“We used to ride the street car in town and used either red or green plastic tokens - believe they called them mills but it was too long ago to remember. “
What city was that? As a boy I got to ride the streetcar in Washington DC before they pulled up the tracks. Whittaker Chambers had helped build them as a laborer in the early 1900s.
“No credit cards, counter checks at all the stores and people used layaway and paid $1.00 or so a week until their items were paid for. Life was good.”
I remember my folks using layaway to make purchases. And I think they could open a store credit account for larger purchases like appliances. The earliest ‘credit card’ was Diner’s Club and it probably had to be paid off each month. The world of personal finance was designed to encourage thrift and prudence, it didn’t encourage you to get yourself into trouble. Maybe that habit was a result of the Great Depression just 20 years earlier
It wasn’t until I was in high school in the 60s that I remember Bank of America rolling out their BankAmericard which evolved into Visa and Mastercard and the rest of the enticements to personal debt.
The streetcar we used was right down the middle of Minnesota Avenue in Kansas City, Kansas. My adoptive dad was born in 1898 and my adoptive mom was born in 1915. They never had a credit card or bought anything on credit, except for the last car my mom purchased when I was a teenager. All I remember about it was that it was a Nash, ugly yellow color and looked like a bathtub. But they thought it was wonderful because the driver’s seat reclined!
My mom died in 2003 and I brought her Frigidare refrigerator which was very, very, very old to my home. It’s in the garage now and still runs. They do not make them like that any more.