Author Topic: When did you first buy Wacky Packages  (Read 7900 times)

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Offline cmgmd

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Re: When did you first buy Wacky Packages
« Reply #35 on: April 07, 2020, 05:32:36 PM »
My first Wacky Packages were series 1 purchased in spring, 1973 at Big Top in New Rochelle, NY.  I would peel the stickers and put them on the cardboard from my father's laundered shirts, 12 per sheet.  Bandaches was by far my favorite.
« Last Edit: April 07, 2020, 08:33:08 PM by cmgmd »

Offline MoldRush

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Re: When did you first buy Wacky Packages
« Reply #36 on: April 07, 2020, 07:43:21 PM »
Isn’t it funny how the juvenile mind works?  As if sticking them to cardboard would somehow preserve them better or make them more permanent than just keeping the stickers intact.

Offline FourRoses

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Re: When did you first buy Wacky Packages
« Reply #37 on: April 08, 2020, 06:30:54 AM »
Introduced to the hobby during the 1980 re-run but first purchased the best series ever, in 1985, at the east coast market called Louden Hills then later known as Turkey Hills.

Online RawGoo

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Re: When did you first buy Wacky Packages
« Reply #38 on: April 08, 2020, 07:02:35 AM »
I got my first Wackys at a drug store in Allison Park, PA.  The ones I remember from my first two packs are Cap'n Crud and Awful Bits; can't remember the others, but boy, I loved those two stickers!  Future trips to that store yielded a few Series 1 packs, but not many.  Most of my earlier series stickers came from that store, and we used to try to trade at school, but the nuns did NOT approve.  Fortunately, the bus driver didn't mind, as long as we didn't stick any in the bus.  I know I had a Scare Deal on a composition book.

At the end of 1974 we moved to Northridge, CA.  There was a drug store that had them sometimes, but my best source was the ice cream truck.  I remember saving my allowance and buying a full box of Series 15.  No Dynamites...……  I eventually pulled a Dynamites reissue and used it to "complete" my set.


Offline drono

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Re: When did you first buy Wacky Packages
« Reply #39 on: April 08, 2020, 12:03:07 PM »
Summer of '72, 1st series Cloth, JC Pennys, Dover, NJ

I seem to remember having cloth stickers because they made such a mess, but I can't remember if they were Wacky Packages or something else.

I'm also amazed at how many of you found them in ice cream trucks.  The ones in my area only had ice cream; they never had anything else.  I did find a few of the later series Wacky Packages at a High's Ice Cream store, but I can't remember which series it was.  My sister worked there over the summer, and I would always ask her if they had any.
« Last Edit: April 08, 2020, 12:10:22 PM by drono »

Offline koduck

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Re: When did you first buy Wacky Packages
« Reply #40 on: April 08, 2020, 06:26:33 PM »
Messy. Thats definitely the best word to describe them! But i loved them regardless!

The odd thing was, i never did see the regulat 1st series stickers until much later, since the store switched to the  2nd series after the 1st series cloth.  I thought it was weird that they were paper!

Come to think of it, my first wacky was actually Halloween 1969! Someone gave me a treat bag with some candy and a Lavirus die cut! I still remember how cool i thought  the bottle was! 
« Last Edit: April 08, 2020, 07:24:02 PM by koduck »

Offline MoldRush

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Re: When did you first buy Wacky Packages
« Reply #41 on: April 08, 2020, 08:24:43 PM »
I'm also amazed at how many of you found them in ice cream trucks.  The ones in my area only had ice cream; they never had anything else.  I did find a few of the later series Wacky Packages at a High's Ice Cream store, but I can't remember which series it was.  My sister worked there over the summer, and I would always ask her if they had any.
My recollection is that the more franchise-type ice cream trucks like Good Humor (strictly ice cream on stick items) and Mister Softee (soft serve, shakes) were pretty much strictly ice cream products, but the trucks that carried other brands like Hood and Hershey’s seemed to always have a variety of candy items including Wackys.  But they had trouble keeping them in stock too. It was very hit-or-miss.  And from October until at least late April, they were not making the rounds at all.  That must have contributed to my having missed some series completely.  I was able to get to stores sometimes, but never as consistently as the ice cream man.

Offline wackymann

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Re: When did you first buy Wacky Packages
« Reply #42 on: April 29, 2020, 06:03:29 PM »
I started buying them at an Acme Supermarket in Syracuse, NY around the 4th series... Loved them and kept buying them up until around Series 13.  Around 1994, I tried to get back into collecting, but it was very hard to find anything.  So I started up my Wacky Packages website around 1995.  That really helped get things moving, and over the next 5 years or so, I pretty much completed my collection by trading with all of the great friends I made through the internet, and going down to the big shows in Philly (although I still need an unpunched Ratz!)

I've been out of the hobby for many years now, but I still have my beloved collection!

Offline MoldRush

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Re: When did you first buy Wacky Packages
« Reply #43 on: April 29, 2020, 06:45:15 PM »
I started buying them at an Acme Supermarket in Syracuse, NY around the 4th series... Loved them and kept buying them up until around Series 13.  Around 1994, I tried to get back into collecting, but it was very hard to find anything.  So I started up my Wacky Packages website around 1995.  That really helped get things moving, and over the next 5 years or so, I pretty much completed my collection by trading with all of the great friends I made through the internet, and going down to the big shows in Philly (although I still need an unpunched Ratz!)

I've been out of the hobby for many years now, but I still have my beloved collection!
Wow, you’re only of the early pioneers, many of whom have disappeared from the hobby, at least as far as participating in this forum or Greg’s old one.  I’ve often wondered why - did they achieve all their collecting goals and get bored, did they tire of the bickering that was so prevalent years ago?  But you still have your collection, which is cool.  I’m kind of the opposite that way - I don’t actively pursue collecting like I used to, but I still enjoy discussing the recollections of the childhood Wacky experience, minutiae, the Wacky-ology, if you will.

Offline MoldRush

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Re: When did you first buy Wacky Packages
« Reply #44 on: April 29, 2020, 07:11:45 PM »
but the trucks that carried other brands like Hood and Hershey’s seemed to always have a variety of candy items including Wackys.
I also meant to mention, the Hood and Hershey’s trucks had a lot of counter space, both at about hip level (freezer top) and on another ledge along either side of the truck at about eye level.  It was pretty much just standard layout for that type of truck, so they were tailor made for having a wide variety of candy, gum and cards as part of their standard offerings.  This is the truck with a round hole in the side facing the sidewalk so that kids could dispose of their wrappers, empty drink cans and such.

Offline wackymann

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Re: When did you first buy Wacky Packages
« Reply #45 on: April 29, 2020, 08:38:33 PM »
Wow, you’re only of the early pioneers, many of whom have disappeared from the hobby, at least as far as participating in this forum or Greg’s old one.  I’ve often wondered why - did they achieve all their collecting goals and get bored, did they tire of the bickering that was so prevalent years ago?  But you still have your collection, which is cool.  I’m kind of the opposite that way - I don’t actively pursue collecting like I used to, but I still enjoy discussing the recollections of the childhood Wacky experience, minutiae, the Wacky-ology, if you will.
Yeah - I had pretty much accomplished my collecting goals, and got really annoyed at all of the bickering, so I moved on and focused on raising my kids, and my other hobbies.  I just recently watched our old Wacky Reunion video from Oct ‘99.  That was a really fun trip, and definitely one of the highlights of that era for many collectors!  Thanks to Jeff Weiss and Greg Grant for organizing the party.

Offline Alexeirex

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Re: When did you first buy Wacky Packages
« Reply #46 on: April 29, 2020, 10:56:37 PM »
I'm thinking that I was in the 2nd grade when my siblings and I discovered the original die cuts. We were fascinated and repulsed by them at the same time especially the drawings of people on the products with their horrified expressions! Skimpy stands out and the worms were memorable too. We were so young we didn't know half the products being satirized. Our mom surprised us by buying an entire box for us! We were pretty much dirt poor but a box cost about $1 at the candy wholesaler in Chinatown and divided among 3 kids it wasn't too expensive - she did the same thing with the Batman set. My younger brother and I remember the Ratz card but it's possible that's faulty as we lived on the west coast. Did not retain a single card or the box from this set! Years later in the 5th grade a classmate told me she and her brother had stacks of those cards and didn't know what to do with them! I never punched out the die cuts and didn't even know at the time that you could stick em on surfaces. We were young.
I have more clear memories of the Wacky Ads and we never got the good and empty card. My first pull was Poopsi cola. I recalled the images reprinted on the cards that had 4 original diecut images. I thought the ads were great. I found a small stack of these about 20 years back in my old desk.
Imagine my surprise in jr high when the die cut series were reprinted as stickers! They were available everywhere it seemed and they kept coming out every few months! I bought boxes of these, series 1 to about 5 and collected with a neighbor who was slightly younger and had far more disposable income (I've always wondered if he still has his stash!). Didn't keep the boxes alas, but some of the cards. Noticed the Spit and Spill variation -favorites were Hawaiian Punks, Monotony and Czechlets. In the 90s I traded a stack of the stickers for a bunch of die cuts just because they brought back fond memories. Didn't know about Ludlow backs until I found some at a yard sale - they went for good money on ebay! Stopped at a certain point right before high school so I was fascinated by an old fridge that had a large collection of post series 5 stickers stuck on its surfaces at a 2nd hand store many years later! No enough to buy the fridge though. Had mail correspondence with Phil Carpenter in the 90s and learned about cloth stickers that could separate from their backing  - the amount and range of vintage product was much extensive than I had thought, and this before the ANS series.
Alex

PS - Die cuts and Wacky Ads - local mom and pop candy stores including the 2 close to my grammar school and the newsstand and shop next to the movie theater that did not have a concession stand. OS stickers - same places plus the various local Woolworths. We didn't have ice cream trucks in Chinatown!
« Last Edit: April 30, 2020, 06:57:19 PM by Alexeirex »

Offline drono

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Re: When did you first buy Wacky Packages
« Reply #47 on: April 30, 2020, 10:42:39 AM »
I also meant to mention, the Hood and Hershey’s trucks had a lot of counter space, both at about hip level (freezer top) and on another ledge along either side of the truck at about eye level.  It was pretty much just standard layout for that type of truck, so they were tailor made for having a wide variety of candy, gum and cards as part of their standard offerings.  This is the truck with a round hole in the side facing the sidewalk so that kids could dispose of their wrappers, empty drink cans and such.

We never had a truck like that as a kid.  All I seem to remember is that it had pictures of the 10 ice creams you could get on the side (bomb pop, ice cream sandwich, nutty buddy, etc.), and the truck had a freezer door on the back that the driver had to open up to get your selection.  There was inside to the truck and no counter , so no wacky packages.

Yeah - I had pretty much accomplished my collecting goals, and got really annoyed at all of the bickering, so I moved on and focused on raising my kids, and my other hobbies.  I just recently watched our old Wacky Reunion video from Oct ‘99.  That was a really fun trip, and definitely one of the highlights of that era for many collectors!  Thanks to Jeff Weiss and Greg Grant for organizing the party.

I was into collecting before that and left I guess just before the bickering started.  I only heard about it years later.  I was doing a lot of traveling for my job at the time and missed the reunion.  I remember Ernie sending me an email about it asking if I was coming, but I couldn't.  It's one of my few regrets.
« Last Edit: April 30, 2020, 10:47:37 AM by drono »

Offline MoldRush

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Re: When did you first buy Wacky Packages
« Reply #48 on: April 30, 2020, 02:04:54 PM »
We never had a truck like that as a kid.  All I seem to remember is that it had pictures of the 10 ice creams you could get on the side (bomb pop, ice cream sandwich, nutty buddy, etc.), and the truck had a freezer door on the back that the driver had to open up to get your selection.  There was inside to the truck and no counter , so no wacky packages.
The Good Humor trucks were like you describe here - the driver sat in a front cab like that of a pickup truck, and the box behind the cab was one giant freezer, with a small square hatch on the side or back.  Had a latch handle like an old refrigerator door.  The opening was small and the driver really had to reach in there.  It always looked like a challenge to find what the customer asked for.

The trucks with the Wackys were just one-piece box trucks, like a postal or Fedex truck, and the freezers were only hip-high with top slider doors, so the space around those plus the wall ledges made all the difference.

The Mister Softee trucks looked similar to the box trucks, but they had soft-serve machines, shake mixers, etc for all their specialty items.  That equipment probably took up a lot of extra space, so they were strictly ice cream and related items.

Offline mikecho

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Re: When did you first buy Wacky Packages
« Reply #49 on: April 30, 2020, 02:20:27 PM »
The Good Humor trucks were like you describe here - the driver sat in a front cab like that of a pickup truck, and the box behind the cab was one giant freezer, with a small square hatch on the side or back.  Had a latch handle like an old refrigerator door.  The opening was small and the driver really had to reach in there.  It always looked like a challenge to find what the customer asked for.

The trucks with the Wackys were just one-piece box trucks, like a postal or Fedex truck, and the freezers were only hip-high with top slider doors, so the space around those plus the wall ledges made all the difference.

The Mister Softee trucks looked similar to the box trucks, but they had soft-serve machines, shake mixers, etc for all their specialty items.  That equipment probably took up a lot of extra space, so they were strictly ice cream and related items.
We had a similar ice cream truck in my old neighborhood in Plymouth Meeting (then Norristown), PA, only the company was called Jack and Jill. Only had ice cream, though; no Wackys.
« Last Edit: April 30, 2020, 04:04:20 PM by mikecho »

Offline MoldRush

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Re: When did you first buy Wacky Packages
« Reply #50 on: April 30, 2020, 06:48:21 PM »
I guess different parts of the country distributed or marketed Wackys in completely different ways.  Some here have mentioned supermarkets and chain convenience stores, which was not part of my experience at all.  Ice cream trucks in spring and summer, candy stores/newsstands and the occasional deli the rest of the year. In fact, I only remember one candy store as a steady reliable source around the time of the 4th and 5th, and then I think they went out of business not long after that.  Not that I got around much at age 7-8 to try and scout out other potential sources.

 

anything