Author Topic: Heya Fellas  (Read 5205 times)

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Offline BAM

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Heya Fellas
« on: February 01, 2023, 08:51:06 AM »
Been away for a few years. It's good to be back in the fold. My interest in Wacky Packs has been rekindled!

I was born in 1966 and remember buying Wacky Packs in the 1970s. I probably started buying around the time the third series was released, using my allowance money as well as money I made by picking up soda pop bottles alongside the road and turning them in for the deposit. I bet some of you remember that. :-)

I'm looking to complete my collection of series 1-16 in 2023. I currently have completed series 1-9, so still have a ways to go. I also have complete base sets of ANS 1-11.

A few years ago, I had the goal of owning all of the original series 1-16 in graded PSA holders with grade 6 or better, but I have given up on that and will be content with EX to NM condition raw Wackys stored in binders.

Looking forward to interacting with like minded Wacky fans.

-Doug

Offline Mr._Stubble

  • Posts: 277
Re: Heya Fellas
« Reply #1 on: February 01, 2023, 11:14:32 AM »
Yep, me too Doug.  The pop bottles came in 8-packs and if I filled two of them it was off to the races for Wackys at the local Walgreens!

I may be able to help you with the 10-15's.

Sending you a PM.

Offline BAM

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Re: Heya Fellas
« Reply #2 on: February 01, 2023, 11:40:43 AM »
Thank you, Sir.

10-15s are my current target.


Offline Mr._Stubble

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Re: Heya Fellas
« Reply #3 on: February 01, 2023, 01:18:10 PM »
Sent you a private message - your first!

Go to the menu at the top and click on "My Messages".

 ;)

Online sco(o)t

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Re: Heya Fellas
« Reply #4 on: February 01, 2023, 06:26:09 PM »
Been away for a few years. It's good to be back in the fold. My interest in Wacky Packs has been rekindled!

I was born in 1966 and remember buying Wacky Packs in the 1970s. I probably started buying around the time the third series was released, using my allowance money as well as money I made by picking up soda pop bottles alongside the road and turning them in for the deposit. I bet some of you remember that. :-)

I'm looking to complete my collection of series 1-16 in 2023. I currently have completed series 1-9, so still have a ways to go. I also have complete base sets of ANS 1-11.

A few years ago, I had the goal of owning all of the original series 1-16 in graded PSA holders with grade 6 or better, but I have given up on that and will be content with EX to NM condition raw Wackys stored in binders.

Looking forward to interacting with like minded Wacky fans.

-Doug

We lived in Dayton Ohio in 1967/68. My best friend and I could take a wagon through the alleys where people put bottles out by their trash cans. We could usually fill a wagon in about an hour and turn in for candy money that would last a week or two . Two cents a bottle back then in Ohio. We thought we were kings.
aka Scot Leibacher (no trademark)

Offline BAM

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Re: Heya Fellas
« Reply #5 on: February 02, 2023, 05:03:54 AM »
We lived in Dayton Ohio in 1967/68. My best friend and I could take a wagon through the alleys where people put bottles out by their trash cans. We could usually fill a wagon in about an hour and turn in for candy money that would last a week or two . Two cents a bottle back then in Ohio. We thought we were kings.

I remember the 16 oz bottles would be worth 5 cents and the bigger (32oz?) bottles were worth 10c. How much did a pack of Wackys cost in 1973?

Online JailOJohn

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Re: Heya Fellas
« Reply #6 on: February 02, 2023, 07:27:18 AM »
I believe it was 5 cents….in about 1975 or 1976, the last series or two were 10 cents…

Online JailOJohn

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Re: Heya Fellas
« Reply #7 on: February 02, 2023, 07:36:58 AM »
For some reason, collecting pop bottles was not an option for us…maybe because we were too rural…our hustle was going to the cornfields that surrounded the local municipal golf course and retrieving golf balls…we would polish them up and sell back to golfers on the far reaches of the course. 25 cents apiece, it was a win for us 10-year-olds. We did get chased off the course a couple times by manager who didn’t want us pester their golfers, who at the muni course sure did not seem to mind a supply of cheap golf balls. (Possibly their own balls.) Good times…..

Offline BAM

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Re: Heya Fellas
« Reply #8 on: February 02, 2023, 08:35:40 AM »
For some reason, collecting pop bottles was not an option for us…maybe because we were too rural…our hustle was going to the cornfields that surrounded the local municipal golf course and retrieving golf balls…we would polish them up and sell back to golfers on the far reaches of the course. 25 cents apiece, it was a win for us 10-year-olds. We did get chased off the course a couple times by manager who didn’t want us pester their golfers, who at the muni course sure did not seem to mind a supply of cheap golf balls. (Possibly their own balls.) Good times…..

25 cents a ball? A fortune to a 1970s kid!

Offline Soremel

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Re: Heya Fellas
« Reply #9 on: February 02, 2023, 09:15:05 AM »
In the past, I've told this story MANY times, but like a stubborn boomer, I'm gonna tell it again! So unwrap a Werther's, and gather 'round as I tell my tale... My side hustle for Wacky Packages funds, albeit short-lived, was efficient and lucrative. Whenever a new series hit the shelves, I would buy a full box. This usually involved me begging my mother for the $2.40 to seal the deal at the local mom & pop shops where I conducted my Wacky transactions. Upon returning home with my bounty, I turned on the kitchen stove (low setting), cleared the adjacent countertop, and started to slowly open each pack within "non-wax-melting" range of the range. This practice guaranteed a stack of rip-free wrappers once the packs were all opened. During this "ritual" of cracking a fresh box, I would end up with neat stacks of wrappers, stickers, checklists and gum... hard, pink slabs of roof-of-the-mouth shredding gum. After dealing with the ridicule that my friends hurled at me for saving the wrappers and the box, I carefully stacked the wrappers in the display box, gently closed the lid, and stored it with the others. I actually enjoyed the flavor of the gum once it became pliable in my mouth, but by the time the 6th series rolled around, I was getting tired of it and had moved on to Big Baddy sticks. I must have been extremely bored one day, because I somehow discovered that freezing the pink slabs of gum made them soft when they reached room temperature again. With this newly-gained knowledge, I put all of the gum from a box haul into a plastic sandwich bag and store it in the freezer overnight. The next morning, if it was a school day, I would bring the bag of gum on the bus, and, as it was thawing out & becoming soft, I would sell the slabs for a nickel each. Once the bag was empty, I would have another $2.40 to go spend on another box of Wacky Packages. Things were going quite well until the day my mother inquired about the baggie of gum in the freezer. After hearing about my "business", she shut me down, claiming that it was "unethical". My argument was that it was keeping me from constantly begging money off of her, and that it was allowing my hobby to become self sustainable. In the end, she wasn't having any of that, and my short-lived Wacky money hustle ended almost as soon as it began. But, I still have all of those boxes still full of freshly opened wrappers!

Online JailOJohn

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Re: Heya Fellas
« Reply #10 on: February 02, 2023, 09:58:13 AM »
LOVE it! How dare that woman impose adult “ethics” on a 10-year-old. It might have been unsanitary, but not unethical. Unethical would have been re-sealing and selling packs after having removed stickers or gum. How many boxes do you have? Which series? Do you still have the stickers? I am assuming at 96 stickers per box you would have yielded multiple sets. I applaud your entrepreneurial spirit. My parents NEVER would have fronted me $2.40 to get started. Im also not sure who these rubes were paying 5 cents a stick for that nasty gum….but i tip my hat to you….

Offline drono

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Re: Heya Fellas
« Reply #11 on: February 02, 2023, 10:53:49 AM »
I never saw a full box growing up.  There was always just one on the counter at the 7-11 or Tinee Giant, and it was always at least 1/2 empty.

Soremel, I'm looking to finish off my wrapper collection if you have one of these you'd like to sell:
10th Brown Quacker Wall Poster
0-477-21-01-4

Offline BAM

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Re: Heya Fellas
« Reply #12 on: February 02, 2023, 11:06:14 AM »
In the past, I've told this story MANY times, but like a stubborn boomer, I'm gonna tell it again! So unwrap a Werther's, and gather 'round as I tell my tale... My side hustle for Wacky Packages funds, albeit short-lived, was efficient and lucrative. Whenever a new series hit the shelves, I would buy a full box. This usually involved me begging my mother for the $2.40 to seal the deal at the local mom & pop shops where I conducted my Wacky transactions. Upon returning home with my bounty, I turned on the kitchen stove (low setting), cleared the adjacent countertop, and started to slowly open each pack within "non-wax-melting" range of the range. This practice guaranteed a stack of rip-free wrappers once the packs were all opened. During this "ritual" of cracking a fresh box, I would end up with neat stacks of wrappers, stickers, checklists and gum... hard, pink slabs of roof-of-the-mouth shredding gum. After dealing with the ridicule that my friends hurled at me for saving the wrappers and the box, I carefully stacked the wrappers in the display box, gently closed the lid, and stored it with the others. I actually enjoyed the flavor of the gum once it became pliable in my mouth, but by the time the 6th series rolled around, I was getting tired of it and had moved on to Big Baddy sticks. I must have been extremely bored one day, because I somehow discovered that freezing the pink slabs of gum made them soft when they reached room temperature again. With this newly-gained knowledge, I put all of the gum from a box haul into a plastic sandwich bag and store it in the freezer overnight. The next morning, if it was a school day, I would bring the bag of gum on the bus, and, as it was thawing out & becoming soft, I would sell the slabs for a nickel each. Once the bag was empty, I would have another $2.40 to go spend on another box of Wacky Packages. Things were going quite well until the day my mother inquired about the baggie of gum in the freezer. After hearing about my "business", she shut me down, claiming that it was "unethical". My argument was that it was keeping me from constantly begging money off of her, and that it was allowing my hobby to become self sustainable. In the end, she wasn't having any of that, and my short-lived Wacky money hustle ended almost as soon as it began. But, I still have all of those boxes still full of freshly opened wrappers!

Ok, Boomer.  ;)

Technically, born in 1966, I am Gen X.

All I had to deal with, growing up, was nukes.

 :]

Offline freetoes

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Re: Heya Fellas
« Reply #13 on: February 02, 2023, 02:21:00 PM »
In the past, I've told this story MANY times, but like a stubborn boomer, I'm gonna tell it again! So unwrap a Werther's, and gather 'round as I tell my tale... My side hustle for Wacky Packages funds, albeit short-lived, was efficient and lucrative. Whenever a new series hit the shelves, I would buy a full box. This usually involved me begging my mother for the $2.40 to seal the deal at the local mom & pop shops where I conducted my Wacky transactions. Upon returning home with my bounty, I turned on the kitchen stove (low setting), cleared the adjacent countertop, and started to slowly open each pack within "non-wax-melting" range of the range. This practice guaranteed a stack of rip-free wrappers once the packs were all opened. During this "ritual" of cracking a fresh box, I would end up with neat stacks of wrappers, stickers, checklists and gum... hard, pink slabs of roof-of-the-mouth shredding gum. After dealing with the ridicule that my friends hurled at me for saving the wrappers and the box, I carefully stacked the wrappers in the display box, gently closed the lid, and stored it with the others. I actually enjoyed the flavor of the gum once it became pliable in my mouth, but by the time the 6th series rolled around, I was getting tired of it and had moved on to Big Baddy sticks. I must have been extremely bored one day, because I somehow discovered that freezing the pink slabs of gum made them soft when they reached room temperature again. With this newly-gained knowledge, I put all of the gum from a box haul into a plastic sandwich bag and store it in the freezer overnight. The next morning, if it was a school day, I would bring the bag of gum on the bus, and, as it was thawing out & becoming soft, I would sell the slabs for a nickel each. Once the bag was empty, I would have another $2.40 to go spend on another box of Wacky Packages. Things were going quite well until the day my mother inquired about the baggie of gum in the freezer. After hearing about my "business", she shut me down, claiming that it was "unethical". My argument was that it was keeping me from constantly begging money off of her, and that it was allowing my hobby to become self sustainable. In the end, she wasn't having any of that, and my short-lived Wacky money hustle ended almost as soon as it began. But, I still have all of those boxes still full of freshly opened wrappers!

I remember you telling us about being the only kid who saved the wrappers and boxes intact. So who's laughing now?

Offline bandaches

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Re: Heya Fellas
« Reply #14 on: February 03, 2023, 05:49:56 AM »
In the past, I've told this story MANY times, but like a stubborn boomer, I'm gonna tell it again! So unwrap a Werther's, and gather 'round as I tell my tale... My side hustle for Wacky Packages funds, albeit short-lived, was efficient and lucrative. Whenever a new series hit the shelves, I would buy a full box. This usually involved me begging my mother for the $2.40 to seal the deal at the local mom & pop shops where I conducted my Wacky transactions. Upon returning home with my bounty, I turned on the kitchen stove (low setting), cleared the adjacent countertop, and started to slowly open each pack within "non-wax-melting" range of the range. This practice guaranteed a stack of rip-free wrappers once the packs were all opened. During this "ritual" of cracking a fresh box, I would end up with neat stacks of wrappers, stickers, checklists and gum... hard, pink slabs of roof-of-the-mouth shredding gum. After dealing with the ridicule that my friends hurled at me for saving the wrappers and the box, I carefully stacked the wrappers in the display box, gently closed the lid, and stored it with the others. I actually enjoyed the flavor of the gum once it became pliable in my mouth, but by the time the 6th series rolled around, I was getting tired of it and had moved on to Big Baddy sticks. I must have been extremely bored one day, because I somehow discovered that freezing the pink slabs of gum made them soft when they reached room temperature again. With this newly-gained knowledge, I put all of the gum from a box haul into a plastic sandwich bag and store it in the freezer overnight. The next morning, if it was a school day, I would bring the bag of gum on the bus, and, as it was thawing out & becoming soft, I would sell the slabs for a nickel each. Once the bag was empty, I would have another $2.40 to go spend on another box of Wacky Packages. Things were going quite well until the day my mother inquired about the baggie of gum in the freezer. After hearing about my "business", she shut me down, claiming that it was "unethical". My argument was that it was keeping me from constantly begging money off of her, and that it was allowing my hobby to become self sustainable. In the end, she wasn't having any of that, and my short-lived Wacky money hustle ended almost as soon as it began. But, I still have all of those boxes still full of freshly opened wrappers!
wow I must be out of the loop as I have never heard this great story!  I would love to see a pic of all of these near pristine boxes looking like full boxes with wrappers!  I have all my boxes in a jewelry display case I snagged from a store that went out of business.
Contact me at bandaches@yahoo.com as I have tons of wackys for sale!  Visit my website http://www.wackypackage.com/

Offline bandaches

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Re: Heya Fellas
« Reply #15 on: February 03, 2023, 05:52:03 AM »
I remember the 16 oz bottles would be worth 5 cents and the bigger (32oz?) bottles were worth 10c. How much did a pack of Wackys cost in 1973?
Where were you guys turning in bottles for this much money???  Bottles of soda barely cost 5 cents back then.  The bottles we gathered would be hauled to recycling where we got some money based on the weight which would give us a few dollars each but nothing near the windfall you guys were getting at 5 and 10 cents per bottle!  I feel like I lived in poverty! :'(
Contact me at bandaches@yahoo.com as I have tons of wackys for sale!  Visit my website http://www.wackypackage.com/

Offline bigtomi

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Re: Heya Fellas
« Reply #16 on: February 03, 2023, 06:36:50 AM »
I would love to see a pic of all of these near pristine boxes looking like full boxes with wrappers!
I'll speak for George for a moment here, as I found these pics on the forum. I believe he has since moved the wrappers therein into other storage options, but here's a pic he posted of the boxes (which at the time, had the wrappers inside) and one of the "tub" where they were placed, again, I think just temporarily:

 

Dennis, looks like the one you need is sitting there on top of the pile, just waiting for ya, LOL!

Offline BAM

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Re: Heya Fellas
« Reply #17 on: February 03, 2023, 08:08:21 AM »
Where were you guys turning in bottles for this much money???  Bottles of soda barely cost 5 cents back then.  The bottles we gathered would be hauled to recycling where we got some money based on the weight which would give us a few dollars each but nothing near the windfall you guys were getting at 5 and 10 cents per bottle!  I feel like I lived in poverty! :'(

I did my due diligence of a couple minutes of research on Google, and it appears that a 16 oz glass bottle of Coke cost 25 cents in 1980, and could be turned in for a 10 cent deposit.  I couldn't find the price for 1975, but my best guess would be perhaps 20 cents and turning the bottle back in was worth 5 cents.

I remember my father would buy perhaps one six pack of soda a week, which we all had to share, and then he would take the empties back to the grocery store on the next trip for the deposit. I, of course, never received any of that money but if I found any bottles on my own, which I did because we actually played outside back then, I would pick them up and take them to the little country store about half a mile from our house and turn them in for Wacky Pack and candy money.

Offline Soremel

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Re: Heya Fellas
« Reply #18 on: February 03, 2023, 08:58:00 AM »
I'll speak for George for a moment here, as I found these pics on the forum. I believe he has since moved the wrappers therein into other storage options, but here's a pic he posted of the boxes (which at the time, had the wrappers inside) and one of the "tub" where they were placed, again, I think just temporarily:

 

Dennis, looks like the one you need is sitting there on top of the pile, just waiting for ya, LOL!

Tom, thank you so much for posting the photos! (I'm still not able to post pics)

While my boxes aren't mint, they still display very nicely. The beat up 3rd Series box was given to me by a friend, years ago, along with his entire collection after he got out of college. Not in this photo are my 5c & 10c Wacky Ad boxes, 16th, blue poster box, Wacky Packages Tattoos full box and OPC 2nd Series (4th) blue & purple boxes.

Many of the wrappers have, as Tom mentioned, been moved to Itoya archival binders, but there are still quite a few in "The Tub".

Offline Soremel

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Re: Heya Fellas
« Reply #19 on: February 03, 2023, 09:23:14 AM »
LOVE it! How dare that woman impose adult “ethics” on a 10-year-old. It might have been unsanitary, but not unethical. Unethical would have been re-sealing and selling packs after having removed stickers or gum. How many boxes do you have? Which series? Do you still have the stickers? I am assuming at 96 stickers per box you would have yielded multiple sets. I applaud your entrepreneurial spirit. My parents NEVER would have fronted me $2.40 to get started. Im also not sure who these rubes were paying 5 cents a stick for that nasty gum….but i tip my hat to you….

The cool thing about my mother's shutting down my source of Wacky income, was that she still supplied me with funds in order to keep my collection current. She actually liked Wacky Packages, just not too fond of my "gum resale program"!

Yes, I did end up with multiple sets, usually two complete, and then a third that I could finish off by purchasing a few loose packs. BUT, my second complete set would always be earmarked for my best friend. Back when the 4th Series came out, my friend & I were on the phone discussing the stickers, gags, titles we needed, etc. when we stumbled upon the fact that there were two different checklists for that particular series. I told him that I really liked Mess Clairoil, and he said "I don't have that one on my checklist". After some exciting detective work, we came to the conclusion that there were two different titles on our checklists, and we needed to collect them all! This was on a Friday evening, the same day that his Grandmother gave him a box of the 4th Series for his birthday. He invited me over for a birthday/Wacky Package sleepover so that we could delve further into this mystery that we had uncovered. This particular event started a tradition that we upheld until the 15th Series. Whenever a new series hit the shelves, we took turns buying a box and planning a sleepover so that we could open packs, collate sets and talk "Wackies" all weekend. My friend bought the odd-numbered series, starting with the 5th series, and I bought the even-numbered ones, beginning with the 6th series. We had already completed the 3rd series on our own, and subsequently scrambled to put together 1st & 2nd series sets. The purple 2nd series box, and 4th series box, in the photo of my box collection, were "in the wild" finds from 1980. Our local Woolworth's was going out of business, and I found these boxes (full) just sitting on a shelf in the candy aisle. Some of the odd-numbered series boxes in my collection were acquired during the mid-eighties at various non-sport card shows.

Offline bandaches

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Re: Heya Fellas
« Reply #20 on: February 03, 2023, 02:57:17 PM »
I'll speak for George for a moment here, as I found these pics on the forum. I believe he has since moved the wrappers therein into other storage options, but here's a pic he posted of the boxes (which at the time, had the wrappers inside) and one of the "tub" where they were placed, again, I think just temporarily:

 

Dennis, looks like the one you need is sitting there on top of the pile, just waiting for ya, LOL!
thanks, I just love display boxes, so cool to view like this!
Contact me at bandaches@yahoo.com as I have tons of wackys for sale!  Visit my website http://www.wackypackage.com/

Offline bandaches

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Re: Heya Fellas
« Reply #21 on: February 03, 2023, 02:59:03 PM »
I did my due diligence of a couple minutes of research on Google, and it appears that a 16 oz glass bottle of Coke cost 25 cents in 1980, and could be turned in for a 10 cent deposit.  I couldn't find the price for 1975, but my best guess would be perhaps 20 cents and turning the bottle back in was worth 5 cents.

I remember my father would buy perhaps one six pack of soda a week, which we all had to share, and then he would take the empties back to the grocery store on the next trip for the deposit. I, of course, never received any of that money but if I found any bottles on my own, which I did because we actually played outside back then, I would pick them up and take them to the little country store about half a mile from our house and turn them in for Wacky Pack and candy money.
I have no recollection of soda costing 3-4 times a wacky pack pack in 1973 as I would never buy/drink a bottle of soda over getting 4 packs of wackys.  Also, i am thinking NJ didn't have deposit refunds as we were bring our piles to recycling by weight.
Contact me at bandaches@yahoo.com as I have tons of wackys for sale!  Visit my website http://www.wackypackage.com/

Offline Alexeirex

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Re: Heya Fellas
« Reply #22 on: February 03, 2023, 03:44:41 PM »
My little brother insisted on buying a certain sized bottle of coca cola as he said he could get money back when he turned these bottles in (this was the late 60s, early 70s) back to a particular little out of the way corner store. Imagine how crestfallen he was when he tried to do so and the mean lady at the counter told him that he didn't buy them at that store! And wouldn't give him the 5c per bottle! As kids, we were fearful of adults and hated many of them for being such bullies to little kids, esp to the ones who were docile and wouldn't talk back or question them even when they were in the wrong....
A

Offline MoldRush

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Re: Heya Fellas
« Reply #23 on: February 03, 2023, 03:52:27 PM »
I have no recollection of soda costing 3-4 times a wacky pack pack in 1973 as I would never buy/drink a bottle of soda over getting 4 packs of wackys.  Also, i am thinking NJ didn't have deposit refunds as we were bring our piles to recycling by weight.
I don’t recall empties being redeemable for $$ in NY either.  But I do remember my Dad bringing a case of empty beer bottles back to the beverage place when it came time to buy a new case, so maybe he was getting a deposit back on them?  Certainly the machines we have now were not around in those days.  What I do remember was bottles of soda with a threaded screw cap (the ‘Burpsi’ type) had a thin plastic disc glued to the inside of the cap, and you could win 10, 15 or 25 cents by peeling out that disc and checking the hidden side.  They were not easy to get out though, you had to pry in there with a knife point.  I think it was just Coke or Pepsi that had that, but not sure.

Online JailOJohn

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Re: Heya Fellas
« Reply #24 on: February 03, 2023, 08:29:53 PM »
Man, SoreMel, i wish I would have had a friend like you with your full box sleepover parties. As a kid, i never saw a full box. We bought the odd pack and traded. Those full boxes you found at a Woolworths in 1980 were a major score! Lucky!
« Last Edit: February 07, 2023, 12:53:29 PM by JailOJohn »

Offline Bigmuc13

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Re: Heya Fellas
« Reply #25 on: February 07, 2023, 10:24:22 AM »
Tom, thank you so much for posting the photos! (I'm still not able to post pics)

While my boxes aren't mint, they still display very nicely. The beat up 3rd Series box was given to me by a friend, years ago, along with his entire collection after he got out of college. Not in this photo are my 5c & 10c Wacky Ad boxes, 16th, blue poster box, Wacky Packages Tattoos full box and OPC 2nd Series (4th) blue & purple boxes.

Many of the wrappers have, as Tom mentioned, been moved to Itoya archival binders, but there are still quite a few in "The Tub".

When I was returning bottles for money to buy Wacky's in the mod 70's the return was 2 cents per bottle. I remember always needing that third bottle to get to 6 cents so I could at least buy one pack!
Still looking for Series 17

Offline Plastered Peanut

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Re: Heya Fellas
« Reply #26 on: February 07, 2023, 10:20:08 PM »
When I was returning bottles for money to buy Wacky's in the mod 70's the return was 2 cents per bottle. I remember always needing that third bottle to get to 6 cents so I could at least buy one pack!

First LOL moment I've had in a long while....only us who grew up in that era can appreciate the difference 2 cents made!    Thanks for that little dose of a bygone era!    :-*

btw, re: the story of selling WP gum slabs for 5 cents to peers...WOW...I remember Bazooka bubble gum only costing a penny....and somewhere along the line it doubled to 2 cents....and even at the tender age of 9 or 10 I knew Bazooka was better quality than the WP gum.   
Send me your borderless wackys!

Offline BAM

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Re: Heya Fellas
« Reply #27 on: February 08, 2023, 08:55:23 AM »
First LOL moment I've had in a long while....only us who grew up in that era can appreciate the difference 2 cents made!    Thanks for that little dose of a bygone era!    :-*

btw, re: the story of selling WP gum slabs for 5 cents to peers...WOW...I remember Bazooka bubble gum only costing a penny....and somewhere along the line it doubled to 2 cents....and even at the tender age of 9 or 10 I knew Bazooka was better quality than the WP gum.

Fun fact:

Pennies (actually "cents" in the USA) were actually made out of almost pure copper back then, and were until 1982, when the composition changed to mostly zinc.

Offline bandaches

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Re: Heya Fellas
« Reply #28 on: February 08, 2023, 03:07:32 PM »
Fun fact:

Pennies (actually "cents" in the USA) were actually made out of almost pure copper back then, and were until 1982, when the composition changed to mostly zinc.
Cool info!  I have a fill page of those "steel" pennies from 1943.  Bought them from my neighbor across the street for like 5 cents each when he decide to sell much of his coin collection in the late 1970s.  I had moved on from wackys by then but it was a choice to buy those pennies over baseball card packs.
Contact me at bandaches@yahoo.com as I have tons of wackys for sale!  Visit my website http://www.wackypackage.com/

Offline MoldRush

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Re: Heya Fellas
« Reply #29 on: February 08, 2023, 03:56:17 PM »
Cool info!  I have a fill page of those "steel" pennies from 1943.  Bought them from my neighbor across the street for like 5 cents each when he decide to sell much of his coin collection in the late 1970s.  I had moved on from wackys by then but it was a choice to buy those pennies over baseball card packs.
I was similarly fascinated by the 1943 steels as most kids who were introduced to coin collecting at a young age.  Unfortunately there is a common misperception among the majority of people that any coin that looks different from the norm is somehow rare or valuable, but generally the opposite is true.  All 1943 cents were struck in steel (well, almost all, but that’s another story), so finding a steel cent is the rule for that date, not the exception.  Similar phenomenon happened with the Bicentennial quarters.  People hoarded them but eventually found out they’re nothing special, and eventually let them go.  That’s why when you see one in circulation it’s usually in pretty good shape, because it sat unused for many years.  Now I wouldn’t recommend dumping your steel cents into a Coinstar machine though, their value is still modest but definitely more than a cent.

Offline bandaches

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Re: Heya Fellas
« Reply #30 on: February 08, 2023, 04:09:40 PM »
I was similarly fascinated by the 1943 steels as most kids who were introduced to coin collecting at a young age.  Unfortunately there is a common misperception among the majority of people that any coin that looks different from the norm is somehow rare or valuable, but generally the opposite is true.  All 1943 cents were struck in steel (well, almost all, but that’s another story), so finding a steel cent is the rule for that date, not the exception.  Similar phenomenon happened with the Bicentennial quarters.  People hoarded them but eventually found out they’re nothing special, and eventually let them go.  That’s why when you see one in circulation it’s usually in pretty good shape, because it sat unused for many years.  Now I wouldn’t recommend dumping your steel cents into a Coinstar machine though, their value is still modest but definitely more than a cent.
so true and the mintage was pretty high for 1943s but so many of the 1943s are in collections that it is one you would rarely find in change.  I pluck out every wheat penny I find in change and throw into a metal jar, can't say I have ever gotten 1943 steel in change ever but tons of other 1940s have popped up.
Contact me at bandaches@yahoo.com as I have tons of wackys for sale!  Visit my website http://www.wackypackage.com/

Offline freetoes

  • Posts: 239
Re: Heya Fellas
« Reply #31 on: February 08, 2023, 05:09:08 PM »
I was similarly fascinated by the 1943 steels as most kids who were introduced to coin collecting at a young age.  Unfortunately there is a common misperception among the majority of people that any coin that looks different from the norm is somehow rare or valuable, but generally the opposite is true.  All 1943 cents were struck in steel (well, almost all, but that’s another story), so finding a steel cent is the rule for that date, not the exception.  Similar phenomenon happened with the Bicentennial quarters.  People hoarded them but eventually found out they’re nothing special, and eventually let them go.  That’s why when you see one in circulation it’s usually in pretty good shape, because it sat unused for many years.  Now I wouldn’t recommend dumping your steel cents into a Coinstar machine though, their value is still modest but definitely more than a cent.

I know for a fact that Coinstar machines will reject steel pennies (and silver coins), because the weight and composition are different. I've heard stories of criminals stealing coin collections and dumping them into the machine, then leaving the coins behind in frustration when they don't go through.

Six years ago, I got an 1896 Indian Head penny in change from a Chinese restaurant--probably a once-in-a-lifetime find.

Offline MoldRush

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Re: Heya Fellas
« Reply #32 on: February 08, 2023, 05:42:43 PM »
I know for a fact that Coinstar machines will reject steel pennies (and silver coins), because the weight and composition are different. I've heard stories of criminals stealing coin collections and dumping them into the machine, then leaving the coins behind in frustration when they don't go through.

Six years ago, I got an 1896 Indian Head penny in change from a Chinese restaurant--probably a once-in-a-lifetime find.
What dumb-ass criminals!  If you’ve got the presence of mind to burglarize a coin collection but then have no clue that it’s worth more than face value, I guess that frustrating outcome with the Coinstar machine is well deserved.

I once found a nice little handful of rejected coins in a machine that included 35% silver nickels from WWII, a couple silver dimes, some foreign coins and gaming tokens.  I’ve made it a point to look whenever I pass a Coinstar ever since that time.  Nothing comparable since that score though.

Best coins I ever got in circulation were four Standing Liberty quarters from one of my paper route customers (I think she just thought she was unloading some Canadians or something), and a gem mint 1989 cent struck about 35% off-center.  It was at my college student cafeteria, where the cash registers released the coin part of change into a cup.  So it was probably in a bank roll and just got loaded into the coin release device without being noticed.  A few other notable coins over the years as well, but these were the most unusual.

Offline ToadallyDude

  • Posts: 514
Re: Heya Fellas
« Reply #33 on: February 24, 2023, 01:32:01 PM »
In the past, I've told this story MANY times...

Guess I never read those posts.  This is awesome!  Great business sense there.  I didn't start assembling sets from full boxes until Star Wars series 2, unfortuntately.  That was when we found out we could buy full boxes & cases of candy, sodas, etc., from the local warehouse that the icecream trucks would use.  Got our dry ice for Halloween there, too.  So my friend and I would assemble full sets of Star Wars cards & sell them for something like $7 each to the local comicbook shop.  We'd at least triple our $, and end up with tons of extra cards & stickers, too.  If I'd discovered that place back in Wacky Pack times, though, I'd probably still have a case of unopened boxes somewhere.

Offline BAM

  • Posts: 68
Re: Heya Fellas
« Reply #34 on: March 14, 2023, 04:46:11 AM »
Well, I now have full sets of original series 1 - 16 and am putting them in binders and going over each one with a magnifying glass. Any sticker/card less than EX or what I feel would grade at least a PSA 5 will be upgraded. Whew!


 

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