Remembering What A Buck Could Buy In The '60s

SeaBreeze

SeaBreeze

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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.


Three gallons of gas

Back in the'60s, people pulled up to the gas pump and actually said to the attendant, "Gimme a dollar's worth." In 1965, this amount could get you quite far, because gas was only 31 cents a gallon (it was up to 35 cents by 1969). To make sure your car would always start, you could get jumper cables for a buck and if you wanted to keep your ride looking great, you could buy car wax for a mere 99 cents.


20 First-Class Postage Stamps

In 1963, you could send letters to 20 friends for $1, or if you didn't have a whole lot to say, you could send 25 postcards. But by 1968, prices went up — it cost 5 cents to send a postcard and 6 cents to send a letter.


A hamburger with fries, salad, and dessert

Actually, in 1965 you could score a meal with a double-decker burger for a buck! If you wanted to go out to dinner, you could eat at Oscar's (a family restaurant chain in California), and for $1 you'd get a double-decker hamburger with French fries, salad, and ice cream for dessert. For only 30 cents more, you could get a complete fried chicken or shrimp dinner (also with fries and salad). Pie was only 35 cents a slice, an ice-cream sundae was 40 cents, and coffee or a soft drink cost 10 cents. By the way, if you wanted to grab a quick bite at a lunch counter, you could get a hot dog and a coke for 49 cents.


A gallon of milk (and other groceries)

In 1965 you could get a few food items for close to $1, but for the most part, the things you'd need to buy cost quite a bit less. So fill your vintage shopping cart with these items:

  • Gallon of milk: 95 cents

  • One regular size bottle of Heinz ketchup: 22 cents

  • One dozen eggs: 53 cents

  • One-ounce Hershey bar: 5 cents (Although the price remained the same, the size of the bar shrunk to 7/8 ounce in 1966 and 3/4 oz in 1968.)

  • Pillsbury cake mix: 25 cents

  • Pound of pork chops: $1.03

  • Pound of sirloin steak: 85 cents

  • Six-pack of Pepsi: 59 cents


Ten razor blades (and other toiletries)

Then as now, Americans wanted to look their best. Here's what you'd have to part with to do just that in 1965:

  • Package of ten Gillette razor blades: 99 cents

  • Can of shaving cream: 59 cents

  • Tube of toothpaste: 55 cents

  • Can of hair spray: 47 cents

  • Revlon lipstick: $1.25

  • Revlon nail enamel: 75 cents for crème and 90 cents for frosted


Enough aspirin for 50 headaches (and other meds)

Got a headache? In 1965, you could get 100 aspirin for only $1. You could also stock your medicine cabinet on the cheap with these other meds:

  • Generic cold relief capsules: 60 cents for two packages of 12

  • Cough drops: 23 cents for three packages

  • Cough syrup: 59 cents for a bottle

  • Contact decongestant tablets: 77 cents for a package of ten


Numerous copies of your favorite magazine or newspaper

In 1965, if you wanted a good dose of the printed news, you could get the New York Times for 10 cents from Monday through Saturday, but you'd need to spend 30 cents for the Sunday edition. If you were into the local news, you'd spend a bit less: The Daily Record, a newspaper in Morristown, New Jersey, sold for 7 cents. For another view of the world, you could get a copy of Life magazine, Time magazine, or Sports Illustrated for 35 cents.


A paper dress (for you, not a doll)


The mid-'60s gave rise to a new fad for a disposable society — paper clothing. As a promotion, in 1966 the Scott Paper Company sold paper dresses for only $1.25, and they sold like hotcakes! Just think — if the dress was too long, you could have a minidress just by using a pair of scissors. However, these dresses were just as expensive to produce as regular dresses, which sold for quite a bit more, so the fad quickly died out.


A home decoration or two

Most home decor items cost more than $1, but you might like to know what it cost to do a little redecorating in 1965. You could buy a sheet for $1.76, two bedspreads for $5, a lamp for $1 (or you could spend up to $5 if you wanted to splurge), and Oneida dinnerware for $3.98–5.40 per place setting.


A six-pack of beer

The best news of all . . . you could get a six-pack of your average American beer for just 99 cents!

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/remembering-what-a-buck-could-buy-in-the-1960s.html
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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?

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88 MILES PER HOUR!
 

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