# Remembering What A Buck Could Buy In The '60s



## SeaBreeze (Jul 11, 2014)

Ahhh...the good ol' days. :sentimental:




> *Remembering What a Buck Could Buy in the 1960s*
> 
> A dollar really went far in the 1960s — much farther than it does today. Before you get too nostalgic, remember that the median household income in 1967 was $7,143, and the minimum wage was $1.40 per hour. Of course, on the other hand, that same year, an average American home cost $24,600, and a Love Bug (a Volkswagen Beetle) could be had for a mere $1,500.
> 
> ...


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## SifuPhil (Jul 12, 2014)

I wanna' go back ...


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## Meanderer (Jul 12, 2014)

*88 miles per hour!*

I used to think the ultimate shopping cart would be a time machine....don't know if the food would spoil on the trip back? 






*88 MILES PER HOUR!*


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## SeaBreeze (Jul 12, 2014)




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## chic (Jul 14, 2014)

How many packs of EZ wider rolling papers could a buck buy back then??


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## SifuPhil (Jul 14, 2014)

chic said:


> How many packs of EZ wider rolling papers could a buck buy back then??



LOL - nice try, but EZ Wider wasn't even in existence until 1970.

Now, if you want to talk about Rizla, which got their "papers" in 1799 ... probably 20 packs or so.


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## Meanderer (Jul 14, 2014)




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## chic (Jul 15, 2014)

SifuPhil said:


> LOL - nice try, but EZ Wider wasn't even in existence until 1970.
> 
> Now, if you want to talk about Rizla, which got their "papers" in 1799 ... probably 20 packs or so.



Was it really 1970? My first visit to a headshop took place in 1969 and they did have rolling papers there. Must've been another brand.


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## SifuPhil (Jul 15, 2014)

chic said:


> Was it really 1970? My first visit to a headshop took place in 1969 and they did have rolling papers there. Must've been another brand.



I'm pretty sure - they were founded by the same guy who later found Green Mountain Coffee ...



> *Hazy Origins
> 
> *
> 
> The prehistory of Green Mountain Coffee, Inc. is shrouded in  smoke--marijuana smoke. In 1971 company founder Robert Stiller had  helped launch E-Z Wider, a maker of rolling papers. E-Z Wider offered  smokers wider papers, so they did not have to lick and splice two papers  together to make bigger joints. As the high flying days of the 1970s  came to a close, Stiller and his partner Burton Rubin sold the company  to English tobacconeer Rizla for $6.2 million.



Source: http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/green-mountain-coffee-inc-history/

I thought they were around forever too, but strangely enough they are relative newcomers.


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## Son_of_Perdition (Jul 15, 2014)

SeaBreeze said:


> Ahhh...the good ol' days. :sentimental:



I can remember that McDonald's burgers were $.15 so you could buy 6 of them for a buck and pay your sales tax.  We used to say, 'Let's go get a bag of burgers.'  Could it have something to do with obesity problem in America?


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## oldman (Jul 16, 2014)

Yeah, I remember 'Let's go get a bag of burgers'. Our's were five for a dollar. I think that was a reason why heart attacks were so prevalent back then. I don't know how much fat was in those things. We used to swear they were made from Kangaroos, but who knows? (I hope that I didn't offend the Kangaroos.)


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## SeaBreeze (Jan 17, 2016)

New post today on food prices reminded me of this old thread. :sentimental:


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## fureverywhere (Jan 17, 2016)

The earliest price that comes to mind was 75 cents for a pack of smokes. Now even the dollar stores charge kind of loosely around a dollar an item.


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## SeaBreeze (Jan 17, 2016)

I remember getting some things at the local grocery store for a neighbor lady, I think a pack of cigarettes at the time was around 35 cents.  Yes, back in those days, us kids could buy cigarettes when sent on an errand.

I quit smoking in the early 80s, and the most expensive pack of Marlboro was in a machine at 75 cents.


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## fureverywhere (Jan 17, 2016)

Sure, you could go in the dairy store and buy cigarettes " for your Mom". If the wrong person was at the counter they'd march you out of the store. I think they cost around $10 in the city now.


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## Ameriscot (Jan 17, 2016)

fureverywhere said:


> Sure, you could go in the dairy store and buy cigarettes " for your Mom". If the wrong person was at the counter they'd march you out of the store. I think they cost around $10 in the city now.



I had no trouble buying cigarettes in a store for myself at age 15.  In 1967 they were 35 cents a pack.


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## jujube (Jan 17, 2016)

I can remember when I first started driving in 1963, you could get FOUR gallons of gas for a dollar.  Friday night was "run-around-night" where you took off with your girlfriends and cruised the drive-in restaurants in the hopes of getting dates for SATURDAY night.  Everyone would pitch in a quarter for gas and that would hold you for the evening.


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## Ameriscot (Jan 17, 2016)

I got married at the end of 1970 and I remember spending about $15 per week for groceries, etc.  There were 4 supermarkets which were close together so I'd get what was on sale at each one.  Before I realized that white bread is rubbish, I remember buying 4 loaves for $1.  I think I paid about $3 for a carton of cigarettes.


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## fureverywhere (Jan 17, 2016)

If you know the right bodega you can still buy a single cigarette for $1...back in the day is was probably a nickel...or not even that.


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## Ameriscot (Jan 17, 2016)

fureverywhere said:


> If you know the right bodega you can still buy a single cigarette for $1...back in the day is was probably a nickel...or not even that.



Good thing I quit.  You have to be rich to smoke now and the price of cigs in the UK and Europe has always been extremely high because they are highly taxed.


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## fureverywhere (Jan 17, 2016)

Really, in the 80's I was almost a pack a day. Now that would be sixty to eighty dollars a week. Hey one more very good reason to quit.


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## Ameriscot (Jan 17, 2016)

fureverywhere said:


> Really, in the 80's I was almost a pack a day. Now that would be sixty to eighty dollars a week. Hey one more very good reason to quit.



Cost wouldn't have been my motivation to quit.  At the time I quit in 1993 I was paying about $18 a carton.  I smoked 1 - 1 1/2 packs a day.  I quit because it was too much hard to work to breath!

I don't know how anyone could every afford to smoke in the UK.  It's always been extremely expensive and most of the smokers now are lower income people. My BIL in Australia recently quit mostly because of cost.  I think it's $20 a pack.


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