That, and a nickel, will get you a cup of coffee in old-time Phoenix


Every morning I either walk, or pedal to get my morning coffee, usually at McDonald's, sometimes at Burger King, and even at Jack in the Box. I don't care for the taste of Starbucks (sorry) so I pass them by. And this morning my mind was dwelling on coffee, and its price. As a senior citizen, I get a discount, and it's always under a dollar, which seems like a very reasonable price to me for a cup of coffee. Of course, you may be paying four dollars or more for a cup of coffee, which means that for both of us the phrase "That, and a nickel, will get you a cup of coffee!" is puzzling. What it really means is that whatever is referred to, whether an idea, or whatever, is absolutely worthless. And the reason is that coffee was a nickel for a very long time.

Let's time-travel back to the 1940s and go to the Colonial Coffee Shop, which was at 37 E. Monroe in Phoenix. Sit down and let's have some coffee. How much? A nickel, of course! Prices had gone up since the days when you could get a "shave-and-a-haircut for two bits (25 cents)" but a nickel still went a long way, as compared to its value in the 21st Century. You could ride the trolley car for a nickel, too!

So a nickel meant something of value - it could buy you a cup of coffee. And if you follow me here, if I were to say to you "That, and a nickel, will get you a cup of coffee" I'm saying that "that" (whatever it is, probably some hair-brained invention of yours) is absolutely worthless. You could buy a cup of coffee with it, but you'd also have to pay a nickel. Kinda snarky, wouldn't you say?

Prices really didn't go up until after the war, and then they REALLY went up in the 1970s, not just in Phoenix, but everywhere. I wasn't drinking coffee in those days, but I remember that the price of candy skyrocketed. My best guess is that coffee was a quarter, or maybe even more. And that made the expression "That, and a nickel, will get you a cup of coffee" become absolute nonsense.

If you liked this post, please let me know by saying "That, and a nickel will get you a cup of coffee!", then I figure that it was worth almost a dollar!
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Comments

  1. AnonymousJuly 12, 2020 at 8:34 AM

    That, and a nickel will get you a cup of coffee!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnnaAugust 8, 2022 at 11:28 AM

    That and a nickel will get you a cup of coffee. I enjoyed reading this. I waited tables in a place known for Italian hot dogs in the mid-80's. We sold a bottomless cup for 50 cents plus tax. I was so thrilled when an older man gave me a dollar and said, "Keep the change."

    ReplyDelete

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