The "Boy, Do I Have A Deal For You" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Asking Carol if she can remember when the Pet Rock was all the craze.  Same time when the Lava Lamp, Disco, Leisure Suit and Safari Jacket reigned.  Same era when a high school friend of mine, Josh, invented the Mood ring.  And, the same decade when we purchased our waterbed.  After some thinking, she was able to come up with the 1970’s.  Reason I asked her was because the inventor of one more fad or craze of that time period just died at the age of 78.  Does the name Gary Dahl mean anything to you.  Gary’s craze rivaled the biggest fads for a mere $3.95.  His fad sold more than a million units and made him wealthy in a few frenzied months.  What was meant to be a joke turned out to be a real success.  Gary’s idea was developed in a bar when the bar talk turned to pets and the need to feed and clean up after them.  Gary announced to the bar patrons that his pet caused him no trouble at all.  “I have a pet rock,” he explained.  People Magazine reported that Gary told them that people are so bored and tired of all their problems that the Pet Rock can take them on a fantasy trip.  He claimed to have packaged a sense of humor.  Soon after his bar episode, he and two of his college buddies and visited a building supply company and bought a load of smooth Mexican beach stones at about a cent each.  Packaged a single stone on a bed of excelsior in a cardboard carrying case with air holes.  Also included a manual for the care of, feeding of and house training of the Pet Rock.  So you see why I just had to have one for Christmas in 1975.  They went on sale the same time as people began their Christmas shopping and in a matter of months he had sold 1.5 million Pet Rocks or about 2 tons of stones.  He traded in his Honda for a Mercedes and bought a house with a swimming pool.  Wonder what the gang at the bar thought about that. Gary died at the age of 78.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

Found this one for sale on eBay 40 years after it sold for $3.95.