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Copyright © 2004 Howard Young
When I was a wee tike of eight, my parents started working my tail off in their business -- an American Indian Hobby Shop -- named Buffalo Robe, in Reseda CA. We sold all sorts of items ranging from beads, feathers and bells, to full regalia of Indian and Mountain Man attire.
My job was to package glass pony beads which sold at 95 cents for a bag of 50. I guess they figured I knew how to count by second grade and trusted me to package beads by thousands if not millions. Once a year we set up a production line where I came home after school and would sit in front of TV watching Speed Racer and run a handful of beads across a counting board with 50 holes drilled in it. I would then scoop off excess beads, and place remaining 50 beads into a Dixie cup.
I wasn't very adept at finishing process and my mom poured beads into a clear plastic bag then stapled on a pricing label. For every packaged bag, I received a shiny nickel and by end of week my take home pay was about $10 -- which back in early 70's -- was a lot of money for an eight year old.
One day I came up with a bright idea and asked my mom if we could raise price to a buck and I would get an extra nickel per bag. She simply said "no" because there's a secret reason why beads are priced at 95 cents. Shush! Don't tell anyone!