Are you this old?

[Pixguy]

$125 for the birth of a baby in '58. Times have changed a bit!

 

[Oaktree]

When I was in high school, regular gasoline was 25cents per gallon. I could buy a dollar's worth of gas, pick up my date, drive to Enid, go to the drive in (50 cents each; popcorn 15 cents each), have a hamburger and a Coke afterwards (35 cents and 15 cents) and have change left over from a '$5.00 bill.

Then again, how much were you making at that p/t job you had in HS? 75¢, maybe $1/hr? Still an expensive night out.

 

[Oaktree]

I saw 15 cents per gallon in the 60's during one of the gas wars. The price was commonly 17 to 20 cents. When the prices started to climb near 25 cents per gallon for regular gas, Dad started to grumble and complain.

I got my license in 1966, don't remember what gas was going for then, but I seem to think it was in the mid-ish 20s, and not really changing much for quite a few years. I do recall getting upset when it got into the high 30s when the Arab oil embargo hit in 1973.
I've heard of gas wars, but they didn't seem to be a thing around here. If they occurred, no one called them that.

 

[milkman636]

Then again, how much were you making at that p/t job you had in HS? 75¢, maybe $1/hr? Still an expensive night out.

I remember my Dad telling me how he landed a good paying, union job after he graduated high school in 1949. He was hired into Chris Craft, the boat maker, as a saw operator and made $1.10 an hour. He worked there until he got drafted into the Army for the Korean war in 1951, and took quite a pay cut for the next two years.

 

[Bird]

Gas wars were the thing down in Texas where I was stationed back in late 50s, early 60s. I vaguely recall 11 cent gas but I'm not sure of that now.

That sounds about right. I can't remember for sure how low it went. I do know that we hoped to have our tanks low on gas when a gas war hit, so we could then fill up the tanks at the lower price and keep them full until prices went back up.

 

[Bird]

I don't remember all my pay scales from the past, but I do remember that I was a part time temporary mail carrier my last year in high school and went to a full time clerk position in Dallas when I was 19 and the pay was an even $2 an hour with a 20% night time differential for all hours worked at night (from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.). And I took a big pay cut to get out of the post office when I was 24 and became a Dallas Police Officer starting at $345 a month.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Then again, how much were you making at that p/t job you had in HS? 75¢, maybe $1/hr? Still an expensive night out.

The farmers paid from 50cents to 75cents; I paid for my school pictures and class ring picking up sweet potatoes for 75 cents per hour. The pics and the ring, as I recall, were like $25 and $28 dollars.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Only 22 yrs ago

 

[lman]

During the gas wars I think it got down to 17-19 cents a gallon.

My dad said he remembered it being 14 cents at one time.

 

[npalen]

View attachment 727218

Wow! Does that ever bring back memories! Thanks for posting!