Thomas J. Lipton, a subsidiary of Unilever. Lipton also purchased Good Humor of Baltimore/Washington from the Brimer family. In a separate transaction, the other franchises agreed to stop using the Good Humor name. Of the distributors, only Philadelphia survived as a company branch. Lipton created a grocery division to sell Good Humor products in supermarkets. Mahoney left the company after the acquisition, and Lipton executives soon characterized Good Humor as a "problem". Much of the fleet purchased after the war was nearing the end of its useful life. As baby boomers matured, sales on many suburban routes declined. While almost from the beginning Good Humor faced competition from companies such as Jack and Jill Ice Cream, Bungalow Bar, etc., it was not until the advent of soft ice cream trucks operated by companies such as Mister Softee that competition impacted sales. Insurance costs increased because courts found ice cream vendors responsible for pedestrian accidents while crossing streets to and from the truck. Good Humor replaced some of its older conventional trucks with large vans designed to compete with Mister Softee. Many of these "inside sales cars" are still operating. The size of the fleet gradually declined, and by the early 1970s the number of trucks was 1,200. Good Humor also worked with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to equip vending trucks with school bus "stop" swing arms to reduce pedestrian accidents. Good Humor was unable to solve its labor problems. The company was unionized early in its history and was struck on several occasions. For example, in 1950 the Teamsters shut down Good Humor's New York operations for three weeks during the critical month of June. Beginning in the 1950s, the labor pool dried up and Good Humor operated over half of its fleet with seasonal employees, mostly college students. On average, new employees lasted two to three weeks because of the long hours. The entire industry, except Good Humor, stopped using commissioned employees and became distributors who leased trucks to the drivers and sold them their products wholesale. Good Humor adopted this system wherever possible but was prevented from converting most branches because of union contracts. Good Humor became unprofitable beginning in 1968. An increase in gasoline prices during the early 1970s worsened the situation. After absorbing losses for ten years, in 1978 Good Humor closed its street vending operations and became a distributor. The trucks were sold