7 ms·
I remember this vividly. The end-cap on one of the aisles was where the encyclopedias were stocked. The "A" volume was sold for $0.01. One penny! I remember be
by function_seven 3y ago
I remember this vividly. The end-cap on one of the aisles was where the encyclopedias were stocked. The "A" volume was sold for $0.01. One penny!
I remember being incredulous at the low price. My dad: "Wait until you see what they charge for 'B', kiddo."
- floren 3y agoDo you remember how much the B volume cost?
- function_seven 3y agoI want to say $39.99, but I'm not entirely sure of that number.
- smugma 3y agoOff by an order of magnitude, <$3.99 each: “Funk & Wagnalls volumes were typically sold in supermarkets as part of a “book-a-week” program. When Mr. Moser came up with the idea of reducing the normal charge to just pennies for the first volume… The entire 27-volume Funk & Wagnalls set — along with the free two-volume dictionary, another sweetener dreamed up by Mr. Moser — cost a little more than $100.” https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/06/obituaries/Stanley-Moser-dead-coronavirus.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/06/obituaries/Stanley-Moser-...
- function_seven 3y agoSo this is how I find out how profoundly cheap my dad was :). Thanks.
- Turing_Machine 3y agoWell, $3.99 in 1953 (the first year the encyclopedia was offered in supermarkets, ATW) is $45.50 now, according to https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm. For 27 volumes, that works out to $1228.50. Your dad wasn't that cheap. :-)
- mvf4z7 3y agoI bet there were a lot of essays written about Aardvarks at that time.
- madcaptenor 3y agoThey should charge $0.01 for the first volume and twice as much for each successive volume.