What Decade Are You Living In, Ma'am?

[Miss Maple Leaf]

Okay, this happened Sunday night, but I had forgotten about it until now.

An older lady came into my store to get some candy. After a bit of verbal tug-of-war where I was trying to find out which candies she wanted and the monetary amount she wanted to purchase, she asked me how much the candy was, so I told her that it was five cents per piece, which of course is what candy costs these days (at least, around here).
She started complaining though that it was too expensive (WTF?) and mentioned something about one-cent candies. Note: The last time I ever saw those tiny one-cent candies I was 7 years old. I'm 22 now. You guys do the math.

She then asked about our caramels, which are the same price as the candy, and also too expensive according to her. After that though, she thankfully moved out of the line so that I could serve the people who had built up behind her, and started pawing through our bars.

She came back with a Cherry Blossom and wanted to know the price, which I told her was $1.10. Cue the outrage and complaining that it's "too expensive". She then went on about how she used to get them for much cheaper than that, which made me wonder just how cheaper she was talking about and how long ago she had bought her last Cherry Blossom. I know that prices rise over time, but the price of that item didn't rise so drastically in the last few years to really make such a fuss about. It's not like it went from a quarter to the current price in 2 or 3 years.

Anyway, she ended up leaving the Cherry Blossom on the counter and storming out without buying anything.

[Masta Shake]

HAHA!! Just wait until she goes to the theatre if she thinks candy prices have gone up too much!

[skeptic53]

Well, Hershey raised the price of their basic chocolate bar from 5 cents to 10 in 1969, so she's apparently living almost 40 years in the past...

[Miss Maple Leaf]

HAHA!! Just wait until she goes to the theatre if she thinks candy prices have gone up too much!

Tell me about it! Whenever I go to see a movie I always want to cry when I get to the snack area. A bag of popcorn costs more than the damn movie ticket!

[blas]

My parents went to see Wild Hogs about a month or so ago. They hadn't been to the movies since....like.....Toy Story with me and my brother. My dad declared ticket prices and concessions a "downright outrage"

My parents are only in their early/mid 40s yet bitch like Depression babies when they hammer me and baby brother with "I only made $2.50 an hour when I was in high school at my first job!" and "Candy bars were a DIME when I was growing up!" and "I used to be able to fill my car up for $5 when I was 17!" and "A pair of jeans used to be $10!"

And yes, working at the gas station, I heard that sad sad story over and over from customers. "Gas was only $0.89 a gallon 20 years ago!" and "Your dolla don't go nowhere dese days!"

[MadMike]

I got a bit of a shock when my friends and I decided to go bowling for the first time in years. We were doing Rock-and-Bowl, which is where you pay one price that includes three games, shoe rentals, and a DJ. It had gone up quite a bit since the last time we went, and was now $14 (this was a couple years ago, we went again last weekend, and it's now up to $16.)

I can remember when it was only $6, which made for good, cheap entertainment on a Friday or Saturday night. I thought the addition of the bar was what made the price skyrocket, but I checked around, and it's about the same price as the other places that don't have a bar.

[MystyGlyttyr]

Reminds me of when I was going back through some of our 2001 papers a while back when I was reading about some of the post-9/11 stuff, and I got tickled at this one article where there was a huge uproar because gas jumped from $1.41 to $1.61 in a week.

Hard to believe that just five and a half years ago, gas was half the price it is now, though...

[greensinestro]

I remember, back around 1984, when I was twelve years old, a Snickers bar cost 39 cents. Now, if I am not mistaken, some places charge close to 89 cents. Everything was cheaper then, by our standards, but back then, we all thought what a ripoff things were. Gas may sound cheap in those days, but I remember my parents griping about how high the prices were. Hell, video games were all 25 cents at any arcade, and now many of them have different amounts (if they accept quarters any more).

[MadMike]

I remember, back around 1984, when I was twelve years old, a Snickers bar cost 39 cents.

I can beat that. I think this was sometime in the mid-70s. My mom took me and my brother to the store and got us each a candy bar. As we were walking back, I remember her complaining that the candy bars were 15 cents each.

[Banrion]

I remember, back around 1984, when I was twelve years old, a Snickers bar cost 39 cents. Now, if I am not mistaken, some places charge close to 89 cents.

Around here the local grocery has King Size Snickers 3 for $1.00 so the price has actually gone DOWN!!!

[Gurndigarn]

I remember, back around 1984, when I was twelve years old, a Snickers bar cost 39 cents. Now, if I am not mistaken, some places charge close to 89 cents. Everything was cheaper then, by our standards, but back then, we all thought what a ripoff things were. Gas may sound cheap in those days, but I remember my parents griping about how high the prices were. Hell, video games were all 25 cents at any arcade, and now many of them have different amounts (if they accept quarters any more).

Yew young whippersnappers! Back in my day, pinball cost a dime. And we thought we were getting jypped even back then! And you got five balls per game, none of this three-ball ****! And if you wanted to play pinball, you had to get in the station wagon. None of this newfangled SUV stuff. And it was uphill, too! Both ways!

[Noelegy]

What's scary is how much paperback books have gone up in the last several years. I have books that I owned back in high school, which was 20 years ago, and compared to the price of mass-market paperbacks now, the markup is close to 400%.

[April]

I remember, when I was a kid, the gas station near my house sold candy for 2.5 cents. Yes, there was a half cent after the 2 cents.

I always wondered what they did if someone wanted an odd number of candy

[BookstoreEscapee]

What's scary is how much paperback books have gone up in the last several years. I have books that I owned back in high school, which was 20 years ago, and compared to the price of mass-market paperbacks now, the markup is close to 400%.

Have you seen the new mass markets they've been putting out the last couple years? They're the same width but about an inch or two taller...supposedly a "convenient" size for easy reading or something like that...I say it's just a scam so they can charge an extra 2-3 bucks, cuz they cost about $10.

I actually remember paying 99 cents a gallon for gas...sigh..

[Tria]

Anyway, she ended up leaving the Cherry Blossom on the counter and storming out without buying anything.

Ask her how much she made when candy was that cheap....