The Snack Delivery Service (And Iconic Gold Tins) Only Boomers Will Remember

Before the best subscription boxes arrived at doorsteps, truck drivers brought snacks to neighborhoods. One of these companies, Charles Chips, began in 1942. A small-batch enterprise in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, the small business eventually expanded its delivery service to include several communities across the Northeast. Initially, the Charles Chips gold and brown tins contained lightly salted, crispy chips, but by the late 1950s, the lineup of offerings included pretzels and cookies that were also available for delivery. 

"I remember when I was a kid and they delivered them to our house! Those were the good old days!" wrote a fan on Facebook. Another reminisced on Instagram: "My grandmother would get these delivered to her house. Always loved watching the truck pull up with a fresh can. Still the best chips today." Once the tins were emptied of the snacks, families would repurpose them for storage and organizational purposes. "My mom used to store Christmas cookies in those tins. Particularly pizzelles so they stayed crisp!" wrote a fan on Instagram, while another user on Facebook remembers these childhood staples for a different reason. "Those cans were my first drum set I had as a child." 

Home delivery became challenging for the business when gas prices surged in the 1970s, however. Though the company pivoted away from delivery and toward retail packaging and convenience stores, the numbers never quite reached the height of its door-to-door success. The Musser family eventually sold the company in 1991, yet the new owners faced bankruptcy a year and a half later.

A second acquisition led to a similar financial demise, and the brand went through several more changes of hands. By the mid-1990s, Charles Chips were no longer easy to find, but the brand didn't fully disappear and is still available today. Some snacks are packaged in bags and others in those memorable gold tins. While availability in stores is regional and limited, Charles Chips can be purchased online on the company's website and through Amazon. Some have even spotted the tins at Cracker Barrel and Restoration Hardware, while others have seen the vintage containers themselves pop up. "That container is iconic and we have seen it in antique shops!" wrote a fan on Instagram.

The potato chips recipe remains gluten-free, Kosher-certified, and made with all-natural ingredients for snack lovers searching for a taste of nostalgia. One tin holds a pound of potato chips. Crispy, light, and gently salted, the potato chips are also available in sour cream and onion and barbecue flavors. While some customers have noted issues with shipments, when they do arrive, the snacks from the past remain a nod to yesteryear. In addition to snacking on the brand's pretzel chips, sweets, and potato chips, boomers can make once-popular mayonnaise sandwiches – just be sure to spruce them up with Charles Chips to savor days gone by.