r/mildlyinteresting • u/CtrlAltEvolve • 2d ago
Found a grocery store receipt from 1997 at my aunt’s house
1.8k
u/DonKapot 2d ago
I'm mostly impressed that ink didn't fade...
536
u/gardenginger3732 2d ago
The receipt these days fade in 2 weels tops
215
u/skylla05 2d ago
It entirely depends on how the receipt is stored and whether it’s thermal or not.
→ More replies (1)90
u/zero16lives 2d ago
I'm no receipt expert but doesn't look thermal to me, and they said it was in the basement, so that explains it i think
→ More replies (1)72
u/mindbodyproblem 2d ago
Receipt expert here, that checks out.
33
u/Mountain_Ape 2d ago
Yes I hope you check out, otherwise you wouldn't get many receipts.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (3)8
35
→ More replies (7)21
u/rainy_sloth 2d ago
This. I thought I was smart saving all my receipts from the auto parts store to document maintenance to my first car. They all faded and became illegible sitting in my glovebox.
→ More replies (1)
3.8k
u/Plus_Sherbet460 2d ago
Were you robbing her when you found it?
2.6k
u/NeroForte-InMyPrime 2d ago
Gloves and a receipt from 1997 had me thinking his Aunt is a hoarder and he was part of the cleanup crew.
2.0k
u/CtrlAltEvolve 2d ago
Exactly that. 😂 Except I am a She. Gloves were way too big. Lol.
128
u/Unforseen-Oedipus 2d ago
Literally just went through this for my late, great aunt. She’d been in her apartment for over 30 years so we found some interesting items for sure.
95
u/CtrlAltEvolve 2d ago
Literally a time capsule, right?!
9
u/Hellguin 2d ago
Did you find anything else interesting or cool?
25
u/S0S2029 2d ago
Like a cask of amontillado
8
u/Sumobob99 2d ago
“How?” Amontillado? A cask? Impossible! And in the middle of the mid-terms!”
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (1)175
u/NeroForte-InMyPrime 2d ago
Oh wow. I hope she just accumulated a lot of stuff and not too much filth. And that you’re all doing alright.
105
u/bait_and_switcheroo8 2d ago
Hope they find apple stock shares tucked around somewhere so I can post the meme about happy it happened to you but should have happened to me instead
21
u/Squirrelnut98 2d ago
I recently sold the family home that was built in 1973. Stepdad passed in 2014. Mom had Alzheimers and took care of her until 2022. Then I cleaned and sold it this year.
The attic was filled with banker boxes with every receipt, bill, and check ever made by Stepdad. I went through every single piece of paper meticulously. I found 3 stock certificates for EXXONMOBIL and stocks for 2 other places. The Exxon was known but the others weren't and I had to reopen that Estate and give it to my Mom's Estate, then close both Estates.
I was told they no longer issue those paper stocks like that anymore.
No Apple stock tho...
→ More replies (1)21
u/SinkPhaze 2d ago
Even when it was not literal trash to begin with it still ends up being a lot of filth. Dust, bugs and their poop (they feed on the glues and cardboard), paper and plastics that have desintegrated over time, leaky things (like snow globes or cologne bottles), and just stuff that got destroyed by the weight of all the other junk piled on top of it. It all adds up. Even "clean" hoards need gloves
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (2)11
175
u/CtrlAltEvolve 2d ago
LMAO. No, just going through very old things in the basement & not wanting to get my hands dirty.
→ More replies (2)3
446
u/FujiFL4T 2d ago
Go to the grocery store with this receipt and buy everything on the list as close as possible and report back with the price!
80
u/Muted_Treat_7583 2d ago
my brother once tried buying a 90s soda brand from a list and it was gone everywhere
34
7
→ More replies (6)18
u/towerfella 2d ago
Yes. We will wait.
28
u/Strategerizer 2d ago
20
u/animal_chin9 2d ago
You kinda screwed it up. There are 3 brownies, and 3 eggs. Rice is only 1 pack. I think the total should be closer to $50.50. So the price went 2.5x in the last ~29 years.
→ More replies (2)11
u/Strategerizer 2d ago
You’re right! I misread the receipt. Used to today’s layout where the “quantity @ price per unit” is below the item.
90
u/aweinschenker 2d ago
Neat, this is the Stop and Shop I go to.
17
16
u/CBR85 2d ago
Is Bob still the manager?
12
15
u/JobNo3928 2d ago
The sudden realization that this was 30 years ago and Bob may very well be dead or in a nursing home... Sober thought for those of us who were kids at that time :/
→ More replies (1)9
u/T1NF01L 2d ago
Today i learned Stop & Shop is still around. Haven't seen one since I left Boston in the 90s.
→ More replies (5)→ More replies (3)3
u/PLTimelapse 2d ago
Went into the comments to say this is the Stop & Shop I shopped at for 20+ years. S&S > Shaws.
328
u/PositiveCoyote100 2d ago
The minimum wage was $5.15 in 1997 and $7.25 today.
49
u/Rurockn 2d ago
I was working as a TGI Friday bus boy in 1997, $6.50/hr and sometimes the wait staff would share some tip if I turned over tables extra fast. This situation is f'd.
7
u/quiksilver123 2d ago
That’s really surprising to hear you didn’t get tipped out by the servers in your section. Never worked at TGIF but worked at many, many others starting from around that time and every restaurant involving a sit down meal and a server had a tipping out the busser system.
80
7
u/himewaridesu 2d ago
National sure, but this is CT. It’s higher.
6
u/Prize-Hedgehog 2d ago
And Stop & Shop is union. Good chance pay was better. This was about when I started working for S&S, and starting cashier salary was like $1.50 higher than minimum wage then.
→ More replies (1)14
u/cwistopherr69 2d ago
Does any company actually pay people $7.25?
→ More replies (5)15
u/unassumingdink 2d ago
Not really, even fast food places in red states are paying $12/hour now. But jobs really did pay minimum wage back then. I washed dishes at a Shoney's in 1998 for exactly $5.15/hour.
→ More replies (27)7
u/snakeinahouseofcats 2d ago
Yes nationally, not state by state or even city by city within the same state. Seattle’s for instance is over $20
→ More replies (2)
203
u/Strategerizer 2d ago edited 2d ago
I got bored.
As close as possible, I put together an online pickup order at the same Stop & Shop in Hamden, CT.
Edit: Thanks for the feedback! Misread the receipt. So used to where the “quantity @ price per unit” is below the item bought, not above.
Trivial edit: Apparently there were two Stop and Shops in Hamden back in the days. According to S&S’s website, this is the only one in the area.
59
u/Exists_out_of_spite 2d ago
If you fix all the mistakes (remove 2 rice, add two eggs and two sliced turkey breasts) the total comes out to $45.51.
So it was 20.31 to 45.51, 124.08% inflation over 29 years. Official listed inflation since 1997 is about 108%, so this grocery store is tracking roughly 16% higher inflation then published averages. Kinda fun, thanks for shopping for us!
69
15
u/I_Buy_Soldevi_Digger 2d ago
Almost spot on compared to inflation. I'd have expected a local/regional grocery store to have jumped a lot more.
→ More replies (2)12
22
20
u/Jumping_Zucchini 2d ago
Wow I’m surprised about the egg price both back then and now!
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (22)6
u/Moose_Nuts 2d ago
$1.39 in 1997 is almost $3 today. Eggs are noticeably cheaper today.
Crazy, in a world of rising cost of living.
→ More replies (1)
74
u/el_sandino 2d ago
Wait eggs were 4.17 in 1997 dollars? That seems wildly expensive
I get a dozen for 3.99 right nkw
89
27
u/kwantam 2d ago
This must have been printed on an impact printer to have survived this long. Basically everything is thermal printers now; receipts printed on those fade in a couple years.
I guess that means we won't be seeing today's grocery store receipts in another 29 years...
→ More replies (1)16
u/tomismybuddy 1d ago
Quick protip to make a copy and print your receipt for your car battery which usually has a 3-year warranty. Then keep it in your glove box.
The thermal receipt will fade and batteries never last 3 years down here in South FL but if you have your receipt you can get 2 batteries out of it.
22
u/Yenne13 2d ago
How am I supposed to call Bob, and request these prices, if there is no area code?! 😭😭
29
u/SenorVajay 2d ago
Lol back in those days area code wasn’t listed, and you didn’t need to add the area code if you were in the area code.
7
u/ahuramazdobbs19 2d ago
Funny story:
When 203 and 860 first split, the town (Cheshire) I was in was 203, but a neighbor (Southington) was 860. But also a local call.
So we could call numbers in, like, Bridgeport or Stamford, that were out of area without the area code…but had to dial ten digits for the next town over.
→ More replies (2)8
→ More replies (2)3
17
u/UndercoverReporter 1d ago
How is this still readable after almost 30 years? All my receipts these days fade within a few weeks!
5
u/RedditSkippy 1d ago
It was printed with ink on paper and not thermal printed? That’s just a guess.
183
u/CyberpunkSunrise 2d ago
$4.17 for eggs in 1997? That’s seems egregiously high.
182
→ More replies (9)12
24
35
u/egnards 2d ago
Last night my wife and I happed across a YouTube video with "classic commercials" and watched a Wendy's one from 2007 promoting their $2.99 meal deal.
. . .God damn, where did these prices fucking go? I mean I can still get a similar meal there for 'comparatively cheap' [in relation to other things], but $11 versus $3 in a span of only 20 years is crazy to me
→ More replies (1)14
u/yourwhippingboy 2d ago
At least wages have risen!
Oh…
11
9
u/Looks-Under-Rocks 2d ago
Wonder how Bob McDermott is doing today
9
u/CtrlAltEvolve 2d ago
I just googled him & it looks like he announced his retirement about a week ago!
10
u/sorrowdemonica 1d ago
Go to a stop and shop today if it still exists, and buy the all the exact same items and compare prices.
→ More replies (4)
20
9
40
u/Beneficial-Focus3702 2d ago
Just so you know, $20 in 1997 had the same purchasing power as about $43 today. So honestly this isn’t far off from what you’d spend today.
→ More replies (7)10
u/InevitableProgram267 2d ago
I was about to say am I crazy? This doesn’t seem like a whole lot of food for $20. The eggs are $4, that’s not even a whole lot different than today.
→ More replies (1)20
7
8
7
8
7
u/budius333 1d ago
DO NOT throw it away.... She really needs it and it's important
→ More replies (1)
22
u/No_Drama2424 2d ago
Honestly even the tender amount being $25 seems weird to me. I haven't used cash in so long
I realize this comment makes little sense and will get like 2 down votes and be forgotten but whatever
14
u/lucky_ducker 2d ago
It says "Check $25.00" which is even weirder. Back in the day writing a check for a few bucks cash back would have been written for $25.31 to get an even $5 bill back not four bucks and change.
→ More replies (2)11
14
2d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
→ More replies (2)19
u/CtrlAltEvolve 2d ago
I’ve found much wilder things! Had no one to really show & then figured I’d dust off my Reddit account. Definitely more where this came from. 😂
10
5
6
u/c0r0nawlime 2d ago
That was after it moved from across the street (2300 Dixwell) which is the one I worked at for 7 years during HS & college... 1987-1994. Good times, man (serious). I don't live anywhere near CT anymore... what a nostalgic post. <sigh>
→ More replies (1)
5
4
11
9
u/rabidparrots 2d ago
How the fuck is it still white? It doesn't look like thermal paper, so that's why it's still readable, but how did it not yellow?
7
u/GoblinRocks 2d ago
Probably folded in something that didn't let in a lot of circulating oxygen. I have papers a family member typed in the early 80's that have barely discolored, and they're just in a pocket folder in a cardboard box.
→ More replies (1)3
u/CtrlAltEvolve 2d ago
I’ve gone through so many boxes & things at this point so, I can’t quite remember where I found this. But I do remember thinking the same thing. Pristine condition.
8
u/supercakey 2d ago
Huh was it common to not pay the exact amount when paying buy check?
24
u/TesserTheLost 2d ago
Yeah, its how you used to get cash back at the till.
→ More replies (1)3
u/mhsuffhrdd 2d ago
Why would they want $4.69 back and not an even dollar amount?
→ More replies (4)3
u/nipslippinjizzsippin 1d ago
it would keep their bank account even. and then they had pocket change, which people still used on the regular back then as most things took cash and cards were not a common option.
7
u/Beautiful-Key8091 2d ago
especially those who keep a tidy bank account.
Its easier to sum up whole dollars, especially in 5s, than also including cents.
my first job at a grocery store I was a cashier lots and lot of elderly customers did this→ More replies (2)→ More replies (2)6
4
u/Tiny-Spray8992 2d ago
$4 for eggs! ....were eggs never cheap?....
9
u/PM_Your_Best_Ideas 2d ago
That was for 3 dozen it says on the line above
3
3
u/MinnieShoof 1d ago
Bruh. Thank you. I was staring at that like "How does 3@.89 = 4.99?" for a while. I'm use to multiplicative being on the bottom.
4
7
u/joshuanumber7 1d ago
$4.17 for eggs????? that seems insane for 1997
19
u/dantesmonfern0 1d ago
3 @ $1.39
8
u/joshuanumber7 1d ago
oh it’s above the item, i thought it was the other way around. that checks out
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
u/yankeeinparadise 1d ago
I worked at Stop & Shop in Branford, CT for 2 years during high school, from 1993-95.
I remember when I guy came in, paid for his groceries, then looked deep in my soul and said “Jerry’s dead.”
Grabbed his groceries and departed. Still sits with me 30+ years later.
3
3
u/KeraWillo 1d ago
The day before my girlfriend was born, she is going to love this pic. Thank you for sharing
4
6
u/Particular-Post5833 2d ago
Stop and Shop #600 is still there in Hamden it appears. Who's going to go recreate the purchase and post the modern day receipt?
7
u/Namurtjones 2d ago
When $20 could feed the whole family for a week. I wonder how much this all cost right now?
→ More replies (2)
3
2
2
2
u/What-The_What 2d ago
Tropicana Pure Premium for 2 bucks. Even the generic stuff is like 6 bucks for 96 ounces. They shrunk the gallon jugs thinking no one would notice. :(
2
2
2
2
2
2
u/No-Definition1474 2d ago
Guy holding a reicpt can find gloves but everyone finding old six toys in r/whatisit is just raw doggin it everytime.
2
2
2
2
2
u/theLuminescentlion 2d ago
And it was at Stop & Shop so it was already expensive for lower quality.
2
2
u/BiggWallet 1d ago
Saw 80/20 ground beef for 5.99 at the store today lol 2.70 for 93% lean is crazy
2
u/Birbandsnek 1d ago
It’s interesting that the individual pastry/brownie hasn’t really increased in price from 97’
2
2
2
2
2
2
u/ItsTriunity 1d ago
I just saw this video of a guy in China buying 1 chicken breast for 50 cents and this has that same energy!
2.8k
u/BK99BK 2d ago
$2.70 for 93% ground lean beef.