The Old Coot gets a package.
By Merlin Lessler
I went out the door the
other morning and noticed a package lying on the porch steps. I said to myself,
“I wonder what I’ve ordered this time?” But it wasn’t for me; it was for the second-floor
tenant. I was relieved; I didn’t remember ordering anything, but I never do since
I order stuff online all the like time that I can’t get in a store. So, when it
shows up; it’s a surprise!
Our family hardly ever got a package when I was a kid in the
1950’s. We could buy anything we needed in town. If we couldn’t; we didn’t get
it. My sister and I got a Christmas package every year from our aunt in New
Haven, Connecticut. It always contained two pairs of knitted mittens. I still
remember how cold my wrists felt when I wore them outside to sled ride, build
snow forts, shovel the driveway and have snowball fights. The mittens just covered
my hands, never making it to my wrists. Red wrists were with me through most of
the winter.
It didn’t cost very much to send a package back then. 1st class
mail was three cents an ounce; it had been that since the 1930’s. A one-pound
package cost less than fifty cents. Today it costs over $10. Even so, a package
on the porch back then, really got a big, “Wow,” from us. A rare treat.
An even rarer event back then, was a long-distance phone call.
It was expensive! When our aunt in New Haven called, my mother immediately turned
to me and told me to be quiet, “Shut up! This is a long-distance call!” I would
run outside to brag to my friends that we had a long-distance call. It cost $3.70
for three minutes in 1950, a dollar more than the monthly bill for our “two-party”
line. Now, a long-distance call is a no brainer since most cell phone plans
include it for free.
That cheap cost to mail a package in the 1950’s doesn’t seem
like such a big deal to me since I’m an Amazon Prime member, where postage is “free,”
if you don’t count the annual membership cost. I rather not be a “Prime” member;
I want to go to stores to buy things, but that option has virtually
disappeared. Postage on Prime is “ho-hum,” just like a long distance phone call
on my cell phone. I probably do too much of both!
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