How Much Did Penny Candy Cost: Historic Value of Money
 

Sending a letter via Ponny Express in 1861 cost $1. (http://www.nps.gov/poex/hrs/hrs3e.htm)Cheap right?


In 1914 car manufacturers were paid $2.34 for a nine hour day until Ford raised it to $5 and hour A bargain, right?

So, how much did your grandparents penny candy really cost?

In my economics class, my proffessor showed us a site that converts money in the past into its value today. http://eh.net/hmit/compare/

I want to look at some of the historic photos at work and see how much a shake really cost.

Try it next time old people complain about how high prices are. I'll post back when I talk to my grandma and see how much she made an hour and see how much it is in todays dollars. What interesting figures can you come up with? (There is one for British pounds too) How much did a ticket on the Titanic cost?

BTW - Mailingthat letter in 1861 cost $21.31 using the Consumer Price Index

In 1914, the auto workers wage of works out to $21.81 an hour for a nine hour day.

A first-year (1953) Corvette? ~$3100.

In 2004 dollars:
$21,886.39 using the Consumer Price Index
$18,537.10 using the GDP deflator
$32,329.79 using the unskilled wage
$47,712.34 using the GDP per capita
$95,878.57 using the relative share of GDP

More evidence demonstrating that classic cars are a bargain and wonderful investment. :)

I remember as a kid having to pick up dog crap in my grandmother's backyard - which was landscaped using rocks...ROCKS! - for $1, one stinky, smelly, ugly, corrupted, joyous, spendable dollar.

I could go to the local corner market and with that dollar buy a snickers bar, a can of coke, and two packs of baseball cards. You can't buy THAT for a dollar anymore.

/grizzled, cynical old man voice.

Frank, the ice cream man would stop in front of our house almost every summer night and ice cream bars were 15 cents.
Mahady's had those big glass jars of 'penny candy', but some of it was a nickel-still it was great going there and getting gobs of wax candy, jawbreakers, etc for a quarter.
Bet only the oldsters would remember this-even I was really little-Wonder bread used to sell these itty bitty solid loaves for a quarter-not much bigger than a Twinkie. Mom would get that, hand it to us as she continued shopping and we'd munch on it as we shopped.
My parents bought their first house in 1956-the monthly mortgage was $76 a month-dad made $72 a week and fretted that he wouldn't be able to meet the mortgage. :lol: They sold that house about 6 years ago for $139,000.

This issue affects the videogame industry a whole lot and many consumers refuse to believe it. The XBox 360 recently debuted for $400. People thinking that this is an absurd price for a gaming console and that prices have increased soo much since videogames first came out. If you use an inflation calcuator, the NES that came out in 1983 was actually right at the same price as the XBox 360. :) Videogame prices have went down, rather than up in the past decade.

There is an old photo at work of a pharmacy/ soda counter in Jacksonville from 1935.
Lime Cooler 10¢ (In Today's Dollars: $1.38)
Milk 15¢ ($2.07)
Banana Split 15¢ ($2.07)
Giant Ice cream Soda 10¢ ($1.38)

Not that different.