The Great Toilet Paper Scare of 1973

Priceonomics ^ | Zachary Crockett

[EvilCapitalist]

Ouch! That’ll clean Uranus.

[TXnMA]

"Driving on fumes, hoping there would be a gas station open in the next Texas town made for a memorable trip."

LOL! Folks who haven't driven here have no concept of the vast distances that exist between some Texas towns. Like driving across entire New England States... '-)

Had a young GI friend from MA stop here in East Texas on his way to SGT Major school in El Paso.

Sez he: "After I get settled in, I'll pop back over for a longer visit."

Sez I: "When you get there, give me a call, and we'll plan a 'shoot what ya brung' day on the range down back"

~~~~~~~~~~~~

After graduation, he stopped by here again.

Sez I: "You never called..."

Sez he: "You sandbagged me! Hell, El Paso's closer to California than it is to here!!"

Sometimes, folks jes' have to experience Texas for themselves... '-)

~~~~~~~~~~~

And, yeah, I was driving a big-block Ford pickup+camper during both of the big oil crises. I remember the antsy feeling -- and the pain in the pocketbook -- all too well!

TXnMA
  

[Dutch Boy]

Absolutely. At work most people didn’t get that reference.

[Revel]

You can find a lot of tonight show clips on you tube. But you can’t find this one.

[Sequoyah101]

The Purel wipes by the shopping carts as you enter the door?

I expect we will see those stolen soon.

This is nucking futs.

All I remember being short of in ‘73 was money to buy fuel for my new pickup! This gave rise to my maximum that happiness is a full tank of gas and an open road. Sometimes, in my misspent youth it was a road open all night and all the way to Memphis or Amarillo to eat breakfast or lunch.

[hondact200]

I remember the Gasoline Shortage in 73 (10 years old). Parents worked two jobs each to save the family farm.

[gnickgnack2]

I have three old yellow pages books, never used, that I almost set out to recycle last week. Guess I’ll wait a bit. Thanks for the idea.

[ken in texas]

re. LOL! Folks who haven't driven here have no concept of the vast distances that exist between some Texas towns. Like driving across entire New England States... '-)

When we first moved to the north Dallas area, my folks in MA decided to visit us. Dad told me they'd booked a red-eye on Eastern, were landing in Houston around 4:00 AM, and after getting the rental car they should be at our house by 6:30 or so. He didn't believe me when I first told him how long the drive would actually take.

[norwaypinesavage]

There is, of course, a simple solution to this, and all the other “shortages”: The Law of Supply and Demand. In the short term, Supply cannot be altered. Demand can be instantly altered by allowing price to rise.

I waited in a long line yesterday at a Home Depot store buying nine ten foot treated 2x6s for my deck. There was no shortage of these. Ahead of me was a man with a large cart holding around 250 gallons of water. Most others in the line were buying water, too. I was pulled away from the line by a manager and taken to a hidden place where people were actually buying lumber. Other managers there were discussing whether or not to limit water sales.

Here was a prime opportunity to “ration” water, not by edict, but by price. By simply raising the price, it would be the buyers who would limit their purchases, not some arbitrary quantity limit. Unfortunately, government policy, not logic eliminated this option: in a “shortage”, “Price Gouging” is illegal.

It’s a stupid law. Allowing price to float would eliminate phony shortages such as these. I guarantee you that the rate of toilet paper usage has not changed at all.

[Oatka]

Go on ebay and search toilet paper. Set price and shipping at highest first.

Might be interesting, from a historical/hysterical viewpoint, to get a couple of screen shots.

[Oatka]

Folks who haven't driven here have no concept of the vast distances that exist between some Texas towns. Like driving across entire New England States.

Years ago we drove East from CA. We hit the TX border at El Paso and the miles-to-go-in-Texas sign said "801". I damned near turned around.

[sidebar] Whenever some EuroSnob sneered at us for not knowing two or more languages like they did, I replied that they HAD to learn them because of all their small countries. I told them I could drive West to East for 3,000 miles or South to North for 1,500 and still speak the same language.

[sidebar]I just watched a video about Afrika Korps prisoners being shipped to Kansas by truck. The Germans were astounded at how far they had to travel.

[xp38]

Most of Canada as well.

[dsc]

Sears catalogue in an outhouse. Yellowjackets. Spiders.

What’s the opposite of nostalgia?

[TXnMA]

"Sears catalogue in an outhouse. Yellowjackets. Spiders."

~~~~~~~~

We solved the problem of "yellowjackets" (actually yellow or red wasps -- yellowjackets nest in the ground) in the outhouse -- by knocking down their nests and taking them with us to the fishing hole. (Wasp larvae make superb fish bait...)

~~~~~~~~

? "Nostalgia" antonym? Quora says,

"Nostalgia is a noun. Most nouns do not have antonyms in English, including that one. It’s a bit like asking for an antonym for “dog”. There simply isn’t one."

In more than a single word, how about,

"The good ol' days ain't as good as they used to be..."?

TXnMA
  

[Daffynition]

This is the best thing I have seen all day! ...Patrick Kimmel/Facebook

Speakers on!

[Daffynition]

you don't know squat. Have you ever been to the Middle East?

[Ezekiel]

It's just like they say in real estate: Location Location Location.

"Low Price $8.88"

"Tic Toc" :)

[Daffynition]

Did you miss out in Pi Day?

You better practice your social distancing, Missy. or the cops will come for you.

[Ezekiel]

One of the biggest survival skills is basic math.

The true survivors know that

2 pi r because 1 pi is.

[Daffynition]

That is why cooking from scratch is so great for kiddos....they see the reason for the importance of math....and fractions...and following directions.

My grands love a rolled cookie and cookie cutters and lots of sprinkles and candies to decorate.