I remember bubble gum and other individually wrapped candy being 2 for a penny. 26 cents would buy a Coke in a returnable bottle AND either a bag of tater chips or a candy bar. Return the bottle for a nickle meaning that it was actually 21 cents.

I remember my father raising mortal hell one day because when he paid for $2.00 gas he only got 5 point something gallons instead of at least 6 gallons. That would have been around 1973. Gas prices had jumped 4 or 5 cents overnight.

When I was about 6 years old there was a service station about a 1/4 mile up the road that kept their return for deposit bottles around at the side of the building. I walked up there one day with a couple of older boys that lived nearby. As we came up the trail around the side, we all grabbed a few bottles and carried them to the counter inside. The man paid us for the bottles and we turned around and bought drinks out of the machine out front. I didn't realize I was stealing until Mom explained it to me. I don't remember getting in trouble and I think Mom or Dad went and paid the man for the bottles. Whew, no criminal record for me.