could be found for sale in small-town in the American South. Supposedly people would stand around talking similar to what you see today at the office water cooler. As a child, I remember going into a couple ma-n-pa type country stores in the middle of nowhere that still used them. They didn't sell soda crackers, but were filled with either peanuts in the shell or individually wrapped candy that customers can scoop out to put in a bag. Also, I never saw people socializing around them.