Chicago Journal

By the numbers

Whole lotta shakin’

Dan Dry

Cost of a C-Shop milkshake on Wednesdays: $1

Other days milkshakes are offered: 0

Year the tradition began: pre-1988; exact date lost in the milky mists

Size of a Shake Day shake: 12–14 oz.

Number of flavor options: 6–8

Shakes sold, on average, each week during winter quarter 2004: 370

Spring quarter 2004: 597

Shakes sold in 45 minutes to first-years during O-Week 2003: 650

Number of three-gallon ice-cream tubs used each Wednesday: 32–36

Gallons of milk: 40

Years the University negotiated with Einstein Brothers Bagels to ensure Shake Day would continue: 2

Rate, as economist Allen Sanderson points out, at which students who wait 20 minutes in line for a $1 shake value their time: $3/hour