madfranks
15th August 2013, 01:47 PM
http://www.htrnews.com/article/20130814/MAN0101/308150187/Late-s-diner-offers-1964-prices-customers-paying-silver-coins?nclick_check=1
http://www.thesurvivalistblog.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Silver-Coins.jpg
MANITOWOC — Late’s diner on S. Ninth Street is giving people a reason to break open their piggy banks and empty out their pockets for loose change.Late’s Burgers — known for their deep-fried cheese curds and burgers — is offering customers 1964 pricing if they come in and pay with coins minted before 1965.
Why?
Restaurant owner Karl Birkenstock said the answer to that is simple. The idea originally crossed Birkenstock’s mind because of the increased conversation about how goods have become more expensive.
“Like any other person in business, you are compelled to raise your prices because your costs go up and you feel terrible about it,” he said.
Birkenstock has been at the diner for 14 years. He wanted to show people how the value of their dollar is changing, causing the prices to presumably “rise,” but it’s essentially the same.
“I decided to illustrate that by taking all of our prices and applying what the cost of it would be if you were paying in the currency of the ‘olden days,’ being 1964 or before, with silver coins,” Birkenstock said.
Expense increasesWhat started out as an idea to show people that the price of food is rising with inflation like other goods, like gas, ended up being a good marketing strategy that’s gotten national attention, he said.
“It has worked as a marketing tool,” he said. “We’ve received national attention ... we’ve received other news photos. So it’s been effective like that and I didn’t expect that as being one of the benefits.”
When the deal started, people talked about it so much that it drove the point home.
“I really didn’t expect that we were going to have a whole lot of people do it, but now, people are actually using it and I welcome it,” Birkenstock said.
The coins Late’s accepts are made with silver, and after the government introduced pennies made mainly with copper, people started to take their silver coins out of circulation, according to Jim Lukes.
(Madfranks comment: What the flip are they talking about? Silver coins taken out of circulation after the government started making copper pennies? Methinks the reporter is ignorant on the history of US coinage)
Lukes, owner of Lukes’ Stamp and Coin Shop at 815 Jay St., Manitowoc, said he can see why a shop would want to let people pay in old silver coins.
“The cost of gas being $4 a gallon, if you go through the same math, it probably comes out to 25 cents a gallon just like we used to remember ... a large extent of it is just depreciated currency,” Birkenstock said.When Birkenstock converted a menu to show 1964 pricing, there were some pretty radical changes. For instance, hamburgers were 12 cents and 100 pieces of chicken could be bought for $4.55.
“I think that went a long way to demonstrate to customers that it isn’t our prices, but it is actually the currency has depreciated.”
Silver coin conversionsHaving worked at the coin shop for 41 years, Lukes said the price has gone up and the silver coins minted in those years could be worth more than 14 times its original value.
The price of silver has gone up over the years because of the amount of silver coins left in circulation, although it hasn’t recently, Lukes said.
For example, a Teddy Roosevelt dime made between 1946 and 1964 is valued at $1.35 and a 1964 Kennedy half-dollar piece is worth about $6.75, according to Coinflation.com.
(Madfranks comment: Teddy Roosevelt dimes? Seriously??)
Lukes said the deal may have people “digging into their couch cushions” to round up the old coins.
Business has been doing well, according to Birkenstock. The diner is particularly busy on Fridays.
A few businesses have done silver coin exchanges for products in the state. Lukes said one car dealership that even sold cars for old silver coins from the 1900s.
“I don’t know what they do with the coins,” Lukes said, “but it’s a good idea.”
Once Late’s receives the coins, Birkenstock doesn’t exchange the silver coins to silver dealers, but instead he keeps them because he is somewhat of a silver collector.
http://www.thesurvivalistblog.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Silver-Coins.jpg
MANITOWOC — Late’s diner on S. Ninth Street is giving people a reason to break open their piggy banks and empty out their pockets for loose change.Late’s Burgers — known for their deep-fried cheese curds and burgers — is offering customers 1964 pricing if they come in and pay with coins minted before 1965.
Why?
Restaurant owner Karl Birkenstock said the answer to that is simple. The idea originally crossed Birkenstock’s mind because of the increased conversation about how goods have become more expensive.
“Like any other person in business, you are compelled to raise your prices because your costs go up and you feel terrible about it,” he said.
Birkenstock has been at the diner for 14 years. He wanted to show people how the value of their dollar is changing, causing the prices to presumably “rise,” but it’s essentially the same.
“I decided to illustrate that by taking all of our prices and applying what the cost of it would be if you were paying in the currency of the ‘olden days,’ being 1964 or before, with silver coins,” Birkenstock said.
Expense increasesWhat started out as an idea to show people that the price of food is rising with inflation like other goods, like gas, ended up being a good marketing strategy that’s gotten national attention, he said.
“It has worked as a marketing tool,” he said. “We’ve received national attention ... we’ve received other news photos. So it’s been effective like that and I didn’t expect that as being one of the benefits.”
When the deal started, people talked about it so much that it drove the point home.
“I really didn’t expect that we were going to have a whole lot of people do it, but now, people are actually using it and I welcome it,” Birkenstock said.
The coins Late’s accepts are made with silver, and after the government introduced pennies made mainly with copper, people started to take their silver coins out of circulation, according to Jim Lukes.
(Madfranks comment: What the flip are they talking about? Silver coins taken out of circulation after the government started making copper pennies? Methinks the reporter is ignorant on the history of US coinage)
Lukes, owner of Lukes’ Stamp and Coin Shop at 815 Jay St., Manitowoc, said he can see why a shop would want to let people pay in old silver coins.
“The cost of gas being $4 a gallon, if you go through the same math, it probably comes out to 25 cents a gallon just like we used to remember ... a large extent of it is just depreciated currency,” Birkenstock said.When Birkenstock converted a menu to show 1964 pricing, there were some pretty radical changes. For instance, hamburgers were 12 cents and 100 pieces of chicken could be bought for $4.55.
“I think that went a long way to demonstrate to customers that it isn’t our prices, but it is actually the currency has depreciated.”
Silver coin conversionsHaving worked at the coin shop for 41 years, Lukes said the price has gone up and the silver coins minted in those years could be worth more than 14 times its original value.
The price of silver has gone up over the years because of the amount of silver coins left in circulation, although it hasn’t recently, Lukes said.
For example, a Teddy Roosevelt dime made between 1946 and 1964 is valued at $1.35 and a 1964 Kennedy half-dollar piece is worth about $6.75, according to Coinflation.com.
(Madfranks comment: Teddy Roosevelt dimes? Seriously??)
Lukes said the deal may have people “digging into their couch cushions” to round up the old coins.
Business has been doing well, according to Birkenstock. The diner is particularly busy on Fridays.
A few businesses have done silver coin exchanges for products in the state. Lukes said one car dealership that even sold cars for old silver coins from the 1900s.
“I don’t know what they do with the coins,” Lukes said, “but it’s a good idea.”
Once Late’s receives the coins, Birkenstock doesn’t exchange the silver coins to silver dealers, but instead he keeps them because he is somewhat of a silver collector.