Sales Tax: Delaware 0%, New Jersey 7%

We took a trip to Delaware from New Jersey of almost 400 miles by car roundtrip on Saturday, August 13, 2006 and was surprised and impressed on what we found.

It was a real nice pleasant day and easy to get to our primary destination. We traveled down the New Jersey Turnpike and it cost $3.40 each way, crossed the Delaware Memorial Bridge and it cost $3.00 one way, and paid $2.25 roundtrip on the highway 1 and 13 Delaware tollroad, we got on and off at different places.

We stopped at the Entenmann's bakery discount store and bought some cake at less than half normal price. We also dropped by some other interesting stores and bought a few small items. We went to Sonic Drivein Restaurant and was not charged tax. We dropped into a farm tractor store and looked around. We travelled down U. S. Highway 13 South about 80 miles and saw about 20 or more housing developments. We saw many signs to Delaware beaches but did not go there...we will have to look at a map to see how close we were to the beaches.

We met many people. All you have to do is smile and say I am from New Jersey and you'll get a reaction. Many people in Delaware are New Jersey transplants. They all tell you about the zero sales tax and very low real estate taxes in Delaware. Some mention you can save money at least $.25 per gallon with ethanol in Maryland, a neighboring state instead of gasoline. They all said they were also able to save on the Delaware house prices too. Most seemed early retired military, police, and teachers from New Jersey that moved to Delaware to save money and that they could no longer afford New Jersey sales tax or real estate taxes.

We passed a University of Delaware campus, the Delaware State Fair grounds, I think Delaware Downs (a race track), Tony Danza (and other big name entertainment) will appear soon at a venue there that we passed, as wetraveledd down U. S. 13. With all of the farmland andconstructionn of family homes, the area reminded me of Ocean County New Jersey during the early 1960's when I was a child when it was mostly farmland and chicken ranches and had a lot of single family home construction.

From what I saw and heard, Delaware makes a fine alternative to New Jersey and I could save each year $7,000 in real estate tax and probably $300-400 in sales tax and even more if I made a big purchase like a new car. I think I could also save a lot of money on selling my New Jersey house and buying a Delaware house and put the rest of the principal into some sort of savings.

Delaware looks like a fine alternative to New Jersey.

Sonic Drivein Restaurants

On Saturday, august 13, 2006 we drove according to Mapquest.com http://www.mapquest.com http://www.mapquest.com, 187 miles from home to Bridgeville, Delaware to visit our first Sonic Drivein Restaurant. Even though this is the closest Sonic to us we have been enticed from 2 or 3 showings of their commercials everyday on TV for many years. Their commercials especially focus on their wide selection of beverages and ice cream desserts.

We have even checked out their website http://www.sonicdrivein.com/index.jsp http://www.sonicdrivein.com/index.jsp, for more information and directions.

Mapquest was correct on the distance and it took us about 5 hours to get there because we took quite a few breaks. Driving was easy. We just traveled down the New Jersey Turnpike to the Delaware Memorial Bridge and got onto U. S. Highway 13 and followed it straight down. The restaurant was on U. S. Highway 13, also known as Sussex Highway down there.

We used to be weekly customers of McDonald's until they stopped cooking to order. Now we go about once 3 or 4 times a year. They used to put the cooked sandwiches on a tray and the counter people would wrap them in a sheet of wax paper and put them in the bin. We used to try to get our sandwiches that were on the tray freshly cooked and prepared. When they were slow we ordered grills, which meant requesting some garnish to be removed or extra to be put on. I am crazy for the fish sandwiches and would ask for no cheese or ketchup instead of tartar sauce, and they would cook it to order. Now the meat and fish are cooked in advance and stored on the side and they put the sandwiches together. You can still order a grill, but it usually will not be cooked to order. McDonald's used to have the cheapest sodas, shakes, and ice cream but I think it no longer the case except for the higher priced highway ice cream stores.

We were hoping to find a McDonald's killer at Sonic but unhappily did not. We really found an alternative with bright spots.

The Sonic outdoor cleanup person deserves recognition and a bonus. The property was spotless and the garbage cans were adequately emptied and not overflowing with garbage. I almost never even notice a clean lot but this place was impressive.

The drivein service consists of driving into a stall that has a console on the driver's side that has a sign describing all of the food, a speaker and microphone, and a credit card machine. There is another sign on the passenger side describing beverages and ice cream offerings. You select what you want and order it over the mike and speaker setup. If you want to pay by credit card you can swipe it right there. In a few minutes someone brings out your order and takes cash if you wanted to pay in cash. There were three patio setups that worked basically the same way. The interior sit down area worked the same way, you sat down and used a direct line phone to call in your order. I like the drivein car stall and the patio drivein concept but not the inside sit down concept.

We went inside to order 2 number one hamburger specials with cheese and the bill was under $10.00. The order taker on the phone was too quick and hung up and lost out on an order of onion rings and an ice cream. We were also afraid we might only get one order instead of 2 number one's, but the order was brought out by a very nice person and was correct. The person went away quickly and we realized we had no napkins or ketchup for our french fries and there were none available in the dining room. I prefer the fast food places with a counter that you can see the kitchen is clean and you can watch them putting your tray order together and make sure there are napkins and ketchup.

They have diet Sprite! I only drink diet and non-caffeine drinks and they have diet Sprite which fills the bill. Most fast food restaurants only have plain diet cola which has caffeine and I will not drink it. I'll go back to Sonic just for the diet Sprite.

We were only 20 feet from the kitchen and the food was not hot as just off the grill and right out of the fryer.

Most of the other customers in the dining room were eating hamburgers and most had some form of ice cream. They have a wider variety of beverages and ice cream than anybody.

I think Sonic is the cool go to place to go for beverages and ice cream.

They also serve nice breakfasts, but service I think is like lunch and you need time to order and wait for the person to deliver it to you. Dunkin Donuts and 7-Eleven is faster for breakfast or even for a quick coffee break.

I did my fair share of kp in the Army and the kitchen was the dirtiest I have ever seen. The can was overflowed by at least a foot and there was garbage all over the floor. The kitchen countertops were messy. Even though they were very busy, someone should have emptied the cans and swept the floor at least 30 minutes or an hour previously. If I was an owner, I would be afraid of slip and falls.

Overall I would give Sonic a 4 out of 10 and Mcdonalds deserves their 3 out of 10 with 10 being best.