Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for August 23, 2019

Syd still not being very helpful. {groan}

i wonder how old he’s suppose to be anyways? to be that cheap when he was a kid. they never were that cheap when i was a kid, but than i wasn’t around in the 60’s so bear with me. honestly it is amazing how cheap some stuff was back than and some stuff that was expensive than is now considered cheap.

Frank apparently hasn’t done any shoe shopping since the late 60s…

Please stop…. And let me off the arc!!!! It is sinking.

Frank, go to Walmart or one of the wholesale clubs.

So Frank is getting in this kids face because of the price of shoes when he was a kid compared to now.

Do you know how much adults were paid when you were a kid?

Hey – In frame two – the kid’s answer is actually funny.

Heh heh. I wonder why “Hey, you kids! Get offa my lawn!” comes to mind

ok, enough of this arc. lets have more brad and toni.

This dag nam arc is making everyone look in their rear view mirrors. That is verboten and could get you a prescription for Zoloft. Look forward. I have already picked out my junior and senior prom dates for my next life and notified the girls. Don’t scoff, they didn’t say no.

Frank you our at the wrong store.

Now, does Frank want some running socks, walking socks, cross – training socks, or…?

There’s no way to compare a pair of the shoes of today with the Keds of the ’50s.

To which the reply is, “And how much did you earn back then”?

Ever notice that, when it comes to comics and cartoons, the “age” of parents, and the time period when they were young is pretty vague? In 1998 (this strip), Frank would have to be 40-something-ish. So 1955 would be a reasonable birthdate, making him 43. So, his childhood would be 1965-1966, just in time for the Beatles and the Rolling Stones and all that classic 60’s music. So the cost of shoes would be based on mid 60’s prices.

But, since cartoon characters age at a different rate than we do, current day Frank in 2019 wouldn’t be 64 years old now… not with Luann being 19. So, current-day Frank’s approx birthdate would need to be moved forwards to 1970 (making him 49 today), so his childhood is now pushed to 1980… just in time to listen to, ummm… REO Speedwagon? Styx? Donna Summer? Michael Jackson? And shoe prices would need to be adjusted for 1980/81 prices… where good athletic shoes were like, $18-25?

Has his hair always been this gray, or is the colorist reading his dialogue this week and thinking he’s an old man?

Can’t say I’ve enjoyed the story line this week. It’s been pretty bland and dull.

You shopping at the wrong place Frank. You can get decent shoes delivered to your door for under 5o. Heck, even the sports stores here carry shoes under 50, when they are on sale and they are always on sale.

$50?? That’s CHEAP. The last running shoes (I don’t even run), were $125. On Sale.

Just walk out, Frank.

There’s no Shame in not buying.

Besides, you SHOULD “shop” during Black Friday, when it is Survival of the Fittest. ;)

$6? Man! Mom would take us the uniroyal seconds shop and buy imperfects for like $2

“Dad buys shoes” isn’t really worth a week’s worth of strips…

This arc couldn’t be more boring.

Greg must have been shopping for new sneakers to start this line of comics

During my 83 years, 50 taxes have been enacted. We don’t own anything anymore. We just rent from the Government.

Well, I was a kid in the 60’s and there weren’t high tops, but I remember getting new Keds each summer and they were $3.00.

This story line has been boring since the beginning and isn’t getting any better.

In the 1990s, I read something written by a motivational speaker. In giving a talk to teen boys about father-son relationships, he asks them to imagine, years in the future, they are fathers of teen boys. "Your son comes to you, and says "I need new shoes for gym class, “only” $1000. Pleeease?" "

The boys in the audience object to the idea that shoes will cost that much.

He continues. “That’s what happened to your father. When he was in high school, gym shoes were rubber soles with canvas tops, cost maybe $10. Now, you want shoes that cost $100.”

If you go to the Keds website, you only see women’s sneakers. No men’s sneakers. Even in their history tab, there is no mention they ever made men’s sneakers. What’s up with that?

!957 PF Fliers black high tops were $1.98

You’re blaming the kid for inflation now, Frank?

Does Frank think the 16-year-old owns the store?

The shoes my mom would get out of the bargain pile were $2.99, and they were canvas and rubber Converse (style) shoes… I don’t think they WERE Converse, but some sort of knock-off… but no one wore those – we were all wearing NIKEs, with the rubber zig-zag soles and the big white swoosh… I had a pair in red and white. Now, my nieces are all for the Converse style shoes… :-P

And a full-sized candy bar was a nickel. Money ain’t worth much these days.

I say it again. Frank lives too much in the past.

I remember my Jr. High Basketball team was going to have matching shoes. Red Suede Converse All Stars. My father said “I’m NOT paying THIRTY-FIVE DOLLARS for a pair of gym shoes!!!” I ended up using my lawn mowing money for them. Those were the worst pair of athletic shoes (blisters blisters and more blisters) I ever owned. Two years later he had no problem with buying a pair of white Puma football cleats. Of course Billy White Shoes Johnson helped pave the way with those.

The bitter old man complaining about how expensive everything is was old when Bill Cosby was doing that joke in the 80s

You can still buy basic sneakers for $15-$25. Surveys have shown most things were more expensive in the 50/60s when adjusted for inflation/hours needed to work. For example in 1960 a 19" b/w TV was $200+ and $2 hour was a good wage so a worker had to work 100+ to buy the TV. Today you can buy a 19" ultra HD TV for $70. Then you have to compare quality so for example many new houses in the 50/60s were 2/1 or 3/1 and around 1,000 sq feet. The only major thing to go up in price is medical care and even then medical care was primitive in the 50/60s-no CT/MRIs and if you got cancer you usually died.

I’m glad Greg didn’t make this kid a regular back in the day.

Go to Costco.

Shoes may have cost $6, but how much did his dad make, compared to how much he makes today.

Who owns the brand Keds, or, even “PF Flyers” now? Doesn’t make a real difference anyway, because even IF those brands were still being made, they be called “retro” or “classics” and STILL cost an “arm and a leg.” Frank, you want basic, relatively cheap “gym shoes” go look in your local mega store shoe department. You just might find some there.

I remember when I first went out for basketball in junior high. The coach wanted us all to wear Converse All Stars, as he believed that any other shoe would ruin our feet during the course of our season. The school district wouldn’t pay for them, so my mom bought me a pair at the local sporting goods store. She was incensed. They cost as much as a week’s worth of groceries! (God, I know this dates me).

I would have said yes I do. $6 and minimum wage was XXxX.

Paracord high top shoelaces are $5.99.

This is kind of boring

Actually really boring

I just hope I can get myself a new pair of tennis shoes.

If this strip is suppose to be current and dad is 50 that means Fran was born in 1970 and a teenager in the 80s so no on the $6 sneakers

Did we really just have a whole week of reading a baby boomer complain about sneaker prices?

I AM that old, and I can remember paying about $9 for Bata basketball shoes ca. 1966.

He’s talking about high-top Keds which were more expensive than regular Keds. We paid about $3-4 for regular Keds back in the 50’s and 60’s.

I just watched a documentary about life in the 50’s. In 1950 (when I was born), the average salary nationwide was $2000. Compare that to today and you have about a 10-fold inflation. $6 high tops would therefore compare to about $60 today. (Unless, of course, you buy them at Payless (gone now, alas) or Walmart.)

This is getting really old. I’m about De Groot’s age and I’m probably angrier than he is about the athletic shoe racket and the way Nike marks up shoes they paid a sweatshop about $6 to actually produce. But I’ve also worked in service jobs and I know the worker he’s hassling is just some guy who gets paid minimum wage to work there, is probably subject to wage theft and forced to work on his unpaid breaks, and doesn’t have jack to say about the industry’s product decisions or the store’s pricing policy. Now that I’m self-employed and don’t have to eat people’s s**t, it’s a point of honor to me to remember that service workers are powerless people who have to absorb abuse with a smile if they want to keep their jobs. If you have a problem with the products or prices at Walmart, save your ire for a CEO and leave the worker alone. SICK. TO. DEATH. of “speak to your manager types.”

6

Hah. The $50 highwater mark again shows the “age” of this rerun. If the dialogue were to have been rewritten for 2019… it probably should have said $100.

The punchline today, even with its age-obvious price….. is still delightful! I was in a shoe store like this recently, and the kid was trying to tell me I needed special socks to go with my shoes…. that were $15 a pair! There is no way that I could bring myself to pay $15 for a pair of socks.

I need some context, a lot of that difference is probably just because of inflation

First pair of Adidas were $15 and that was outrageous. Had to save a lot of allowances to get them. Never again because they didn’t last long.

Um… I was a high top Chuck-Converse guy myself… not Keds. Gotta be as old as Mr. DeGroot to know that.

and we had to walk to school 5 miles uphill, in the snow, through the mud, with 30 lb backpacks and rifles to ward off the wild animals!

I never bought any, but is LA Gear still around? I guess I could Google it.

2 ships going in different directions.

I was around in the 60’s and 70’s a pair of high top Converse Chuck Taylor’s All Stars were $12.00 the same ones today for $60.00

At a car show I went to a couple years ago a man was showing his 1928 Packard. Among the stats was its MSRP of $2290.00. I mused aloud about how long did it take to earn $2290.00 in 1928, the owner immediately replied “That was 2 years wages for a factory worker!”

Chuck Taylor Allstars modern rendition – hey, they do not look all that bad:

.

http://www.deardeltas.com/product/converse-chuck-taylor-all-star-street-mid-grey-dd7948rs-mens-shoes/

When’s the last time you bought shoes Frank? I just spent 150 bucks for a pair of sneakers for my Mom.

Just so you know, $6 in 1968 is $45 today.

This really happened to me. I was in Kmart and I told the clerk I was looking for a pair of sneakers for cross-training. She waved at an area on the shelf, said, “I don’t make judgments,” and walked away. I couldn’t figure out what her snippy-sounding answer even meant. Then I got it. She thought I was talking about cross-dressing.

I am fascinated by the chewing and bubble blowing. Do they really do that in the US?

Yeah and things were made well also so that they last for a good long time, even for kids that skated, played hockey and baseball and kick ball and all those fun games back them. Oh and let’s not forgot roller skating too.

You’re not just paying for the shoes here, Frank. You’re also paying for the employees’ time and effort, which you seem quite happy to waste with your griping. Why is it the clerk’s fault that you don’t like the prices?!?

Oh, and shoes may cost more, but how much of your salary would you have to spend on a giant TV compared to when you were younger? I know those have gotten a LOT cheaper over time.

Hey, Greg, you sure touched a great subject with this one!

So now we see how bitter and miserly Frank, a typical suburban dad, is in 1998. I don’t care who you are, if you can set up your family in a decent surban home in a quiet community you’re doing pretty well. Cut to present day. I suppose Frank and Nancy had to scrimp and save every GD penny to pay for Luann’s community!!! college education. No. He can easily afford this tuition, and now he and Nancy own their own business and two houses! They’re a family of privilege. Does no one see how pissy he is latley about having paid for Luann’s college, one she really needs because she has no marketable skills? BS behavior. Maybe acceptable if they had lived in a cramped apparent in the city, but not now. Not in this day in age. And in my opinion, if you bring a child into this world, you owe them a life at least as good as yours, and if you have any heart or you-know-whats, you’d try to make sure their future was better than yours. So what do you think? Did Greg Evans help her daughter Karen with her education, or not? Huh? TL,DR: Frank is a bitter miser.

Yeah, everything cost less when you were younger. But how long did it take to earn that $6?

All right Frank you have one more day. Are you going to buy something or not? As they say !!xx*! or get off the pot.

On the bright side, he can chew bubble gum and make witty comments at the same time….

Close enough

Surely he’s no older than me (55) and I don’t remember seeing shoes under $50 since I was 30, if that late. And I certainly don’t miss shoes from the 1960s (not how they feel anyway).

Random thought, do not think I have ever seen a sales person chewing gum.