When this 2000 cartoon appeared on the Web site in 2008, gas prices were hovering around $4 per gallon. In recent weeks, gas prices fell to near the $1.69 price that flabbergasts Arlo above, and drivers were elated. Perspective is everything, no? The situation depicted here is totally factual; as a boy I loved raiding the “service stations” for bundles of maps, and most of them never complained. On a tangent, I went into a Shell station yesterday looking for a bottle of bleach. (Why isn’t relevant.) Almost the entire store, and this was a sizeable one, was devoted to snacks! I know this comes as no revelation to you, but it is brought home when one searches for quotidian inedibles. No wonder we’re getting fat.
88 responses to “Very Tiny”
I can remember my folks buying 500 gallons for $0.29 per gallon when gasoline jumped over $0.40 in 1973. Gasoline increases have a way of putting the halt on an economy. Stability, even at a slightly higher price is best.
Just overnight the gas can and has increased $0.29 at times. Talk about perspective.
Repeat of comment that went away with yesterday’s comments:
AM sky question for EMB, I saw a bright object (planet?) in the NE sky @ 6:40AM from Baton Rouge, LA, a little N & W of New Orleans. Could it be Venus?
Blessings on everyone on this beautiful Fall day.
$1.69 ??? where are you??? we pay $2.39 here (in Central NY) but I was on a business trip to Ithaca yesterday and filled up at $2.16 and was thrilled – yes, I too remember paying $.29 when I was in college – and then it went up to $.44 – I was in shock!
Thanks in part to low gas prices there will be zero COLA for us SS recipients this year. Oh well, I’ll just make the best of it and take more road trips.
“Quotidian.” I’ll bet fewer than you’d think residents of and visitors to the Village had to look that up. This place will educate you, if you’re not careful.
Little Arlo’s response today would likely be, “Wait, what? You can buy bleach at a gas station?” And Ike’s response today would likely be, “Wait, what? The National System of Interstate and Defense Highways’ primary purpose is to provide a marketplace for gasoline and snack foods?”
Here’s another WABAC pricing story, this one involving The Evil Weed. (Tobacco. What did you think?) An older friend told me that, loving all things mechanical, one of his favorite activities when he was about eight years old was to purchase cigarettes from a vending machine for his uncle when the extended family was eating out. (Yeah, I know; allowing that would probably now be considered Capital Child Abuse in some jurisdictions.) He said he can remember when his uncle would give him a quarter, and the cigarettes would be delivered with four bright, shiny pennies under the cellophane along one edge of the pack. AND HIS UNCLE WOULD LET HIM KEEP THE PENNIES! Getting to operate a big, clanky mechanical device, plus getting paid four cents to do so…Small Boy Rapture!
I haven’t even noticed the price of cigarettes lately, but I’m guessing any of those Interstate-based snack-food emporiums would be happy to sell you a pack for $5 to $15 today, depending on their location’s current level of sin tax.
Ghost and Anonymous, the expansion of foods in the “convenience” stores is probably the same as in the movie theaters. Owner’s major profits come from sales of ancillary items. Gas only makes money for the oil companies, like movies only make money for the studios. So to stay in business, the retailers sell everything else they can make a dime on.
Also, some would argue that the Decline of Western Civilization began with the introduction of self-service gasoline retailers.
http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/bttf/images/9/92/Texaco1955wide.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20080110081542
Our local Walgreens drug store only recently started stocking milk. Before, you could only find sodas, energy drinks, beer, and hard liquor.
Gotta grow the clientele for their pharmacy, I guess.
Just returned home from a 6 week cross-country road trip that was on my bucket list. Magnificent to see the U.S. landscape with my own eyes. Also amazed at how rural so much of the country is compared to the East Coast. It’s like 2 different worlds. But I digress. We hit over 45 gas stations and every one was chock full of snack food. So…..I gained 9 lbs. No discipline within this traveller. On the other hand, in the old days it was difficult to find restrooms while you were traveling and those you could find were disgusting. But at today’s gas station/mini marts the restrooms are accessible and almost uniformly very clean and comfortable. Some even include interesting tile or artwork.
Last month I had noticed that every single person at the new QT convenience store here in Muskogee, Oklahoma was buying food.
So I asked. The manager said their food sales exceeded their gas sales.
By the way, they own QT’s Kitchen and when I want healthy I stop and get food there. All calories counted and fresh fruits, great breads, low fat, multigrains, salads. Easy to stay on diet.
If you live in Texas Chuckee’s gas stations are a tourist stop. Someone from Texas explain why. Love.
four above – “Gas only makes money for the oil companies” – oh, a little, it makes the most money for federal and state tax collectors, but it’s true about the extra items. I know when I did my teenage years at Whatburger, they don’t make a lot off the burgers, it’s the soda and fries that only cost the company pennies. I remember in the early 60’s we still had Tenneco stations in Houston and they were the first ones I saw grocery items in, totally weirded me out to see bacon for sale in a gas station. I was always getting maps from the Enco and Mobil stations and they would have other states and regional maps covering the whole country, so I was sure to have all I could get.
We used to have Tenneco stations in Florida. There was one year, mid-1970s, when Bob’s budget was particularly tight, that he did all his Christmas shopping for me there – a collection of FSU paraphernalia.
“You can trust your car to the man who wears the star…the big, bright TEXACO star!”
Ghost Sweetie, it’s good to know you’re home safely in the Village again, and that all is well with you.
According to EMB, in response to a question from me, that would be Venus.
I remember as a kid, when we went on vacation, I would sit shot gun with road map in my lap, keeping up with where we were, and what was close by. Still have a fascination with maps. In my library I have a world globe, a world atlas, road atlas, a wall world map, and I don’t know how many National Geographic maps. Maybe I need to get out more.
Have fun with these to jog your memories. Before using an old map for backroad adventures, better check the newer ones first. You don’t want to end up like that couple in the Subaru tv ad. Yesterday’s highway might be today’s dirt road, or lacking in bridges and gas stations.
http://www.ebay.com/sch/Advertising-/34/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=vintage+road+maps
Jackie/Anon,
Buc-ee’s are big tourist stops in Texas because they are always spotlessly clean, have huge bathrooms, lots of gas pumps, plenty of staff, and many Texas-themed souvenirs and snacks. Most also include just about every flavor of beverage and general snacks as well as pastries, barbecue, and deli sandwiches. Everyone loves the buck-toothed beaver mascot and logo merchandise, too. The fan photos page shows the mania:
https://www.buc-ees.com/fanphotos.php
Hi, Jean dear! And I’ve wondered about you at times, too. Don’t be a stranger.
Even in this day of turn-by-turn GPS navigation devices, I still make an annual stop at the welcome center when I cross a state line and pick up one of their generally nice state highway maps. I too love me some paper highway maps.
Of course, the GPS device does have its place, such as when you are on a heavily traveled stretch of urban Interstate, doing Warp 8+ to keep from getting run over, and trying to decide which of the next eleven closely-spaced exits is the one you need to take.
I just realized my “return” to the Village has garnered more comments here than has Robin’s return to the cartoon. Of course, I’m sure there have been plenty of Janis/Robin comments made on The Dark Side…and that a certain number of them were creepy.
Road maps even a few years old can be very outdated. True story. Loon was navigating us through a city using a state issued road map that was ~ 2 years old. Could not find the exit for the state highway we needed to exit on. After three circuits, we found the exit only by heading towards our next waypoint city. Turns out the map was correct, but the state had renumbered a series of their highways.
sandcastler ™, a lot of renumbering occurred when the states were required to change from mile markings to km.
Posted this at the end of “Next.” That was stupid.
domaucan1 on 14 Oct 2015 at 7:59 am #
AM sky question for EMB, I saw a bright object (planet?) in the NE sky @ 6:40AM from Baton Rouge, LA, a little N & W of New Orleans. Could it be Venus?
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For 3-4 months, a bright, pre-dawn celestial object in the E, other than Luna, is Venus. You can even see her after sunup; just find it before sunup and follow her the same distance from Sol. Best to stand in the shade to avoid Sol’s glare. Once you do that, find a flagpole or whatever, get Venus right above, and show someone. Try not to become a pest / your new-found skill. You might get hanged as a witch.
PS: This works for any place on Earth, not just Baton Rouge, if the sky is clear.
Peace, emb
I have an app on my smartphone called SKYNET. It’s basically a road map of the sky!
Just start it up, aim the phone at the object and it will tell you what it is.
Just keeping with the road map theme and places you’ve never been (and probably
never will be).
SKYNET? OMG! Someone alert my mom!
I had a VW Bug in the good old days. Gas stations were offering a free glass with a 3 dollar purchase. I never could get one of those glasses. Of course I could also buy a CARTON if Lucky Strikes for $1.80. I sure am glad I quit smoking. It’s the only way I can afford today’s gas prices.