Posted 10 years ago
Rattletrap
(891 items)
I always thought that if the best service you got was just the "standard service" it would not be very good? Perhaps in the "olden days" when this sign was made "Standard Service" was really excellent Service? It seems that this sign design was fairly popular as we found one up in Montana and this one came from a tiny town in Iowa while returning from a picking trip to Joplin Mo. It appears that Standard, which is now Chevron, decided that "Standard Service" is not a very impressive way to advertise their Service anymore as I don't ever see Standard service offered except to entice you to "upgrade" to a more expensive "better service", as in Airline seating choices? In any event these old porcelain signs are very old and probably from the 20s-30s from what we are told. Remember that "the fun is in the hunt"! You can see these signs FREE as a part of the private Petrolania Collection displayed at aaaLakeside Storage in Provo Utah.
I guess we use the word differently now!
I think "Standard" just refered to the oil company itself, not the measure of the service. Even knowing this, it was still better than "Sub-Standard"-lol. Nice find!
I think you are right, however the play on words still exists. In reality, some of that old "standard service" where they checked you air, water, tire pressure and oil, while you got $1 worth of gas looks pretty good compared to the no service/self service we get now. Ahhhhh, for the "Good ol Days" with service abounding and gas at under $.20/gal. Hmmmmm? Seems like I remember the ice man in those days because we didn't have a fridge and TV wasn't invented yet either.
Ironically, now everything is sub standard, from service to restaurant food to health care. We pay more for it though. What gives?..
I think thats one thing that attacts me to these signs...they are from a by-gone era where things were made with quality, pride, and steel. Now everything is cheap junk from China and nothing is done with pride. The very existence of these signs is a testament to how well they were made. As Archie Bunker reminds us, those were the days!
Yep! Those were the days when everyone thought it was a good idea to make things that lasted as long as possible and required as little maintenance as possible. Remember the Maytag washing machine ads? Nowadays the philosophy has changed to give as little as possible and make things short lived to insure job security! Really? I could get political & won't, but a society that preys upon its own people by deliberately building products that are disposable by their short lived nature is a society that lacks good perspective! I'm too old for this worlds thinking, I guess? Those were "Good old Days" and I loved them! I still love them!
I always thought that the "Standard" service sign was to the term "Set the Standard"... Love your collection..