{"id":10327,"date":"2021-08-28T09:04:27","date_gmt":"2021-08-28T13:04:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=10327"},"modified":"2021-09-09T07:50:28","modified_gmt":"2021-09-09T11:50:28","slug":"episode-419-ted-freeman-and-the-shotgun-cream-can-in-1955","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=10327","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 419 TED FREEMAN AND THE SHOTGUN CREAM CAN IN 1955"},"content":{"rendered":"
EPISODE 419    TED FREEMAN AND THE SHOTGUN CREAM CAN IN 1955<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
august 2021<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
CREM CANS ARE THE TALL THIN CANS\u2026\u2019SHOTGUN\u2019 CANS…<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
I never really knew just how tough it was to operate the Freeman farm until I was<\/div>\n
much older\u2026like let\u2019s say 82.   I did know that Uncle Frank snd Aunt Lucinda worked<\/div>\n
very hard seven days a week.  We were city boys who came to the Freeman farms<\/div>\n
as regular as clockwork and we were always\u2026always\u2026always\u2026welcomed with<\/div>\n
open arms and jolly laughter from Aunt Lucinda.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Last week\u2026august 2021\u2026I asked my cousin Ted Freeman, their son\u2026their pride and joy.  I asked Ted this question. question.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cTed, do you remember how much your mom and dad got paid selling<\/div>\n
cream in those shotgun cream cans?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s say 1955.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cFirst, Alan, you used the plural. You said cream cans.  Mom and dad only managed<\/div>\n
to sell one cream can per week and often that can was not full.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhat do you remember ?\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
TED FREEMAN<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
“I remember that the cream money payment for last week’s shipment came in a
brown envelope that was delivered by ‘Norm Robertson’ who worked for the
Acton Creamery. He delivered an empty can to us and picked up the can filled
during the previous 7 days. It was always cash; – 7 to $9.00 depending on
the amount that was shipped. In 1955 a full can went for about $10.00. The
‘cream money’ was used to purchase groceries. Meat, eggs and vegetables were
grown on the farm. Some preserved for winter use.”
<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
ALAN SKEOCH<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Take a moment to think about that.   Seven to nine dollars a week in 1955.   <\/div>\n
Grocery money\u2026getting by money.   What groceries?   Coffee? Doubtful.<\/div>\n
Chocolates?  Very doubtful.   Soft drinks like ginger sale?  A luxury.<\/div>\n
Freshie\u2026definiitely.  What the hell is Freshie?  It was a sugary powder that<\/div>\n
could be mixed with water to make a couple of quarts of a nice drink when<\/div>\n
stuking sheaves of grain or pitching hay.  Cheap.  <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
My cousin Ted and I shared a lot of small adventures when we were kids.<\/div>\n
Hunting, fishing, pitching hay, swimming in leech infested ponds\u2026usual things.  <\/div>\n
 But we never shared the fact that<\/div>\n
much of his family income came from one single shotgun cream can sold<\/div>\n
to Norm Robertson at the Acton Creamery.  Often the can was not even full.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
YOUR JOB<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Just for fun keep a list of your discretionary spending this week.  What do<\/div>\n
you buy?  What could you do without if you depended on $10 per week.<\/div>\n
(No doubt there was other farm income but not much\u2026picking cucumbers<\/div>\n
for Matthews Wells Pickle Factory in Guelph for Rose Brand pickles)<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
I guess you need to know what $10 earned in 1955 is worth today.<\/div>\n
Hard to believe but inflation over the past 75 years has made that<\/div>\n
ten dollars worth $100.  So there you have it\u2026can you  live on $100<\/div>\n
week for all your expenses?   Keep a record.   I bet you spend big time.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
alan<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
In the early 1950\u2019s the Toronto Daily Star was sold for 3 cents a copy\u202618 cents a week<\/div>\n
for home delivery.  The paperboys\u2026Eric and I got half a cent a paper\u20263 cents<\/div>\n
a week per customer.   With that I was able to buy a Humber Sports racing<\/div>\n
bike with Sturmey Archer 3 speed gears.  Must ask Eric what he did with<\/div>\n
his profits from our paper route. I never thought for a moment about<\/div>\n
the costs of food on our table or the cost of bus fare from Toronto to<\/div>\n
the farm near Acton on Sundays  Mom did all that.  I do not know how she managed<\/div>\n
but she did.   Everyone did.  I do not remember Ted Freeman ever getting<\/div>\n
 new bicycle.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
NOTE  <\/div>\n
\n
    \n
  • $1 in 1955 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $10.04 today, an increase of $9.04 over 66 years.<\/font><\/li>\n
  •  The dollar had an average inflation rate of 3.56% per year between 1955 and today, producing a cumulative price increase of 904.46%. <\/font><\/li>\n
  • <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n

    <\/div>\n

    <\/div>\n

    <\/div>\n

    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    EPISODE 419    TED FREEMAN AND THE SHOTGUN CREAM CAN IN 1955 alan skeoch august 2021 CREM CANS ARE THE TALL THIN CANS\u2026\u2019SHOTGUN\u2019 CANS… I never really knew just how tough it was to operate the Freeman farm until I was much older\u2026like let\u2019s say 82.   I did know that Uncle Frank snd Aunt […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10327\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}