I graduated from high school in 1957. The following comments describe the time in which I lived back then. This makes me feel very old, but being old is not so bad. 
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Great article. I wasn’t yet born in 1957, but have a sister that was.
I like the comment about gas being .29 cents.
I remember gas station pumps that only had 2-digits for the price per gallon. Then prices shot up, and they taped paper on the pump to show price per gallon in Dollars and cents!!
(And there were no locking caps, gas was often stolen from tanks, and at times very long lines at stations and limit to how much could be pumped.)
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I’m a bit younger, born in 81, so this was interesting to me. Where I grew up there was a 100.7FM radio station which would host random $1.07/gallon fillups around town. People would rush from every corner of the city to lineup. Now I’m thrilled if it’s under $3!
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When I was in college in Texas in 1967, gas wars were common with the price being right around $.20. For 3 bucks i could fill my gargantuan '61 Newport.
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My mom was born in 54, and used to talk about being able to ride her motorcycle all day for a dollar. I think it only had a two gallon tank, though!
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I’m older than your mom so just think how much cheaper things were when I was a kid. I still remember the day (I was about 11) when the price of Hostess Cupcakes jumped from 10 cents to 12 cents. That is a large percentage jump and I wasn’t happy! I had walked a ways to the corner market to get my usual snack and when they said it was 12 cents I could hardly believe it. LOL!!
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I bet there was even REAL food in those cupcakes in the 50s.
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I was 10 years old in 1967, there were gas price wars in my hometown also. The lowest price for gas I ever remember was 12 cents a gallon. You could fill a fill a big gas guzzler for 2.50. Life was good.
I remember when the price of a soft drink was a dime and the outrage when it went to 12 cents
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1957 was 2 yrs before I became a diabetic. Big Hershey bars were a nickel.
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My first job after graduating from college in 1970 had a salary of $4,800. I was thrilled to get that.
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I became a Type 1 in 1955, For many year a bottle of insulin was $2.83 I don’t know why I remember but I do. No insurance coverage for any diabetic supplies. At one point when insurance started covering diabetic supplies Blue Cross refused to cover syringes equating them to spoons to take medicine which they also didn’t cover.
Andy
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Wow!
(To both the $2.83/bottle of insulin, and the fact that insurance wouldn’t cover syringes!)
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My first employer after college, provided insurance, but a 2 year period of exclusion for Pre-existing conditions. That was 1982.
However, at that point, insulin, syringe were cheap, and only did urine testing.
Next employer in 1984 (different state) had no such exclusions. Started bg testing, but had to keep receipts, fill out form and mail in for reimbursement from insurance.
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I guess I am older than all of you. The reason salaries were so low and prices low also was because the value of the dollar was much, much higher. Cars were also cheap by comparison… Nothing cost over $2,000 and most cars were cheaper than that. A full meal at a coffee shop or family restaurant cost under $2 per person. Health insurance did not exist until about 1960 or '61. When I had my first child in 1960 the OB charged us a reduced rate because we were just starting out… around $400 for everything including delivery and followup. Grocery shopping cost me $25/week for a family of four. A can of soup was 13 cents. Choices in the supermarkets were limited and fresh produce was usually also limited to whatever was seasonally available. Choice of fruit was usually no more than apples, bananas and, occasionally, pears. Peaches for about a month in July. Pineapples? Mangoes? Papayas? Forget it unless you lived in Hawaii. I learned to drive by paying a driving school $5/lesson while my two boys were babysat for 25 cents an hour. The value of the dollar has plummeted. That’s all. Everything still costs the same. We just earn less in today’s dollars.
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