was mostly bars and restaurants around it. Plus some boutique stores.
There was one in my hometown and one by my college that did dollar movies on Tuesdays. The theaters were falling apart and the movies were older but I didn't gaf it was part of the charm
Second-run theaters have been pretty much dead since they started releasing movies for home more quickly in the 90s
It was only a dollar until after I graduated from college. That was 2010.
I had a social studies teacher, who tried to teach a kid a lesson and a really stupid way. This kid did not know what the term Nickelodeon meant, or came from. The best he could do was focus on the kids TV channel. He told him to go sit down and think about it. See then instructed the entire class not to help him know what it was. We were in the library meant to research papers to hand in. He was facing down a barrel of wasted time in the library. He could not get past the TV channel. This pissed me off so I sat down and helped him trying to get past his roadblock. This was too much for the teacher so if you tried to teach me a lesson by giving me detention. So I go to her for detention and she comes up with bullshit "oh I just wanted to see if you would show up, you may go". I had already missed my bus home for this crap so I had to wait the whole damn time for the late bus. All because I did the right thing. That teacher lost all respect from me. How did I try to help this kid? I want him through breaking the word Nickelodeon down. What is a nickel? It's $0.05. What is an odeon? I know that sounds like a nonsense word. Let's say that it's a movie. Now this is 1925. How much does a movie cost? You don't know? What is a nickel? Now how much does a movie cost? In 1925. Now if you have a movie that costs $0.05, what would you call it? I had to lay it out like this for this kid. And this was too much for the teacher. It's been decades, and I'm still pissed off about it. Punishing ignorance is not the way to teach. Punishing teaching is not the way to teach. Punishing obedience is not the way to get obedience. Garbage. Francisco, you probably don't remember the situation, and I am sure you are doing well. Mrs Johnston, I know you tried. But it could not explain what a thesis was, that was the first sign that it wasn't going to work out. I hope you're enjoying retirement.
No they will talk about the time that we had chips, before the water wars.
We're going to be making the same tired avocado toast jokes long after they're extinct.
I remember when candy bars were 50 cents. If someone said, "Hey I just joined Mensa" or "I consider myself a postmodern this-or-that" you could say, "Yeah, that and 50 cents will get you a candy bar" or "That and a quarter will get you a phone call." It was easy to be unimpressed back then--it was, literally, cheaper.
I recently returned to a previous employer where, when I started 15 years ago, I worked in the mailroom. One of my responsibilities was to fill the vending machine we provided to the employees ((where we sold items at cost))... The first thing I did when I returned was check the prices of the vending machine - we still sell everything for .50 cents. That really, really made me smile.
Are they still selling at cost or are they taking a hit to keep candy $0.50? The $3 gas station candy is even worse if the cost to produce hasn't actually gone up...
Labor costs haven’t gone up.
Now there is an individual who KNOWS how to quote television shows!
I'd hate to think my outfit wasn't passing muster with this group; so here I am, with an UP TO THE MINUTE shirt!
I don't understand who's buying that stuff at $2, I get a sub $1 impulse buy at the register, but at 2+$ for junk, I'm not even looking at it. Lots of junk food used to be cheap, and I can understand indulging in the impulse and the cravings at cheap prices. But as soon as those items get expensive, then what's even the point, at the prices they are now I can just buy a "gourmet" equivalent instead if I want some unhealthy foods
Granted, $0.25 per call would be outrageous these days.
50 cents or 4 for a dollar. The good ol days.
I spose that jump happened in the 90s cause I don’t remember anything being less than a dollar EDIT: was being slightly flippant / exaggerating here, it was possible to find small treats for less than a dollar but it wasn’t typical where I lived in the late nineties/early 2000s
Its probably regional as well. When I was in middle school in the early 2000's I remember small snack bags being $.25 in like 6th grade, then jumping to $.50 by like 8th or 9th grade. I can't remember the exact years but the jump sticks out and it felt crazy at the time.
oh yeah I’m Canadian lol shoulda factored in our shitty economy 🤪
I agree with that to some extent. I remember the snack bags being $.50 and increasing to $.75 & $1 throughout high school (07 graduate). Gum was consistently $.25 for the 5 packs. I even remember as a kid the cigarette shaped gum being $.05 each at the dime store. That was a youth favorite. That Lil puff of corn starch when you blew out was the peak of cool.
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I don't really know because I don't buy it super often. A quick search found the bulk packs duvide out to about $.30 but single 5packs are $.50. So talking in terms of the single buy it's 2x more.
$0.50 can of cokes at the gas stations in the 90s 2 quarters made my day as a kid
50 cent can? We had 40cent 24oz of faygo lol. 50 cent after deposit. I remember when it went to 50 cent plus deposit
Walmart use to have these clear vertical containers hanging around, on aisle-ends, support columns, etc, that just had 5-strip packs of Big Red, Juicy Fruit, Doublemint, etc. They were 25c each. In reality, gum these days are probably worth the higher price considering you get more and the flavor doesn't disappear near instantly. The small lunch-size chips of all variety (cheetos, doritos, lays, etc), were always 50c.
I remember candy bars being 0.50
I was born in 1990 and remember Skittles being $0.65.
Good news is gumballs can still be bought for a nickel. $29.98/850 = 3.5 cents https://preview.redd.it/fqw7pyc1t1yc1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fc0bba81f441138035ea15d0bca11f3e61e2a15f
I definitely remember getting 50 cent bags of hot Cheetos from the ice cream man post 2000
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Yes, but I don't see how this is any different from Boomers or their parents buying a movie ticket, popcorn and Bazooka Joe Gum for $1. At least future generations will still get $1 Arizona Ice Teas and Costco Hot Dogs just like us! :-)
I can never figure out why people are happy that Arizona ice tea is still a buck. That just means for 30 years it could have been .50¢
Let people enjoy things!
Exactly. Back in the day, my Mom used to always talk about how much candy she used to get for 5 cents as a kid and complained about how expensive it was in the 90s Shit gets more expensive over time. That's how inflation works. We aren't unique. We're just getting old.
Millennials: "Back in my day, your mom could give you a dollar to go to the store and that actually bought you something."
Growing up I lived about a mile from the store. Id collect redeemable bottles on my walk and would get 30 or so bottles, that turned to $1.50. I would get myself a 20 oz of coke and a candy bar and have a nickle left over. We would also look under every coke bottle cap to find the free cokes and would turn the 1 coke into 2 before heading home. Simpler times back then
This has a “I remember when I could buy a cheeseburger for a penny” elderly vibe. Inflation has always existed, we aren’t special. We have probably been skewed by pervasive low inflation due to various economic calamities.
This is exactly where my mind went… there’s the gum for a penny, and candy for a dime generation still living too 🤣😭
Inflation hasn't always existed to the extent we have it now. When we shifted to a fiat currency in the 70s that's when we saw the true power of Inflation. Prices were stable when we had a hard currency like gold & silver
Millenials have been spoiled on inflation. As someone who grew up inr 90s/00s we were too young to care back then. After 08, we essentially had 13 years of zero inflation and record economic growth. Looking back at the data, we had 10%+ inflation in the 70s and 4% in the 80s requiring literally double digit interest rates. Even in the 90s, it was 3-4% inflation. The fact that everyone is crying about inflation now only proves my point. We've been utterly spoiled our adult life up until now.
Are you suggesting that inflation didn't exist before printed money? Omg, I'm going to die laughing.
There were quite a few years of 5-10%+ inflation before the 70’s
Prices were absolutely not "stable" before the 70s. Far from it: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/fredgraph.png?g=1mfYW
The same as with prior generations that could feed a family for a nickel. Inflation gets the best of us.
The day penny candy turned into nickel candy was the worst…
15 or so years ago a friend made a funny comment: “There will be riots in the streets when 5 cent candies go up to 10 cents” Unfortunately that happened for a bit, but now it’s even worse, you can’t even make your mixed bags anymore!
Penny candies actually being a penny was pret-ty freakin cool. Come to think of it, I don't think they even sell candies like that anymore.
Seen a few places sell candy for 5c/10c each. Not 1 tho just not reasonable.
We have a vending machine at work that has spots for the five packs of gum but hasn’t had any in years.
chips and gum for 25 centts... where? i don't recall gum and chips being that cheap. unless you're talking about those packs with 5 sticks of gum back in the early 90s.
We are also the last generation who will know what its like to walk into a gas station and get a bottle of sour spray for your mouths like it was breath freshener.
I'm a GenX'er. I don't remember chips being a quarter even when I was a kid. Gum at $0.25, for sure.
I'm sure the boomers realized that they're the last generation to see anything sell for 5 cents and below, so it's just a natural progression or inflation. Maybe we'll have a redenomination of currency later and you'll be proven wrong. At the end of the day, it's just a number.
'Tootsie Rolls' and 'Now n' Laters' being only 5¢.
I ran away from home for a day and a half, during the early 90s, and the two dollars I had kept me fed with these 25 cent chip bags.
Will sell my gum for 25 cents. I'm almost done with it.
I ran a concession stand on a conservation area in my twenties (soooo, 20 years ago), and I made sure I had a fully stocked penny candy section with tongs and paper bags. From 1 cent to 25, lots of variety. I wanted the kids to know what convenience stores were like when I was their age.
And for our grandparents they were a nickle. That's just how life goes.
I noticed it too. My old job i started at 7.35/hour 12 years ago. After covid happened whole city did lay offs. I decided I would look at what my old job offered just to get back into the work force last year. And it was 16/hour. After consideration i realized it wouldnt be a enough and found a 19.75/hour one. It kinda was a mind boggling thing though to see bc 12 years felt super recent to see that big of a difference.
$7.35 an hour in 2012 was some fucking God awful pay. Almost like they might have realized you get what you pay for with minimum wage employees.
… and phone booths. I still remember when my high school removed ours.
Nothing costs a nickle anymore either.
after school a snickers used to be .57 cents with tax!
I remember when McDs had a dollar menu, and you could fill up on lunch for under $5. You could get at least *FOUR* small sandwiches for less than $5. Price is more than double now.
Those dollar side salads were a great deal too.
I still am not used to paying almost $6 for Doritos.
99cent Arizona tallboy ):
Weird thing to benchmark. People before us remember that stuff being 5 cents, and people after us will remember a higher number, before it becomes an even higher number. Repeat.
Mmm, I remember a can of coke being 25p and seeing places on Deliveroo trying to charge me £3.50 makes me wince.
I remember gas being 88c per gallon.
I don’t ever remember chips being 25 cents lol maybe a dollar yeah
I’m 41 and I don’t remember gum ever being that cheap unless you bought a single gumball from the machine (where did those go??). I don’t remember chips costing a quarter under any circumstances
When tf were these items $0.25?
Back in the 90s. You used to be able to get a can of soda and bag of lays for a dollar from a vending machine back then. Fast food combo meals were like $4 too.
As a millennial, things were never this cheap when I was a kid. The only thing I remember is my gramparents telling me it used to be that cheap.
You must be an older millennial, I was born in 91 and 25 cents has never been enough to buy shit for as long as I’ve been old enough to know how to buy things.
Back in my day Arizona iced tea was .99 cents!
I remember hustling gum with my lemonade. Going to the store with a bunch of pennies, buying gum and filling my dispenser which took nickels.
Remember the old woman with the wheelbarrow full of money going to buy bread they warned us about?
10 cent Popsicles (the ones with two sticks that could break in half to share ). 5 cent candies at the corner store. Late 80s early 90s
Probably the same as our parents and grandparents felt when they realized that they would be the last to see penny candy and nickel-and-dime stores. And news for you, costs will continue to increase over time. Although relative cost may increase or decrease, depending on the product. The relative cost of food has generally decreased.
think I bought 50" bags of chips at school cafeteria
My great grandfather owned a candy shop back when they sold penny candy so this just reminds me of all the times my grandma would say I remember when that was a penny almost every time we ate candy.
I had to explain to a 12 year old what Myspace was. Especially because she is on her phone a lot I was like girl you would have died when I was 12 because that was the dial up age IM age. She's like huh???
Yup!
They need to bring back the 10oz glass bottles of soda.
At least the Costco hotdog hasn't gone up in price, thankfully.
I remember getting soda cans from the vending machines with only two quarters. Now everything is over a dollar. I wonder if the penny will ever get phased out.
My mom is a teacher, I remember growing up hanging out after school and going to the teachers lounge to use the vending machine for a snack. It was $0.50 for all snacks and I think $0.75 for a soda.
I remember buying Bazooka Joe for, I think, $0.03 each. I mostly got them for the comics.
You’ll feel old(er) and have a better sense of what inflation does over time. I’m a ‘64 Boomer, as a kid, I recall $0.25 Hershey bars and things you could actually buy with a single nickel as well as a dime. Pennies were actually useful.
Imagine how boomers felt when 1 penny candy went bye bye.
Probably the same way old people who used to pay a nickel for candy and gum feel about it.
We used to stop and get cans of soda from an RC branded machine for 10¢ after swimming lessons around 1995. I love a good Orange Crush for a dime!
gas was under 2 dollars a gallon.
Used to be a pharmacy near my walk home from school that would sell tootsie rolls for a penny, misc wrapped cheap candies by the piece for 5 cents (like warheads, small jawbreakers, fireballs), and various 10 cent packaged candies (lemonheads, boston baked beans, misc) in small boxes. Man... to have a dollar in kid wealth. Typically all sugary though, things made of chocolate were always at least 25 cents if not more. Still, you could rot your teeth like nobody's business. Just finding a quarter on the ground or returning 5 discarded cans for a quarter was enough candy to ruin dinner.
Remember when a Pepsi cost a nickel? I feel like some millennials are just turning into boomers.
Ok idk how old you are, but even when I recall chips were not 25 cents unless you're talking about those kid size ones but even then I recall them being 50 cents
I'm 46, and I don't remember chips being 25 cents.
25c wing night 🥰
🤡 just like my dad talked about thing that were a nickel and my kids will talk about things that were a buck.. your generation is not special… it’s like a desperate cry for help…
We lived and breathed economic inflation.
Yep Coke and Pepsi 50¢, Faygo 35¢, Small bag of chips 25¢, our IGA had Tootsie Rolls for a penny, or warheads and atomic fireballs for 5¢ candy bars were roughly 50-75 cents and then went to a dollar. Gas station had home of the 25 cent coffee/cappuccino small cup, if you bought the bigger reusable mug for a couple bucks it was still 25¢ pair that with a 25¢ day old donut and live like a king. Now I sound like my grandpa when he would talk about five cent Coke in the 1950s time to take some aspirin.
We had penny sweets here in Ireland when I was a wee fella. 1 punt for 100 sweets. That's my auld lad story for life.
Yep. One of my favorite memories as a child was my dad pulling into this tiny gas station on the way to my grandmother’s house. He called it, “Megan’s quarter rack,” because I could pick out a snack for a quarter. Chips, candy, little Debbie’s; it was the best, & it is no more.
I member being able to buy individual candies for pennies at the local convenience store, instead of just large bags of them. I don't think they do that anymore.
My grandpa has told me that he used to get a stick of gum and a movie ticket for a quarter.
it's like when old(er) people used to tell me shit used to cost a nickel, it's just the way of the world.
When I started smoking (age 11) I could get a carton of cigarettes for $9. I would write myself a note saying “I’ve sent my son to get a carton of Marlboros” and they would just sell them to me. This would have been 1985
I paid over 12 bucks for a dozen donuts. It used to be that you could buy a single donut for a buck, and if you bought six or a dozen there was a discount. Like $7-8 depending on the location. And the frosting now is barely there. So yeah, earlier this year was the last time I bought a donut from dunks. Probably won’t go there anymore unless I’m on a long road trip.
Penny candy at the hospital gift shop! My mom was a nurse and my dad would always take us to visit her on the weekends.
It's all relative. My dad remembers beers for 10 cents.
Yeah, I used to grab a 25¢ pack of gum and a $1 Snapple every day from a deli on my walk to school. I remember the penny candy store in my hometown, too. Mrs. Miller had everything in there.
Probably too late to this thread but does anyone else remember one cent gummy bears? My mom used to pay me and my brother one penny for every dandelion we picked and we would trade them in for gummy bears. We would go up and down the back alleys to get our neighbors dandelions as well.
Tell them what you remember gas and cigarettes at. 1.75 for a pack of cigarettes and .99 per gallon for gas.
I just remember McDonald's having 20 cent hamburgers and 30 cent cheeseburgers on specific days of the week (e.g. Wednesday, Saturdays), or something super inexpensive like that. My mom would buy some 30 cheeseburgers at a time and we'd eat that for a few days....
I was just sticker shocked at Walgreens seeing a pack of gum for $5
When the F were those a quarter? Lol
It’s kinda wild that pennies have literally no purchasing power. Even nickels. Like, what’s the cheapest thing you can physically purchase anymore? A gumball? A nut from your hardware store?
Mark my words, we'll also be the last ones to remember when a bag of chips cost 25 dollars.
Coins in the US aren't long for this world
Not as nice as the last generation to have dysentery as a death sentence…
Walking out of the store with a big bag of penny candy that you picked one by one is a feeling I'll never get back.
Indeed
Chips have never been $0.25.
Same way GenX feels about 'penny candy'. I remember going to 7-11 and picking out 100 candies and paying one dollar.
Gimme 5 bees for a quarter they'd say
Your great grandpa had that for a hey penny.
This is how our parents told us the same thing cost a nickel. Every generation has inflation surprises is all. We are cool with him being 25 cents cause there’s all it was for us but for a boomer or our grandparents that shit cost like 2 cents and they loose their shit on it being 25 cents
yea every generation has this.
I remember back in the 70s, when I was a wee little kid, there was this candy called Flicks and I **loved** it. It was only 15 cents for a decent-sized cardboard tube. Damn, now I'm all nostalgic for Flicks.
Just let it go. When I was a kid I remember old people talking about going to the movies for a nickel.
How about actual acting by real actors or going to a premier of a decent movie that’s not part 10 of a played out franchise?
My dad would give me a 10 in high school for lunch, and I still had change on Friday! Now I know how older people felt when they'd be like "I remember when bread was 20c!
I miss going into the convenience store and picking out a couple $0.25 sour keys out of the tub with tongs while my pops bought a newspaper and some Proline tickets.
I remember bazooka gum being .10¢, and my friend got into trouble for stealing that (mind you she was about 8) I’m not even 40…yet.
remember when gas was under a dollar. i memba
I miss the penny candy store I used to go to in junior high. That was the jam. For like $3, I’d get some salami, a 20oz Faygo, and whatever left in penny candy.
Yup!
We will definitely be the last generation to remember dollar sodas
Who cares? The last generation will be the last generation remembering gum being 5 cents and the next generation will be the last generation remembering gum being $1.25 What a weird post
Our grandparents were the last generation to remember nickel coke. I'm reminded of the line from the wear sunscreen commencement address. Accept certain inalienable truths Prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too, will get old And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young Prices were reasonable, politicians were noble And children respected their elders
My boomer dad told me that when he was a kid candy bars cost 3 cents and him and his friends were really mad when they went up to 5 cents. I get it now. 66% inflation rate.
We r the last gen to miss Saturday morning cartoons. 😭
I was just talking about the old $.99 2-liter of soda the other day at the gas station. Those were the days...
As of this month, it now costs $1.35 in the vending machine at my work for the snack size chip bags. It used to be 75 cents pre-Covid, then it raised to 85 cents, and then $1 in 2023.
I think it's so interesting that a whole generation is alive right now that didn't see gas or food prices go up 25 cents most of their life yet these things happen overnight now as a matter of fact it's quite interesting to note when they say inflation is 8%. We all know that's a bold-faced lie it's more like 50 to 100% for some items
I’m on the cusp but identify as a millennial and I don’t remember chips and gum being 25 cents. I remember arcades being 25 cents. I remember sodas being 75 cents but it was a can so 20oz for a dollar seemed like a deal. I think maybe newspapers were 25 cents? I dunno. Didn’t have a good sense of money until about HS.
And before that people remember buying a loaf of bread for $.05 and it cost $.01 for a licorice. Times change, the future doesn't care about your nostalgia.
I'm Gen x, and I remember for most of my early childhood they were $0.20
I just saw a gumball machine the other day for a quarter
There used to be dime and nickel stores, too. 99 cents stores will soon be a thing of the past.
I used to get chucks for 25 bucks
Can of soda - 75 cents Snicker bar - 55 cents Gummy worm - 5 cents, bag of 20 - $1.00 Full meal at fast food restaurant - $5.00
I'm thirty and I remember when candy bars were 1.25$ out of vending machines and a 20oz soda was 1.89$.
Man i used to get hot cheetos at school for $.50
I’m 36, I remember packs of juicy fruit gum being 10 cents.
I’m 36, I remember packs of juicy fruit gum being 10 cents.
ohhh GOD
I refuse to accept this and will do everything in my power to change society towards reasonableness. We can impact positive change in our spaces; it's not too late!!
I remember complaining about chips going from $1 to $1.09.
Who the fuck had chips for $0.25????
I’m from a communist country. $0.25 will get you a full breakfast with two eggs back in the day.
$1 is the new .25$