A news article on October 11th, 2010 reported that the Coca-Cola bottling plant in Winona, Minn. filled its last-ever lot of soda bottled in returnable six-and-a-half ounce glass bottles.

Refillable bottles played a big part in my first real job.

Aside from a few television and movie bit parts that my parents wangled for me (like a Kraft macaroni and cheese commercial, or episode 64 of “Twelve O’Clock High”), I wasn’t gainfully employed until I was 16. At that point, I was hired by the Daitch Shopwell grocery store on 1st Avenue and 58th Street in New York City.

Daitch advertisement from Mar. 4, 1970 – found at Soyo Sunset

Too young to qualify for cashiering, I functioned as a stock boy on occasion, putting stuff on shelves after stamping them with the prices:

Price stamps – we’d use this purple ink to stamp the tops of cans. These photos found at Itsy Bits and Pieces.

But my main job was driving one of these all around the local vicinity delivering groceries. Mine was gray, but it was the very same beast.

I was a small kid, and these things could get heavy – fortunately, New York doesn’t have a lot of hills. But I recall enjoying the job, because finally I was earning money of my own.

In addition to my salary – a big $1.50 per hour – I’d get tips from the people whose groceries I delivered. In 1966, a quarter was average. Fifty cents was good, and there was one family named Bruff who usually bought four jillionteen gallons of milk, who would invariably tip me a dollar. I got rich that summer, and ended up with a huge jar full of change, which I would scour for additions to my coin collection. You could still find a lot of silver coins in change back then, and buffalo nickels, and the occasional Indian-head penny, so it was a win all the way round. Some folks, however, instead of tipping me in cash, would give me their empty bottles to return for a deposit. At a nickel a shot, four six-packs would net me $1.20 back at the store, so I was always happy to oblige.

Funny the things we think of for no reason. The Daitch chain was aquired by A&P, the store itself has long been something else, but the memories linger…

The Old Wolf has spoken.