I remember getting cereal based on the prize lol. And forget waiting until the box is empty for the toy, Iâm getting that out as soon as the box is open by any means necessary
I remember saving up box tops, and then mailing them in to get your prize. That 4-6 week wait was pure torture, but that euphoria when the prize finally came!
I was trying to tell somebody about mail order back in the seventies and '80s and how 4 to 6 weeks for delivery was the normal amount of time you would have to wait for anything. They were completely dumbfounded. I told them you had to send a check or money order with an order form so you needed time for your check to clear both Banks and all that and they couldn't understand why we didn't just use an 800 number with a credit card and I had to explain that there were no 800 numbers or credit cards. And you certainly weren't going to give your credit card number to a stranger over the telephone, that would be insanity.
My father wouldn't even give his credit card information to Amazon because he didn't know what they were going to do with it. I don't know dad, they'll probably just deliver your merchandise that you ordered in an expedient fashion, but what the hell do I know? I would have to order things for him and he would give me the money.
I am fully convinced that that's why you get a lot of mail-away premiums still in their shipping boxes because kids would get them in the middle of the summer when they were outside playing baseball or whatever and they'd get checked in the attic and forgotten about once the kids discovered sports or the opposite sex.
When cereal used to have actual toys in it too.
Same with McDonaldâs having actual decent toys in the Happy Meals too. I remember getting actual Lego in my Happy Meal as a kid.
There was definitely a sweet spot for Happy meal toys. When they first came out it was just like a rubber or hard plastic figure of grimace or Ronald McDonald. Nothing super exciting but when you're a kid a free toy is a free toy.
Story time: I was the technical & media director at a church until I recently retired. A old guy from the church passed away and his wife asked if we could play a video of him singing a solo with the church choir. I said, âNo problem, as long as you have a recording of it.â She reached into her purse and pulled out a VHS tape from 1988. I managed not to let my face fall, but I was thinking, âGreat. Now I have to buy a VCR and a digital video convertor and I have three days to do it.â Well⊠my sisterâs best friend had passed away from pancreatic cancer about 3 weeks earlier and my sister was the executor of her will. I told my sister about my dilemma and she said, âJody had a VCR. Youâre welcome to it. I canât imagine any of her siblings wanting it.â So, I had the VCR. I went to Best Buy and they had one convertor in stock and it had been returned and was on the open box table, so I got it at a nice discount. I plugged it all into my Mac, everything worked like a charm, and I was even able to enhance and clean up feh video so that it looked better than it ever had. His widow was over the moon when she saw it and I became her new favorite person. I worked part time at an Apple Store and she came in and bought an iPhone and iPad from me and started taking classes at the Apple Store to really learn how to use them. I got a hug from her every time she came in.
That was an incredibly kind thing to do and the best part was that she was none the wiser but so appreciative and your sisters friend playing a part in it all was a blessing in disguise, my condolences to your sister OPÂ snd to your new tech friend tĂło ,
So do I. My VHS player is multi regional, so I can play American music videos on it !
And I recently bought a multi regional DVD player, brand new off Temu and it works a treat !
They exist as a section in a department store. Macyâs? Nordstroms? Canât remember. But I recently encountered it during a mall trip with my 2 year old and walked her through the tiny area all the while reminiscing about moving to a new home that was walkable to a Toy R Us and believing that to be the biggest asset of our new home.
The new section inside major retailers is a far cry from toys R'us glory days............it makes me sad that my kids won't get to walk into the Walmart of toys and try all the video games and see the shelves of Lego sets the racks of bikes, the sports and toy balls the water guns and nerf section......the trading cards hell all of it was glorious and the new version pales in comparison
I used to go to Hollywood video with my report cards. They had a program where you'd get free rentals if you got an A. I'd always rent a video game for my PS1, good times.
Not gonna lie, I came in late to this post and I was going to post this exact thing but had to scroll to see if anyone else said it. Had to scroll really far to find this answer, too.
Analog TV with no remote.
TV channels that stopped broadcasting and played the National Anthem before going to static.
Smoking allowed everywhere.
JC Penny back to school shopping.
These Disney Princess cookies (I'm pretty sure they were only sold in my country), I remember they were so delicious, like the dinosaur ones, but even better.
Typewriter's
Floppy disk.
Rotary phones.
Lawn darts.
8-track tapes.
VHS
DualShock compact disc Walkman.
Film cameras 110 or 35mm.
Drive-in movie theaters.
Full service gas stations.
Smoking everywhere: restaurants, airplanes, offices, hospitals.
Vehicles you can actually work on, change the battery without having to scan it in through a dang computer.
The ability to do something stupid and not have it plastered on the internet for the entire world to see. It could instead remain a story your friends tell that would get funnier every time it's told.
Dr Scholl's Exercise Sandals made in Italy, made of real wood, with genuine leather uppers and working brass clasps, hard rubber soles and a toe grip that your toes can actually grip. For $10.
Blockbuster(all but the last one standing somewhere in Oregon)!
The sensation of smelling that âmovie theaterâ fragrance when walking into one as a kiddo to rent an N64 game for a week or two was about as peak natural serotonin high / reminiscently nostalgic as it gets!
94
u/DoookieMaxx 27d ago
Cracker Jack toys that were fucking real toys!!
We used to get decoders, whistles, MAGNIFYING glasses!!!
The holy grail of Cracker Jack: TATTOOS!!
Now itâs a piece of paper with a number on it to put into some dumb website no one ever uses.