From Gramps–
I’m beginning to feel myself as a member of a generation that’s slipping away into the past. And with the passage of time, and the demise of the occupants of the former generation, disappears with them a trove of nostalgia, swept into the dustbin of history without a thought. I was reared in an age when automobiles were a novelty. The common mode of transportation in my day was horse and buggy. Coming from a small town in Idaho, it was an adventure to travel to a neighboring town. (Our neighboring towns were about 10 miles away). In the wintertime it was a real adventure. When the mail was taken from Soda Springs to Conda, a distance of nine miles, (Conda no longer exists)  it was carried in a small sleigh with a canvas covering. (Yes, it was a covered wagon–with runners replacing the wheels). The buckboard had a couple of holes in it though which the reins to the team of horses were inserted, and a transparent mica window was placed above the buckboard so that the driver could see out. In the wagon box near the front was a small pot-belied stove into which pieces of wood were fed in order to keep the driver relatively warm. The nine-mile trip to deliver the mail to Conda consumed three hours.
We lived in a large, 10-room house. The wall joists were of rough-cut 2X6’s and the ceilings were 11 feet high. In the entire house there were two stoves–a kitchen range and a pot-bellied stove in the living room. One of my pastimes as a child was to etch circles in the beautiful patterns of frost on the inside of the windows with a circular metal napkin ring. One of my chores was to chop the kindling, carry in the wood for the fires, make the fires in the morning and get breakfast started for the family. We usually had Mothers Oats, toast and Postum for breakfast. The toast was made by putting slices of bread between two wire frames and holding it on top of the kitchen range, turning it over when one side was done.
These memories were brought into sharp focus when I went to the store the other day to get another bottle of Postum. (It had been very hard to find on the shelves–one or two bottles located on the bottom shelf of the isle containing the coffee.) After looking for a rather long time and not finding any, I appealed to a store clerk, asking “Where do you keep your Postum?” The reply was, “What’s Postum?” What a shock!! I had used it all my life, and thought it was in everyone’s kitchen cupboard. When I talked with the store manager, he told me that they had not been able to get it recently from the supplier. So I went to several other stores, and received the same comment! My world was coming apart!!
Then today I received a revealing email in the Ask Gramps column from Robert Campbell, of  Long Beach, California. I have no idea how he knew of my dilemma , but here is his email—

Gramps,

I Talked with Kraft Foods, Inc. (aka Post) today. You can call them to at “1-800-431-7678. They confirmed, apologetically,  that Postum was being discontinued due to lack of customer demand. Some say it has been only recently off store shelves. The Kraft customer rep indicated that the company would be open to more consumer feedback. If you can call them they will take your comments.

Robert”

So this is my plea–Let’s everyone call the friendly customer rep at the above number, express surprise and shock that this staple of the American diet is being discontinued by a stalwart supplier, who has faithfully kept it on the shelves for over the last 80 years. (The decrease in use of the product is undoubtedly due to a marketing ploy by the coffee companies, who are trying to run the competition out of business by relegating the display of Postum to an unobtrusive corner on the lower shelf. It could become again the predominant breakfast drink if it were given an appropriate display on the shelves, and perhaps a word or two of advertising around the store.
Gramps