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Thread ID: 120351	2011-09-05 04:45:00	A Little Bit Of US History - The Pony Express	SurferJoe46 (51)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1228889	2011-09-05 23:37:00	Not too sure - but I have a rather amusing story about the first energy crisis..................and instant financial oblivion ..........or at least lost fortunes............... Which year was that SJ? The first energy/petrol crisis I can remember was the so-called "Suez Crisis (www.bodley.ox.ac.uk)" in 1956 (probably didn't affect the US). As a nipper I can remember going to the Post Office with my dad and queuing for petrol coupons. I must have had a highly developed a sense of social responsibility even at that early age because it seemed to me unfair that if you had a large cc car you were entitled to more petrol. After, all, if the whole country was short, it should be the same for each person ....right?	tuiruru (12277)
1228890	2011-09-05 23:59:00	Which year was that SJ? The first energy/petrol crisis I can remember was the so-called "Suez Crisis (www.bodley.ox.ac.uk)" in 1956 (probably didn't affect the US). As a nipper I can remember going to the Post Office with my dad and queuing for petrol coupons. I must have had a highly developed a sense of social responsibility even at that early age because it seemed to me unfair that if you had a large cc car you were entitled to more petrol. After, all, if the whole country was short, it should be the same for each person ....right? I'm of the mind to say 1973 was the first wake up call to the US that all was not well in the petroleum world. Gas prices had been at about $0.20/gallon up to that date and sometimes at $0.12/gallon with gas wars between the stations vying for attention. I once saw prices at 1-cent a gallon when a gas war went on for a couple of weeks with corner-to-corner dealers trying to underskunk the guy across the street. Our gas pumps originally could only carry two digits before the decimal and we just KNEW gas would NEVER go over $0.75/gallon, but in a few weeks there were new pump heads at the stations with an extra set of numbers in the dollar position. It never went back again to the surf-fun-sun-sex-car days when gas was almost free. When the first time came that it went over 99 cents/gallon, we were ashamed to charge that much for gas - but everyone else was there so we had no call in the fight. We just did it. One oddball thing though::: In the early days of <20-cent gasoline, the profit to the oil companies paid the rent, utilities, insurance and advertising for us to run the stations. We got free rent and (for instance: Texaco in this case) paid all the other bills, even our uniforms and shoes. Then the dealer got a cut of the proceeds too - so there HAD to be a tiny margin for profit at that rate! Hud had new cars and a nice new house and they ate well and had money to spare for vacations and my payroll so it was coming from somewhere! With every gas sale we gave out trading stamps (S&H or Green Stamps) which you got by the hands-full and stuck into booklets and when you had enough of them you took them to a redemption center and got a color TV or a new toaster or a new car if you had enough of them! One lady got her husband a Mooney aircraft with the books she had. Anything you wanted, as long as you had the stamps for it! We also gave out free glasses. dining plates, silverware, free appliances and a drawing for a new Cadillac weekly for those who filled up their tanks. We even gave out free gas if your pump stopped on a three-digit - all the same numbers::: EG: $4.44 or $5.55 - or some run of numbers combination like that. Remember too that you could pretty well fill a gas tank for $4.00 to the top! That was about 16 gallons too! It wasn't uncommon for some kids to come in and buy 25-cents worth of gas for a date. And you couldn't even get 25-cents worth of gas in a 1-gallon gas can for your lawn mower! All gone now.	SurferJoe46 (51)
1228891	2011-09-06 00:13:00	In the UK we had Green Shield stamps (not necessarily tied to petrol tho') and certainly in the 60's and 70, there were lot's of coupons to collect. You could get soup mugs, cutlery, glasses etc - thru' a lot of wedding present lists into disarray ' cos people were kitting out there first kitchens with the stuff. Esso even came up with the slogan "Put a Tiger in your tank) and you could get a little furry tail to dangle from the fuel inlet - in the days before they were covered up!	tuiruru (12277)
1228892	2011-09-06 00:26:00	Yeah - we had ENCO for the Tiger Tail though. Texaco had: "You can trust your car to the man who wears the star - the TEXACO Star!" They later redacted that.	SurferJoe46 (51)
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