Posted on 06/26/2024 10:24:35 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Despite what feels like the constantly rising costs of modern life, the prices of some essential commodities such as gas and eggs have actually remained relatively stable compared to dollar values and wages in the past. Other items, meanwhile, have actually become much cheaper over time, even when accounting for inflation. Innovations in technology, increased competition, and improvements in manufacturing and logistics are most often the reason for these surprising price drops. Here are seven everyday items that are much cheaper now than they were in decades past.
Those savings were passed onto consumers, and as fast-fashion brands proliferated, Americans had more options at lower prices than ever before. According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, on average, a woman’s dress cost $50 in 1960. Adjusted for inflation, that’s about $530 today — not unheard of, but far above prices at the most popular clothing retailers today.
The price of the tropical fruit has hovered between 50 and 60 cents per pound for the last 20 years — a significant drop from its early cost. Most bananas sold in American stores are imported from faraway places including Guatemala and Honduras and require cooling containers for shipping.
Despite these barriers, labor costs remain low, and banana importers sell only one variety, the Cavendish, meaning the fruit can be harvested in abundant volumes and ripen at the same time. That helps keep production and shipping efficient, and the cost to consumers low.
By comparison, a 65-inch, high-definition smart TV might set you back less than $500 today, and while that’s neither the high nor low end of the current television market, it’s a good indicator that TVs are much more affordable than they used to be. There are several reasons for the major price cuts over the years, including increased competition and advancements in manufacturing (especially the process of cutting several screens out of a larger sheet of “mother glass”).
But there’s another factor keeping TV prices low: Consumers’ viewing data is being collected and sold to advertisers. This “post-purchase monetization” often results in targeted ads on smart TVs, and while it may offer affordable TV prices and accurate targeted viewing recommendations, the feature can be disabled for a more anonymous viewing experience.
In 1941, an average flight from Los Angeles to Boston would have cost more than $5,000 in today’s money (and taken an excruciating 15 hours); now, a nonstop, one-way flight from Los Angeles to Boston commonly costs around $300 and takes about six hours. And an average domestic round-trip airfare is about $400 in the U.S.
In 1959, a Kenmore washer was advertised in Sears’ “Wish Book” Christmas catalog for $209.95. (The matching dryer was listed at $169.95.) Today, that amount inflates to more than $2,200 — a $1,600 difference from a basic $500 to $600 top-loading Kenmore machine today. That’s a happy trend, lest we have to wash our increased amount of clothing by hand.
Considering today’s popular toys, from Squishmallows to STEM gadgets to LEGO sets, prices average out at about $50. That is not too different from the $25 Cabbage Patch Kids of the 1980s (about $70 today), or the $8 Rock'em Sock'em Robots of the 1960s (about $80 today), but the current cost of similar toys is much less than those inflated costs. Today, you can get a modern Rock'em Sock'em set for under $30, or a standard Barbie doll for about $12 — much less than an average Barbie from the 1994 JC Penney catalog, which, at $15, would cost more than $30 today.
Once considered a precious metal more valuable than gold, aluminum became drastically cheaper in the late 19th century. Although it’s the most abundant metal in the Earth’s crust, it wasn’t always easy to extract from its ore. After the Hall-Héroult smelting process was developed in 1886 by two different scientists — Charles Martin Hall in Ohio and Paul-Louis-Toussaint Héroult in France — it became easier to isolate aluminum, which revolutionized its production.
In 1884, when the element was still rare and expensive, the United States used 6 pounds of it atop the Washington Monument. At the time, aluminum cost about $17 a pound — that would be more than $500 per pound today. Within a few short years, thanks to Hall and Héroult’s new process, the price of aluminum plummeted; today, the metal is worth about $1.15 a pound, and is most commonly used in everyday aluminum cans.
8-track players
Bail after shooting someone. Much cheaper now. And you get to keep your urban terror crime spree going. Awesome.
Hey Mr. Kennedy, put back your banana. Credit to Rush Limbaugh.
In 1984, I paid $4,000 for an Eagle CPM computer. It didn’t do much.
8. Hunter Biden’s billing rate.
I flew in 1961, and it was as you described. However, everybody smoked, and free cigarettes were passed out to all passengers, even children. An advantage of flying today is that tobacco smoke doesn’t fill the cabin.
In those days, 2k was worth 2k.
Just yesterday, I bought a eight GIGIBYTE RAM memory card for $8.
My dad years ago said the first computer they had at Texaco had a 16 kilobyte storage ability and took an entire FLOOR in an office to house. It took thousands of dollars in '60's dollars just to keep it cool.
I remember a while ago, a professor of mine who would compare the computer chip advancement with a story. He'd say "if the auto industry had the same kind of advancement and growth the computer chip industry has had, then we'd all be driving Rolls Royce's, they'd be getting 1000 miles a gallon, and they'd cost a nickel."
gigibyte-GIGABYTE
dollar bills?
I always found the non-smoking section tolerable. Smokers, of course, would much prefer the old system.
Another thing that was MUCH better was the airport experience. fewer food stands, and no screens or wifi, but far more human.
So how can TV’s be so much cheaper now even though they are exponentially larger and more powerful? Yet cell phones and tablets started to drop and now are exponentially more expensive. I’m guessing the latest Iphone or Samsung S model phone doesn’t really cost a whole lot to build. Same with basketball shoes.
Since we are looking at the bright side, My gas tank now holds almost twice as much as before, $40 vs $20.
I’ve gotten much stronger. I have very little problem carrying $100 worth of groceries on one trip.
Now I can have the expensive steaks every time, $10 per pound.
I bought so much ammo pre-Covid that it has gone way up in value.
EC
It’s called Moores law.
Bookmark.
And to really compare those early PC prices with today, we have to double the 1980s price due to inflation. And in those days, a 40 megabyte hard drive was large capacity storage.
Politicians. Drag a dollar through a trailer park...
The article is making faulty comparisons. It compares a product’s original price to its price today.
Most products start out expensive. The price drops later. So, of course, when bananas were an exotic fruit, they were costly. Once the market became saturated with bananas, the price dropped.
Of course, when air travel started, it was an expensive luxury. The price dropped later.
The same with computers and everything else. Even calculators were expensive when they first came out.
Right now, on fashion runways, models are modeling clothes that cost a fortune. Once those styles reach the retail stores, the prices drop. Eventually, those styles fall out of fashion, and they sell for clearance prices.
That’s just the product life cycle.
Also, the 1980’s Cabbage Patch Kids were a toy craze. They don’t compare with a LEGO set.
If toys and clothing are cheap today, they are made cheaply.
We’re living in a period of high inflation, and products are made more cheaply now.
HILARIOUS
“ Adjusted for inflation, that’s about $530 today “
So things are cheaper after “adjusting for inflation” How does a human brain rot so completely? So if inflation was 1000 percent everything would be cheaper after adjusting for inflation. Great News!
“LA to Boston then would be more like a 1st class flight niw, only you would be surrounded by well dressed, proper people.”
In those days only the most beautiful and fit women could be stewardesses.
Today—omg.
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