Christmas Shopping -- then and now
A look at two common items from 1958 and 2009
From Mark Perry at Carpe Diem
First,
a stereo:
Christmas Shopping, Stereo System: 1958 v. 2009
In 1958, the �best stereo sound equipment" Sears had to offer was advertised for sale in its Christmas catalog for $84.95 (pictured on left above), boasting that �You�ll be amazed at the �living sound� you�ll hear on this newest development in portable phonographs. Four tubes per rectifier. Hear every note, every shading of tone.�
I doubt anybody today would be too amazed at the sound quality of that 1958 state-of-the-art stereo equipment, and nobody would trade his or her iPod for that system, especially considering that the "time cost" of today�s iPod (12.51 hours of work at today�s average hourly manufacturing wage of $18.59 to earn enough income [ignoring taxes] to purchase a $229.99 iPod at Wal-Mart ) is almost 71 percent cheaper than Sears� best stereo equipment in 1958 for (42.9 hours of work at the average wage of $1.98 per hour to earn enough income to purchase the $84.95 stereo in 1958).
Second,
a television set:
Christmas Shopping for a TV: 1958 vs. 2009
In 1958, American holiday shoppers paid $269.95 for Sears� �best 24-inch console TV� (Update: black and white) in its 1958 Christmas catalog (see photo above on left), or it would have taken 136.34 hours of work at the average manufacturing hourly wage then of $1.98 to earn enough income (ignoring taxes) to purchase the TV.
Today you can purchase a Sansui 26-inch widescreen LCD high-definition TV (see picture on right) on the Sears website for about $350 (or chose from the several hundred other TVs available), which would be a �time cost� today of only 19.03 hours of work at today's average hourly wage of $18.39, and this represents an 86 percent reduction in the cost compared to the 1958 TV.
Alternatively, it would be slightly less costly for a holiday shopper to purchase seven 24-inch TV sets today (133.21 hours of work at the average hourly wage) than it would have been for a 1958 holiday shopper to purchase just a single 24-inch TV (136.34 hours of work at the average hourly wage).
Yes, we are going through some temporary rough times but still, we live in an age of plenty. Interesting to see the numbers laid out like that...
Posted by DaveH at December 15, 2009 8:22 PM