The ice cream man that drives around town

I have noticed that with the summer months comes what I thought was something that went out of style years ago, and that is the ice cream truck. Yet, every day, at roughly the same time, I hear the piercing sound of music, which is the jingle jangle of the ice cream man.

I can remember buying ice cream from an ice cream truck when I was younger as well as lemonade from a lemonade stand. I also remember (and I'm not entirely sure how true this is because I have not chased after said ice cream truck) that the ice cream was sort of expensive. For something like an ice cream sandwich, which I could get at school for say 30 cents, the ice cream man charged something like $5. I can't imagine the prices have changed too much, but my thought about this subject is this: With gas approaching a level where people are starting to change driving habits, how much longer can this throwback to a simpler time continue to exist?

Maybe the ice cream man does well on these hot days to justify driving around for what seems like hours on end. I just wonder whether he is actually breaking even or driving himself to bankruptcy.