Grumpy old man discusses What Things Used To Cost:

[Jim Bow]

When we got married in 1970, we drove our 1953 VW Bug to the Twin Rocks Motel in Rockaway Beach, Oregon. Nowadays, its cabins are $158 in the off season. I used to tell friends that at our honeymoon it was $35 a night. Ha ha ha …

Well, my honey of 53 years found the receipt in an envelope in a box. The place was $7 a night, $35 was for the whole week!

[Jim Mahan]

Motel Six was originally called that because it was six bucks a night for a room.

[Rich Jones]

Congrats on a 52 year marriage!!

[Nicholas Carey]

Motel Six was originally called that because it was six bucks a night for a room.

And the Super-8 Motels were . . . $8 per night.

[bluedog225]

They were $6 for the afternoon as well….that’s only $2 per….never mind.

[hawkeye54]

In Long Beach, CA, in 1971, Dollar Rent a Car actually rented VW 'bugs' for ( you guessed it ) $1 per day - plus miles driven




Rick

[JayInOz]

I paid a bill- about a hundred dollars- at the post office the other day. One of the women working there made a comment about trying to keep the money in our pockets. I said Oh well, I was only going to spend it on wild women or drugs or lollies anyway. She replied "You're not going to get much of those for a hundred bucks- not good ones anyway" JayInOz

[Garret]

Years ago I went to DC with a woman who is a long time friend, as is her husband, to pick up their car & bring it back. We needed an overnight after a 9 hour drive down & 3 or so on our way back. We stopped at a Motel 6 & when the clerk said "May I help you?" I said "Do you rent rooms by the hour?" I got a wicked slap on the back of my head. We rented a room for the whole night (2 beds & no hanky-panky) & drove home the next day. The clerk laughed at the slap & her "In your dreams" remark.

[Dan McCosh]

A year's tuition at MSU in 1962 was $250. Took me two weeks working at the base pay in an auto plant to earn it.

[Bobcat]

When Dad went to the University of Washington in the 1930s tuition was $15 a quarter

When I went to Western Washington University in the 1980s tuition was $206 a quarter

When my daughter went to WWU in the teens tuition was about $1500 a quarter

And I have spent the night in Rockaway Beach a time or two, but it wasn't my honeymoon and the room was more than $7.

[TerryLL]

I was at the University of Washington in '66 when the tuition was $75 a quarter. The price went up to $125 in '68 and it created a major rebellion amongst the student body.

But back in 1960 gas was 22 cents a gallon at the Shell station where I pumped gas for 75 cents an hour. I can afford $4.50/gallon gas a lot easier now than I could afford $.22/gallon back then.

[Jim Mahan]

They were $6 for the afternoon as well….that’s only $2 per….never mind.

"I love you GI long time. Special for you."

[Jim Mahan]

My fourth wife's uncle, whose house we stayed at for a week one summer, cost him a thousand bucks, house and land, two blocks from the beach in La Jolla, just a bit north of San Diego, in nineteen-sixty-ish.

[JayInOz]

The house my grandfather- Dads side- raised his seven kids in cost two hundred pounds- a hundred for materials and the other hundred he paid one of his brothers to help him build it. My first house- three bedroom, built in 1901- cost me $12,250. Probably worth half a million now.

[The Q]

We got the rent review for the building in which my model railway meets... 40% increase... Sounds a lot but we haven't had a review in 10 years. Looking up the inflation rate over the 10 years 46.6%...

[john welsford]

A year's tuition at MSU in 1962 was $250. Took me two weeks working at the base pay in an auto plant to earn it.

A while ago I checked out an article comparing the cost of gas in relation to the average wage here in NZ. Its cheaper, that is, it takes less of an hours take home pay per gallon now than it did in the 50s and 60s.

Same with a lot of other things, and when you look at the cost of say, home appliances, electricity, entertainment whether electronic or live, most of it is much cheaper.
I think the real trouble is that we spend money on things that we'd never have bought in the past, some of which didnt even exist in those long ago days.

John Welsford

[rbgarr]

The first two boat kits my dad and I built together. $70 for both! No shipping. We went to the factory about forty minutes away to pick them up. Then after we built one and took it to Cape Cod strapped on the roof of our '58 Chevy wagon it flipped off onto the highway. It got dragged by the painter behind until we pulled over. A few scratches, subsequently painted and she was good to go!

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[Rich Jones]

My brother's FIL bought a piece of land on Lake George with 120' of waterfront back in 1960 for $10,000.
He only put a dock on the property, never a house. He sold the land a few years ago for $600,000.
My brother said he could easily have gotten a million dollars but was sweet talked into the lower price by the buyer.

[Breakaway]

My brother's FIL bought a piece of land on Lake George with 120' of waterfront back in 1960 for $10,000.
He only put a dock on the property, never a house. He sold the land a few years ago for $600,000.
My brother said he could easily have gotten a million dollars but was sweet talked into the lower price by the buyer.

Rich, dont show him this!

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Kevin

[Tom Hunter]

Food is up 20% John, and it is true that in the past various of my ancestors would not have bought it, and at times it did not even exist.

[john welsford]

Food is up 20% John, and it is true that in the past various of my ancestors would not have bought it, and at times it did not even exist.

Yes, but I suspect that if we were to purchase the kinds of foods, from the kinds of suppliers we used to have way back when, we'd be eating a lot cheaper than we do now.
I recall that we only had fruit and vegetables in season, in the last few days I've eaten dried peaches from Turkey, oranges from South Yemen, cookies from the Netherlands, and who knows where the rest of my diet came from. Remember that I live in the most remote country on the planet. There is much cost in that distance.

John Welsford

[MushCreek]

Cookies are out of season in NZ?!?

[Dan McCosh]

Rich, dont show him this!

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Kevin

In 1960, General Motors was paying a 15% cash dividend on its stock. Most companies also paid real returns to their shareholders, rather than relying on inflating prices to sell shares.

[Too Little Time]

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The problem with time is that it makes workers poorer relative to investors.

[Dan McCosh]

The problem with time is that it makes workers poorer relative to investors.

The problem with time is that you would be dead before you made the returns on the chart.

[soap94]

That is just ridiculous how pricing has change throughout the times. For me personally the main concern is house pricing, it getting nuts. People can't afford a fre@king house. Waiting for the market to crash, go to casino (ex https://www.ardijah.co.nz/) and came back with racks of cash This is probably the only way to afford a house nowadays.

[Keith Wilson]

[Garret]

That is just ridiculous how pricing has change throughout the times. For me personally the main concern is house pricing, it getting nuts. People can't afford a fre@king house. Waiting for the market to crash, go to casino and came back with racks of cash This is probably the only way to afford a house nowadays.

This. What 20 or 30 something can afford a house today? Damn few.

[Jimmy W]

In 1981, a IBM PC started at $1565 with no disc drives. Now Amazon will sell you a much more powerful Windows 10 computer for $109.99

[Too Little Time]

...

https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inf.../1993?amount=1
https://www.multpl.com/us-median-income/table/by-year

The dollar had an average inflation rate of 2.46% per year between 1993 and and 2023.

The S&P500 was up an inflation adjusted 7% per year over the same time period. median income was up about 2.9% per year.

(I like 30 year periods.) But from 1970 to now shows the same: median income has risen a bit faster than inflation and investments have done better.

[ron ll]

Jim, we are now in cabin #4 at Twin Rocks motel, thanks to your recommendation. (Kind of a spur of the moment whim. See the How to Save Money thread). Beautiful day here, cabin is very nice, very clean and well kept and provisioned. Plan to plunk around Tillamook today and head back tomorrow.

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[Breakaway]

In 1981, a IBM PC started at $1565 with no disc drives. Now Amazon will sell you a much more powerful Windows 10 computer for $109.99

Here’s a twist on this example.

This is not to dispute your post, Jimmy, just to look at the value proposition in a different way.

So, in 1981, that IBM PC for $1565 was state of the art.

On that basis, it might be compared to todays state of the art. Here are two random examples.





Price for state-of-the-art has hardly changed.

Kevin


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[Breakaway]

Jim, we are now in cabin #4 at Twin Rocks motel, thanks to your recommendation. (Kind of a spur of the moment whim. See the How to Save Money thread). Beautiful day here, cabin is very nice, very clean and well kept and provisioned. Plan to plunk around Tillamook today and head back tomorrow.

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I bet the vibra-bed costs more than a quarter nowadays. And, you can probably use your credit card!

😂


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[Jim Bow]

Jim, we are now in cabin #4 at Twin Rocks motel, thanks to your recommendation. (Kind of a spur of the moment whim. See the How to Save Money thread). Beautiful day here, cabin is very nice, very clean and well kept and provisioned. Plan to plunk around Tillamook today and head back tomorrow.

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In 1970 we were in the cabin right next to Minnehaha St. Two 23 year old kids! To the right of the path to the beach was the concrete foundation of a Navy barracks from WW2. It’s now buried beneath a berm.

Great memories.

[ron ll]

In 1970 we were in the cabin right next to Minnehaha St. Two 23 year old kids! To the right of the path to the beach was the concrete foundation of a Navy barracks from WW2. It’s now buried beneath a berm.

Great memories.

Hoping to get a Pronto Pup just up the street today. Sign says they were the first Pronto Pup. Were they here when you were?