You Know You Are Old When

[newbury]

The neighborhoods where people sat out on porches were the best places to sell.

For me (in northern Vermont) that meant going out on the front porch in the summer, eating watermelon, spitting seeds, and plinking with my .22.
We had a 100 yard range (on 30 acres) across the dam of a 1 acre pond. And no neighbors within sight or about 500 yards.
At the time (60's) I felt I was living the opulent life of the rich Romans on a peasant budget.
Now I know we were.

 

[chiefcook]

I remember a man in a old panel truck that came around about once a month. He sharpened scissors. Knives and reel mower blades.

 

[MossRoad]

During WWII we used to go around hunting up scrap iron and selling it to the local junk man, 1 cent per pound. You would be surprised what all you could buy for a few pennies back then.

A couple days ago I was telling a young guy we just hired about penny candy. We'd go walk the county road until we found 10 bottles, turn them in for $1.00 deposit, buy a bottle of pop for .25, an ice cream bar for .25, and 50 pieces of candy. Man, we'd be sick all afternoon!

 

[stompybritches]

I remember a man in a old panel truck that came around about once a month. He sharpened scissors. Knives and reel mower blades.

I think that was the 'Kirby vacuum man's' territory in my neck of the woods. Forgot about the knife sharpening portion. As a kid I was fascinated that something so repulsive (vacuum for house chores) could actually merit the attention of an adult who would bother to drive out to our orchard and fix it. That - and the fact he had an incredible wobbly triple chin pretty much like a pelican - kept me hanging around mom's house call with him. Otherwise, nope.

 

[Oaktree]

Most places later even today have an outdoor service box with a test jumper inside where you can plug in a phone.

ISTR those boxes came along in the 80s when Ma Bell was broken up. That box was the demarcation point between the phone company's responsibility and the customer's. The jack was so if you were having problems you could plug a phone in to test...if the phone didn't work on that jack, it was the telco's problem, if it did it was yours.

 

[Oaktree]

Never had a milkman. We had it warm straight from the Mooo.
Did have a breadman. If I had the coin I'd buy a box of Hostess cupcakes. Second choice was Twinkies. I think he disappeared around 71-72.
I remember people converting to oil from coal.

My parents' house had one of those old coal-converted-to-oil furnaces. Conversion had been done before they bought the place. Huge thing, took up half the cellar, and other than the cellar itself didn't really heat the house all that well. They replaced it when I was a teenager.

Growing up we had a milkman, breadman and the local drycleaner had a route. By the time I was in high school all those had gone away.

 

[Hay Dude]

I remember when you could hunt at daybreak, throw your gun in your gun rack and drive to school without a worry in the world. If you got one (a deer) naturally you’d skip and spend the day gutting & hanging.

Today, you’d be cuffed, perp walked, expelled, cancelled and maybe deported.

 

[ultrarunner]

What can you buy for a penny these days and get a receipt...?

1 cent postage stamp.

 

[Hay Dude]

What can you buy for a penny these days and get a receipt...?

1 cent postage stamp.

Speaking of postage stamps….
The price is going up again….

 

[masseyrider]

A couple days ago I was telling a young guy we just hired about penny candy. We'd go walk the county road until we found 10 bottles, turn them in for $1.00 deposit, buy a bottle of pop for .25, an ice cream bar for .25, and 50 pieces of candy. Man, we'd be sick all afternoon!

In my day if you had $.25 you had to buy things in the right order.
You started with an ice cream, then your pop. You bought the candy bar last because you needed the deposit money from your bottle. If you got a Popsicle you could have your pop a second Popsicle and a candy bar for later.
The penny candy had too many possible variations to list. But if you had a pop you always had to figure in what order to max your sugar high with the deposit.

 

[ultrarunner]

Pixie Sticks were a penny…

At 7 I mowed yards up and down the residential street with a manual push mower on Saturdays for .25 a lawn…

It was a good gig and every week I’d give dad $5 to put in the bank for me…

At 9 we moved back to East Oakland from the suburbs and that ended my lawn and fence painting business.

It wasn’t until age 12 with a work permit that I had my first real job at the Dealership earning $50 a week… mostly washing and vacuuming cars, starting and keeping batteries charged when needed plus if low I could put in 2 gallons from the dealership pump.

The best was getting keys for customers and showing the cars because it was pay for talking!

 

[goeduck]

I missed out on the milkman and butter & egg man. We had cows and chickens instead. Milked the cows by hand, made butter and gathered eggs. Pigs, goats, turkeys, all that stuff. I never ate anything that didn't come from Mom's kitchen until I was 16. I am too young to have experienced ice boxes, although we do have an antique icebox on display for looks in the kitchen.

 

[ultrarunner]

I have the old family icebox in the garage right now…

Also a shoebox of ice picks with advertising.

We had a milkman and it was the same man in the suburbs and the city…

One day he didn’t show up and found later he passed… always drove the same Diverco standing up truck.

The milk box was on the porch a longtime in memory.

There was also the egg lady and the Electrolux man and the garage door man…

When they passed… no one replaced them.

All were real personalities and always a word to the kids…

 

[needmoredirt]

Milk delivery, Good Humor and donut truck, every day!

Oh, and only 2 sexes.

 

[scootr]

Milk delivery, Good Humor and donut truck, every day!

Oh, and only 2 sexes.

You know you are old if you believe there are only 2 sexes

 

[sixdogs]

I remember a man in a old panel truck that came around about once a month. He sharpened scissors. Knives and reel mower blades.

I forgot all about those guys. Provided a valuable service and my mom often sent me out with knives, scissors, etc to get sharpened. "Now don't cut yourself on the way back. And no running".

 

[Williy]

I can remember hanging on the back of the ice mans
truck for a free ride. For a penny you could get a paper
strip of candy on it. Upstairs was heated with a kerosene stove. To get ice out of the river in the winder
they used a chain saw and cut big chunks of ice and would haul it over the Mr Choo Choo's ice house not sure of the size probably 200 x 400 ft. they had ice all
summer long. candy bars were 5 cents and you could
get a glass of beer for a nickel. A movie ticket was 5 cents in the 40's. Every Sunday evening Gabriel Heatter would anounce the war news then the shadow
and then the green hornet for radio shows. Comic books were 10 cents.

willy

 

[ultrarunner]

The Shadow Knows...

The 5 cent Hershey Bar then doubled to 10 cents

When the price went up they introduced the Big Block but today everything is shrinking...

 

[masscity]

My ex-wife and I had a milk man for about 3 years. The milk man told me he was retiring and that nobody was taking his place. What I liked was the milk was really fresh compared to the store.

Before I went into the USAF my Mom bought me a back brush from the Fuller Brush man. I still have and use that brush after 60 years. It's been to Texas, Okinawa, Spain, Germany, Detroit and California. They don't make them like that anymore.

 

[sixdogs]

My ex-wife and I had a milk man for about 3 years. The milk man told me he was retiring and that nobody was taking his place. What I liked was the milk was really fresh compared to the store.

Before I went into the USAF my Mom bought me a back brush from the Fuller Brush man. I still have and use that brush after 60 years. It's been to Texas, Okinawa, Spain, Germany, Detroit and California. They don't make them like that anymore.

Fuller Brush made the best stuff and apparently is still in business.

Fuller Brush: Over 100 Years Of Premium Quality Products

In the good'ol days when products were made to last... wait, you can still get them! You guessed it, here at Fuller Brush. Alfred Fuller started with a hand wired brush machine, now, over 100 years later, the knowledge & expertise lying behind every product we manufacture allows us to deliver...

fuller.com

I had their shoe brush for decades and they made a great fabric brush my mom liked.