OT: So I discovered this new Instagram account…

[HuskyNan]

…that I think some of a certain age might find amusing

 

[HuskyNan]

 

[HuskyNan]

Can’t buy cigarettes from a vending machine now but you can get this

 

[Forego]

From my perspective that is a fairly modern cigarette machine. I remember my father buying a pack of Chesterfield unfiltered cigarettes from a much smaller machine. He put in two dimes, pulled out the rod and out came the cigarettes with a pack of matches. Inside the pack’s plastic wrapper were two pennies for your change.

 

[Majic Hands]

Yep

 

[Zinethar]

Fortunately today very few people smoke, including me, but in the late 50s and early 60s almost everyone did. When I was 13 I bought mine for a quarter from the vending machine in the police station because they were the cheapest around. There was always a line of kids there and no one cared!

 

[Veteran]

A long time ago I was in the army in Germany. I worked in a secure basement locked commo platoon room with a peep hole in the door. There were a couple of candy machines exactly like the cigarette machine just down the hall. Some GI, somehow realized that if you pulled the lever just right in one of the columns of Snickers (or whatever) and kept rapidly pulling it like that it would drain the entire column of candy. Maybe it was a design flaw that he already knew about. You could hear the thump, thump, thump as someone emptied the entire column back in the room where I worked. It sounded like a machine gun. I remember looking out the peep hole a couple of times and watching the poor perplexed German who serviced the machines standing there scratching his head trying to figure out what was wrong. He never did. But after 4 or 5 times they finally just left that column empty.

Never doubt that a GI will figure out how to beat the system.

 

[HuskyNan]

 

[Veteran]

In my house back in the 60's, that was often followed by my father unbuckling his belt.

 

[HuskyNan]

 

[Centerstream]

That's the household I grew up in.
I am familiar with all these vending machines. My swerve concerning the cost of cigs...I quit smoking in 1976 while on a submarine patrol. I made sure that I didn't pack enough cartons to make it through the patrol. I paid $2.00 a carton in the commissary.
Swerve over.

 

[Aluminny69]

 

[Aluminny69]

 

[cabbie191]

A long time ago I was in the army in Germany. I worked in a secure basement locked commo platoon room with a peep hole in the door. There were a couple of candy machines exactly like the cigarette machine just down the hall. Some GI, somehow realized that if you pulled the lever just right in one of the columns of Snickers (or whatever) and kept rapidly pulling it like that it would drain the entire column of candy. Maybe it was a design flaw that he already knew about. You could hear the thump, thump, thump as someone emptied the entire column back in the room where I worked. It sounded like a machine gun. I remember looking out the peep hole a couple of times and watching the poor perplexed German who serviced the machines standing there scratching his head trying to figure out what was wrong. He never did. But after 4 or 5 times they finally just left that column empty.

Never doubt that a GI will figure out how to beat the system.

Brings back memories of college (1969-1973) when we relied on pay phones to communicate back home. A few of us figured out how to get the machine in our dorm to disgorge its collection of dimes.

Obviously this was stealing and I feel a twinge of regret, but now that I have made this public confession, I mainly hope there is a statute of limitations at work.

And also that my wife doesn’t read this!

 

[Sifaka]

…that I think some of a certain age might find amusing

2025 kids: Put a book on your head? What's a book?

How to make a telephone call in 1950.
1. Pick up party line handset.
2. If you didn't hear voices, wait for operator to say, “Nummmburrrr please.”



Around 1954 we got our own line. Two years later we got a dial phone.

 

[Dogdude]

OK...

 

[oldhusky]

View attachment 109304

At my age if I forget something, I just tell people my hard drive is full and I can't add something new unless I delete something first!

 

[vtcwbuff]

Can’t buy cigarettes from a vending machine now but you can get this

View attachment 109289

I bought beer from a vending machine in Norway in the early 80s

 

[CL82]

In my house back in the 60's, that was often followed by my father unbuckling his belt.

To be honest, I don't ever remember being hit. The prime motivator as a kid was not disappointing our parents. No one had to tell us to study or otherwise do the things that were expected of us. There was a silent mutual understanding of expectations. At least, that's the way I remember it.

 

[HuskyNan]

To be honest, I don't ever remember being hit. The prime motivator as a kid was not disappointing our parents. No one had to tell us to study or otherwise do the things that were expected of us. There was a silent mutual understanding of expectations. At least, that's the way I remember it.

Yep. Especially Mom. Seeing her disappointed in me was an arrow to my heart

 

[BBallF]

This one just about sums it up.

 

[HuskyNan]

 

[Jmul760170]

A long time ago I was in the army in Germany. I worked in a secure basement locked commo platoon room with a peep hole in the door. There were a couple of candy machines exactly like the cigarette machine just down the hall. Some GI, somehow realized that if you pulled the lever just right in one of the columns of Snickers (or whatever) and kept rapidly pulling it like that it would drain the entire column of candy. Maybe it was a design flaw that he already knew about. You could hear the thump, thump, thump as someone emptied the entire column back in the room where I worked. It sounded like a machine gun. I remember looking out the peep hole a couple of times and watching the poor perplexed German who serviced the machines standing there scratching his head trying to figure out what was wrong. He never did. But after 4 or 5 times they finally just left that column empty.

Never doubt that a GI will figure out how to beat the system.

Yes we managed to do this in high school a few times.
Once they figured out what was going on, machine was locked up and only open during our lunch hour and was monitored.
The pop machines could sometimes be emptied just rapidly pushing the buttons sometimes as well.

But the best one of all was the pay phone hack. For a few days, for some reason in our little school and town, you could walk up to a pay phone, lift up the handset, punch any 7 numbers and hang up real fast and it would return change. You might get lucky and get a dollar or 2 in change. Which wasn't bad money back in the 80's. For a few days, I'd hit every pay phone in town and collect my winnings. Then it just stopped.........

 

[HuskyNan]