Things that were more expensive “in the old days” (1980s, countries)
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Some people may look at old ads and think “Wow! Things were a lot cheaper back then!” But I have evidence that not everything was cheaper. We have a receipt from late 1973 showing Dad paid $689 for a Zenith console color television. What else was more expensive than it is now?
Remember how expensive those pocket calculators were when they first came out in the early 70s ?
By the 1980s they were giving them away when you bought batteries.
I got a whole drawer full of them.
Anything electronic was more expensive, the first digital watch, Pulsar, cost 500 bucks in 1974, microwave ovens used to be very expensive. Typewriters and copy machines, computers were way more expensive, most appliances were more expensive when adjusted for inflation. Many food items were more expensive in the old days, eggs, beef, pork. Before the days of hybrid seed corn, the costs of feeding animals was more expensive, and much of the meat packing industry was union shop in the mid 20th century, no illegals, so the costs of processing meat was higher than it is today. Most clothing was more expensive for the same reasons, organized labor made by American workers cost more to produce than using child labor in foreign countries. The quality was usually better in the old days, for clothing, but not necessarily for cars or electronics as the manufacturing process has improved for those items over the decades, making them better but not always cheaper. Old cars did not have emission controls, crash protection, and wore out at 100K miles or less. Go back before the 60's and most cars did not have air conditioning or automatic transmission, they were very simple to build so it's almost not fair to make a direct comparison with old cars and new cars.
.. I have evidence that not everything was cheaper. We have a receipt from late 1973 showing Dad paid $689 for a Zenith console color television.
Yeah, but that wasn't just a TV. That was a TV inside a large wooden console along the lines of a piece of furniture. That would be now like buying a TV and a wooden desk or something. You have to factor in the entire package.
Last edited by Thoreau424; 08-31-2019 at 09:56 PM..
I recently found the receipt for the Quantex computer we bought in 1995. It was just a little under $2,000 for a 15" monitor, 14.4k baud mode, and 386 Intel-powered computer. I think it had 16 MB of RAM which I later expanded to 32.
Microwave ovens. Computers. Video recording devices.
Oh yes, I remember my oldest Sister getting her first microwave from JCPenney when they went "on sale" for 499.00!!
Believe that was either 1979 or 1980. Thing was huge!
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