Things in living memory which seem very anachronistic now

[Brent Goose]

Electric/Gas bill being rendered quarterly in arrears and either posting a cheque or paying it at the post office.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Electric/Gas bill being rendered quarterly in arrears and either posting a cheque or paying it at the post office.

Anachronistic, yes, but they're still payment options, aren't they?

 

[Brent Goose]

My quick search on line regarding how many paid the extra by doing it that way wasn’t particularly successful. A 2001 report suggested one third did so, back then we did also but haven’t done so for 10 years or more.

 

[SHD]

My father spent a year in London in 1978-79 and he remembers having to pay for his electricity directly at the meter, by inserting one-pound coins. Is that still a thing? At current rates, one would need several coins per day!

He also remembers mechanical Cadbury chocolate dispensers on the Tube, and I too remember them from my teenage visits to London in the 1990s. 20p, if my memory serves me, and the taste of the caramel core bar was delicious.

 

[Indigo Soup]

Anachronistic, yes, but they're still payment options, aren't they?

Quarterly in arrears is still technically the default, but the bill runs to three arms, two legs and a kidney in an attempt to get you to do literally anything else.

My father spent a year in London in 1978-79 and he remembers having to pay for his electricity directly at the meter, by inserting one-pound coins. Is that still a thing? At current rates, one would need several coins per day!

Replaced by PayPoint and some kind of smart card system, as far as I know. Back in 2006 a university friend of mine was on a coin meter, so they were around at least that long.

 

[Harpo]

My father spent a year in London in 1978-79 and he remembers having to pay for his electricity directly at the meter, by inserting one-pound coins.

In my years with my parents I think it went from a ‘bob’ (a shilling/5p) to 10p and 50p. The meter man’s visit was always popular as there’d be a cash surplus handed back after totting up.

Like most, our home TV was rented but I never got to see a coin operated one. I also remember a friends home where she was one of five teenaged siblings. They had a payphone of the type found in phoneboxes.

 

[PG]

My father spent a year in London in 1978-79 and he remembers having to pay for his electricity directly at the meter, by inserting one-pound coins.

[pedant alert] Was this perhaps a few years later?
The pound coin didn't enter circulation until 1983.

 

[SHD]

[pedant alert] Was this perhaps a few years later?
The pound coin didn't enter circulation until 1983.

I’m certain about the dates. Probably he was imprecise in his recollection. Or he didn’t specify a denomination and I automatically assumed it was £1

I’m not aware of any other country using that payment system for electricity, intuitively I would think it is quite labour intensive and involves the tedious and cumbersome processing of vast sums in coins. Plus, I imagine that the mechanical contraption of the meter had to be adjusted every time there was a change in rate.

 

[Bald Rick]

My father spent a year in London in 1978-79 and he remembers having to pay for his electricity directly at the meter, by inserting one-pound coins. Is that still a thing? At current rates, one would need several coins per day!

It would have been 50p. Quite a common thing back then, my grandmother had one in her house.

 

[The exile]

I’m certain about the dates. Probably he was imprecise in his recollection. Or he didn’t specify a denomination and I automatically assumed it was £1

I’m not aware of any other country using that payment system for electricity, intuitively I would think it is quite labour intensive and involves the tedious and cumbersome processing of vast sums in coins. Plus, I imagine that the mechanical contraption of the meter had to be adjusted every time there was a change in rate.

I had one in my first (rented) accommodation in the early 1990s - by which time it was £1 coins. It was emptied by the landlord, rather than the electricity board / company. Never occurred to me how it was adjusted to take account of changes in pricing. Seem to remember that winter required about £7/week.

 

[philthetube]

Our local Hay's branch here in SW Sheffield is currently closed for refurbishing. It draws a very loyal clientele from quite a distance due to their very helpful personal service. Folks seem happy to pay for that.

(I may not have booked through a travel agent's shop for 40 years!)

The beauty of a decent travel agent is that they will sort out mistakes with the booking for you, whoever's fault it is, and many of us will know of a case when someone has messed up a booking and have either had issues sorting it, of it has proved expensive to resolve.

I think that this is a big reason why so many travel agents survive,

 

[AM9]

The beauty of a decent travel agent is that they will sort out mistakes with the booking for you, whoever's fault it is, and many of us will know of a case when someone has messed up a booking and have either had issues sorting it, of it has proved expensive to resolve.

I think that this is a big reason why so many travel agents survive,

... Exactly this. A few years ago I booked a Virgin holiday through the local Thomas Cook office. It was for 5 days in Hong Kong and then just over a week in Bali. There were flight legs LHR>HKG, HKG>DPS, DPS>BKK, BKK>LHR. (HKG = Hong Kong Chep Lap Kok, DPS = Denpasar, Bali and BKK = Bangkok).

When trying to reserve seats, the online engine refused to accept the booking as valid. Accessing the online and telephone support line was unsucessful both for us and Thomas Cook. In the end the agent used a back-door access number (for disabled travellers) to get to somebody. After a lot of searching, it was revealed that the second leg (HKG>DPS) had been double booked on two separate carriers on the same day making a total of five legs on the ticket, which prevented seat reservations. The agent also said that as it would be physically impossble to travel the 4 hrs from HKG twice in the same day, the itinerary would be broken, the ticket cancelled and we would have been disqualified from travelling home on the ticket. I doubt whether this would have been discovered before arriving at Denpasar without the assitance of a face to face discussion with the agent.

 

[GusB]

My father spent a year in London in 1978-79 and he remembers having to pay for his electricity directly at the meter, by inserting one-pound coins. Is that still a thing? At current rates, one would need several coins per day!

It definitely wouldn't have been £1 coins at that point; the weren't in circulation until 1983.

It would have been 50p. Quite a common thing back then, my grandmother had one in her house.

My folks moved into their own house in 1980 and I distinctly remember that the neighbours over the road from us had to insert 50p coins into their coin meter.

I had one in my first (rented) accommodation in the early 1990s - by which time it was £1 coins. It was emptied by the landlord, rather than the electricity board / company. Never occurred to me how it was adjusted to take account of changes in pricing. Seem to remember that winter required about £7/week.

I'd kill for a £7-a-week winter bill these days!

I'm not sure how this would have worked - was it possible then for landlords to have a coin box installed and then pay a quarterly bill to the electricity companies? My own experience of pre-pay electricity meters was when you went to the nearest Post Office or Paypoint, handed over your plastic payment card and you were given small slips of card which were then inserted into the meter to top up the balance.

 

[Sun Chariot]

Something else which seems longer ago than it actually was: tabloid newspapers offering "Booze Cruise ferry ticket for £1".
The sensationalist portrayal of the thing, conjured images of squabbling siblings and tired parents, long queue at the ferry terminal, probably at an ungodly hour of a morning; and then, on arrival into France, the realisation that they only had a few hours until the return sailing. So, buy buy in France , before a byebye France.

 

[Brent Goose]

I think the ferries used to sell duty free so maybe there was no need to go beyond Calais Port?

When I started working it was entirely normal for our supply chain to provide a goodly amount of booze for Christmas which invariably came from someone junior being sent across the Channel in the company transit van. Sadly such largesse are long gone.

 

[Sun Chariot]

I think the ferries used to sell duty free so maybe there was no need to go beyond Calais Port?

When I started working it was entirely normal for our supply chain to provide a goodly amount of booze for Christmas which invariably came from someone junior being sent across the Channel in the company transit van. Sadly such largesse are long gone.

The canny folk would take the biggest car or van they could use, fill vehicle to the brim with smokes and alcohol from the hypermarkets located near the French ferry ports, then hurry back to the ferry terminal with satisfaction of a job well done.

Work drinks - oh yes! I worked in the central London office of Woolworths for a few years. I recall the alcohol trolley would come out for staff birthdays, department events and even on occasions "just because it's Friday". The productivity of office employees was not a "thing" back then....

 

[Brent Goose]

Delay repay coming via railway vouchers in the post. Redeeming them at the ticket office always made the transaction take longer to the frustration of people behind in the queue

Apparently they were accepted in the buffet car on the Liverpool St to Norwich services

 

[AM9]

I think the ferries used to sell duty free so maybe there was no need to go beyond Calais Port?

When I started working it was entirely normal for our supply chain to provide a goodly amount of booze for Christmas which invariably came from someone junior being sent across the Channel in the company transit van. Sadly such largesse are long gone.

In the late '70s there were non-landing cruises where one could get the (then) maximum duty free allowance together with 200 cigarettes included in the cost. ISTR that a fairly basic litre of scotch andgin was given to ticketholder free of charge.
Townsend Thoresen (now P&O) offered them on their Portsmouth to Cherbourg and Le Havre services, - particularly in the low (holiday) seasons when the main business was freight vehicles and the restaurant and cafeteria services were underused. The meals were pretty cheap as well, so a cheap day out for the kids.

 

[Killingworth]

Flicking through the papers this morning - isn't that almost an anachronism in itself?

But turning over pages of Equity prices, what a waste of paper. Don't all serious investors watch online?

I'll leave others to comment on all the ads for walk in baths, stair lifts, and cruises.

 

[GordonT]

Have we mentioned drivers of new cars displaying a "Running In - Please Pass" notice in rear windscreen?
At some point car manufacturers must have twigged that it wasn't a particularly good look and then arranged for what had to be done in terms of "running in" to take place under factory conditions pre-sale allowing customers to pick up their new car and head for the nearest dual carriageway or motorway to put it through its paces.

 

[Killingworth]

Have we mentioned drivers of new cars displaying a "Running In - Please Pass" notice in rear windscreen?
At some point car manufacturers must have twigged that it wasn't a particularly good look and then arranged for what had to be done in terms of "running in" to take place under factory conditions pre-sale allowing customers to pick up their new car and head for the nearest dual carriageway or motorway to put it through its paces.

On a similar theme, when looking for something in the garage today I found 2 cans of oil. Can't remember how long ago I needed to top up between services.

 

[Brent Goose]

I suspect when EVs do finally become the majority then the whole concept of oil changes and the like will seem archaic.

 

[Bald Rick]

Work drinks - oh yes! I worked in the central London office of Woolworths for a few years. I recall the alcohol trolley would come out for staff birthdays, department events and even on occasions "just because it's Friday". The productivity of office employees was not a "thing" back then....

If you were there in the late 90s then you’d have been celebrating Fridays with a very good friend of mine!

 

[Sun Chariot]

If you were there in the late 90s then you’d have been celebrating Fridays with a very good friend of mine!

I was at 242-246 Marylebone Road from February 1998. Two roles, within central planning departments; until 2004, when I moved onto Woolies' SAP transformation programme.

 

[Canary73]

May have been mentioned before but ITV being regional....

 

[Trackman]

May have been mentioned before but ITV being regional....

It still is, do you mean regional branding?

 

[GusB]

May have been mentioned before but ITV being regional....

It still is to an extent; STV is still a separate entity, although the Grampian Television brand has gone.

It still is, do you mean regional branding?

It's still separate as far as broadcasting licences are concerned, but the general public won't know (or care).

 

[DelW]

Have we mentioned drivers of new cars displaying a "Running In - Please Pass" notice in rear windscreen?
At some point car manufacturers must have twigged that it wasn't a particularly good look and then arranged for what had to be done in terms of "running in" to take place under factory conditions pre-sale allowing customers to pick up their new car and head for the nearest dual carriageway or motorway to put it through its paces.

I don't think much "running in" was done at the factory, then or now. Improved manufacturing tolerances from automated machining and assembly means less need for components to bed-in with each other, but I believe it's still recommended to treat new engines gently for the first few hundred miles. That doesn't mean going so slowly as to need a rear window sticker though.

 

[Ken X]

I'll leave others to comment on all the ads for walk in baths, stair lifts, and cruises.

You were lucky.

All my adverts seem to be for funeral parlours.

 

[Bald Rick]

Manchester United being a team to be feared.