Area Child Trades Full-Size Candy Bar For Used Sedan

WESTERVILLE, Ohio—An 8-year-old trick-or-treater traded a single full-size chocolate bar for a 2011 four-door sedan on Thursday evening, in what neighbors described as a fair deal for the sedan's former owner, as candy prices continued to climb ahead of Halloween.

The sedan, a silver model with 112,000 miles and one working rear speaker, was handed over in his own driveway by Dale Haskins, 54, a fictional retiree who said he had been "looking to get into chocolate" since spring. "I did the math," Haskins said, signing the title on the hood. "The car loses value every single day. The bar does not."

Candy and gum prices are up 7.7% from a year ago and more than 18% over two years, according to federal data cited by NPR. Analysts say the climb reflects cocoa costs from 2025 that are only now reaching the shelf, and that chocolate prices, once raised, tend to stay raised.

Haskins said, signing the title on the hood.

The child, identified by her parents only as Maddie, a fictional third-grader dressed as a tax attorney, said she had not planned to sell. "He asked if it was full-size," she said. "I said yes. He got very quiet and went inside to get his keys."

What One Full-Size Bar Fetched On Maple Court

A motor vehicle, any condition	31%
Lawn equipment, gas-powered	24%
Season tickets, someone else's	17%
An older sibling's entire haul	16%
Cash, which was laughed at	12%

Source: The Daily SKU CPG Desk; 214 fictional offers, one very calm third-grader

By 8 p.m. the street had developed what one fictional resident called "a functioning secondary market." A father on the corner offered a riding mower for two peanut butter cups and was turned down. A teenager dressed as a ghost was seen carrying a fun-size bar inside a small fireproof safe. An email from the homeowners association, sent at 8:14 p.m., reminded residents that candy may no longer be left in driveways overnight "due to theft and appraisal concerns."

Buckeye Gold & Loan, a fictional pawn shop two miles away, said it had begun accepting chocolate as collateral. "A man came in with a king-size bar and the whole staff just stood there," said its fictional manager, Terri Vance. "We wrote him a loan against it. Fourteen percent. Same rate as a boat."

Americans are expected to spend a record $13.5 billion on Halloween this year, according to the National Retail Federation, or about $115 per person. That is 55 cents more per person than last year, which buys, by this desk's estimate, the wrapper of a fun-size bar but not the bar.

Candy makers have answered with treats that lean on less chocolate, including white-chocolate Reese's White Ghosts. Lyle Pemberton, a fictional strategist at the fictional firm Dunmore Rhodes Capital, called the category "a smart hedge." "If you cannot afford chocolate, you can still afford a chocolate-shaped experience," he said. "We call it chocolate-adjacent. It had a very big quarter."

At this desk, Judge, the kitchen scale, weighed a full-size bar from the same bag at 1.86 ounces. Judge was then asked to weigh the sedan. Judge declined, on the grounds that it is not packaged. The Pretzel, which is not candy and was not consulted, remains at 14 ounces ahead of Sunday's weigh-in.

By Friday morning Maddie had listed the sedan for sale on a neighborhood board. Her asking price is two full-size bars, firm. She has already turned down one bar and a boat. "Chocolate is sticky," she said, and closed the garage door.

Celeste Abernathy covers packaged goods and weighs everything first. Judge, her kitchen scale, assisted. More from Celeste Abernathy ›

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