It would have cost HOW much?

[gwyneth]

Cabinetman's thread in Tool Talk about how fellow woodworkers reacted 25 years ago to the first 3 h.p. router they encountered prompted a little research about adjusted dollars.

The Minneapolis branch of the Fed reserve has a terrific consumer price index adjuster. Just enter a year between 1913 and 2007, the dollar amount of the consumer goods purchased in that year, and it will tell you how much the dollar amount would be in any year between 1913 and 2007.

For instance, when the Delta Unisaw came out in the late 30s, it sold for about $800. Using 1938 as the base, that would be (sit down) $11,659.57 today!

http://www.minneapolisfed.org/research/data/us/calc/
Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis - Consumer Price Index Calculator

[cabinetman]

You got me thinkin'. Maybe that's what the large corporations are doing to show their net worth to stockholders. When I traded in my used Chevy Blazer last month, I tried to convince the dealer that even though it had 88K miles on it it was worth more than their new truck.

[germdoc]

Wow, that's really cool!

So the guitar that I saved up for and bought for $800 (Gibson ES-175) in 1980, only to sell 7 years later for $400, is not inflated at today's price of $2300. Of course I got a similar style of guitar on Ebay recently for $400, thereby saving $1900 in the process.

[vaking]

This type of math needs to be taken with great caution especially when talking about technology. The first IBM PC came out over 25 years ago. It had 8 MHz processor, no hard disk, 180KBytes 5-1/4" floppy. Today I would not touch that PC if somebody gave it to me for free - I am throwing into dumpster 100 times better computers regularly. Back then it was $5000.
The trick with technology is that while money in general become more expensive due to inflation, technology becomes cheaper because of mass production and reduced cost of manufacturing.

[radhak]

Intrinsically, it's not surprising : production costs of practically everything has fallen with the years, and particularly so for electrical and electronic goods.

Take the 1938's $800 unisaw . I remember reading that the average annual salary of a admin-assist / secretary in the mid 50's was $3000. Extrapolating it further back, it could have been (say) $1500 in the 30's. So the unisaw was worth half a year's wages for a secretary then. Today, the median wage for a secretary is around $38000. So even by direct 'conversion', the $11,659 is 'cheaper' today than it was then (a third of the annual salary).

Of course, the actual cost of a unisaw today (say, $1500) is by far cheaper, correctly reflecting the trend I mentioned before.

In fact, I am hard-pressed to think of any product that 'costs' more today than it would have 50 years ago. (Conversely, building a bridge today may cost more...).

Just as food for thought - our ancestors living 400 hundred years ago must have had a rough life : everything must have cost an arm and a leg, with no mass production of any sort (and of course, no TiVO )...

[TheRic]

.... In fact, I am hard-pressed to think of any product that 'costs' more today than it would have 50 years ago.
.....

A used 1949 Mustang with less than 1000 miles on it, runs great, mint condition, priced to sell.

On the more serious side Monthly Internet access. Bet you couldn't get it for under $100 a month back then (over $850 in todays dollars).

[vaking]

Radhak,
Depends on what you define as "product". Mass production became cheaper thanks to automation and cheap foreign labor, things you buy in store are mostly cheaper. On-site labor became insanely expensive. Hire a contractor to do electrical work and he will charge you $30 to replace an outlet - a 10 minute job for a pro at most. It has become cheaper to buy new mass-produced item rather than repair the old one - we live in disposable world. At the same time college education has gone up in price. Teenage babysitter will not work for minimum wage. Taxes are going up very steady. prescription cost, medical insurance - all intangible costs are higher now than they were 50 years back.

[radhak]

Radhak,
Depends on what you define as "product". Mass production became cheaper thanks to automation and cheap foreign labor, things you buy in store are mostly cheaper. On-site labor became insanely expensive. Hire a contractor to do electrical work and he will charge you $30 to replace an outlet - a 10 minute job for a pro at most. It has become cheaper to buy new mass-produced item rather than repair the old one - we live in disposable world. At the same time college education has gone up in price. Teenage babysitter will not work for minimum wage. Taxes are going up very steady. prescription cost, medical insurance - all intangible costs are higher now than they were 50 years back.

Hmmm...some of that has to do with mass production : that thing you threw in the trash is cheaper to make in a factory where the material cost is negligible and the labor cost is in pennies due to millions produced by machine.

But, that $30 for that pro is not that high, maybe at par or even less than what a similar technician was paid 80 years ago. And remember, the pro today has to learn (and maybe certify) a lot more stuff - environmental, safety, etc, and you are paying for it. So in essence, his services are cheaper today.
But overall, I agree - you might argue service might be costlier today than before; frankly I have not really looked into it enough to speak for or against that : eg, is the babysitter costlier because the minimum wage has not kept up with the times, or she has more opportunities (which'd mean the market is able to pay her more for her services...) or just that babysitting is a bigger liability today than before?

[gwyneth]

is the babysitter costlier because the minimum wage has not kept up with the times, or she has more opportunities (which'd mean the market is able to pay her more for her services...) or just that babysitting is a bigger liability today than before?

IMO, based on studying demographics and economic sociology, the babysitter example is very atypical of both markets in general and labor markets.

In the late 60s, babysitters got about half of minimum wage. There was a huge number of babysitters, with the tail end of the baby boom entering baby-sitter age, and a relatively low demand. That's because of the unique slope of population then (combination of more elder siblings who could babysit, with abrupt drop in number of younger siblings to be babysat); fewer babysitting occasions (fewer two-earner families meant a parent more likely to be home after school; fewer occasions out for parents in evening because store and shopping hours were different and people didn't eat out as often as now; more relaxed standards about age children could do without sitting and dangers of world.

[JR]

The first IBM PC came out over 25 years ago. It had 8 MHz processor, no hard disk, 180KBytes 5-1/4" floppy. ... Back then it was $5000.

It's an inflation guage. It does not accommodate Moore's Law.

JR

[softop41]

Ric,
Can"t be a '49 Mustang if it is a Ford Mustang!
Jerry

[cabinetman]

Ric,
Can"t be a '49 Mustang if it is a Ford Mustang!
Jerry

Maybe he meant the motorcycle/scooter, the little one with the fatbob tank.

[TheRic]

Ric,
Can"t be a '49 Mustang if it is a Ford Mustang!
Jerry

Maybe he meant the motorcycle/scooter, the little one with the fatbob tank.

Sorry about that, meant the car, didn't know about the scooter. No clue when Mustang first started, thought they were made back then, I guess I'm wrong on the time frame. Meant the line more as a joke, but I picked the wrong car.

As for the babysitter, no clue what they go for now, have not had the need for one in a long while. I can tell you this about kids now today in general, at least around here. They want to start at the top, then retire for life, with a huge retirement fund a year later. At least that is their attitude. Try to find one to mow your yard, don't even mention trimming. Or find one to shovel you driveway, sidewalk and steps are extra $$$$. I know of several adults that have a side business mowing peoples yards, shoveling driveways, etc. The kids don't need money, the parents are happy to throw money at them. Trying to find one to deliver papers, bag groceries, etc. The older retired people are now doing those jobs.

Side note if it maters: I live in a mostly rural area, village size is about 2,300 people.

[pakn69]

hello everyone!

[Tom Slick]

consider that a shovel could cost $5 back in 1913, that was expensive enough that a blacksmith would repair repair the wear it had. in 2007 a shovel cost $15, and we'd never consider paying the inflation adjusted price of $100. a $150 pair of work boots today would have cost $7.25 back then, you would have worn them until they were worn out then had them repaired, and they wouldn't have been as nice as what we mass produce today. Tools and boots must have been very expensive, much more so then they are today.