Let's do lunch... I'm buying.

[JohnnyRingo]

First we have to borrow a time machine if anyone has one.

As a teen I worked across the street at a bowling alley a few years after this advert was published in 1963. While the chicken dinner soared to well over a dollar by then, a lunch still cost me about an hour's wage.



A true story about inflation: A couple years ago I stopped into a local Dairy Mart after a night out. As the young girl at the register- who was fully festooned in facial piercings and tattoos- was ringing up my purchases, I asked for a pack of EZ-Wider cigarette papers and inquired as to the price. She replied that they were $5.

Unable to conceal my surprise, I balked at the cost of such a lowly item. Without making eye contact or missing a beat, the girl informed me that; "Woodstock's over grandpa, stuff costs more now". Though she didn't remain employed there long, I was humored that night by her quick wit and gladly paid for a five dollar story and learned not to complain about prices.

[Matariki]

1. My parents first house cost $13k in 1960.

My house, which is actually very comparable in size, style and year built, cost me $315k.

That is 25 times the price for pretty much the same house. I can tell you for a fact that I'm not making 25 times what my dad did in 1960.

[MedicalAdmin]

10. FYI - your house isn't worth 25 times your dads...

And neither is his. Money was taken out coming and going by the banks and the banksters don't see anything wrong with it.

I keep hoping that Atlas would just fucking shrug and get the fuck out already... or we're going to have to kill the motherfucker.

[Matariki]

25. I was referring to the cost, not the 'worth'.

the worth is a fluctuating hypothetical...

[MedicalAdmin]

29. Agreed. Value = what someone else will give you for anything.

Value is completely subjective. Thus my incomprehension regarding "collectables."

[Motown_Johnny]

2. Lunch still costs about an hour's minimum wage

depending on exactly what you buy and how you want to calculate taxes being withheld.


Plenty of fast food places are advertising $5.00 packages including a beverage. I know I tend to average about six bucks or maybe $6.50 for a lunch. For Example Wendy's has a "pick two" where I can get a half salad and a baked potato for five bucks, then pay another buck and a quarter or so for a soft drink.


Maybe some things have not changed all that much.




BTW There is an old Red Barn building about 3 miles from where I live. Unmistakable, even though it is now a shish-kabob place.

[Matariki]

5. Minimum wage in 1963 was $1.25

So at 15¢ you could buy your whole family lunch for an hour's minimum wage.

[Motown_Johnny]

8. the OP says that in 1963 a lunch cost him about an hour's wage

and that the sign in question was from an earlier time because the chicken dinner had soared in price, to above a dollar.

I was born in 1963 so I need to take his word for it.


Maybe he was in the habit of buying really really good lunches. Or maybe he was being paid less than minimum wage. Maybe he is talking about his take home pay. I don't know, just making a very general observation based on limited information.

[JohnnyRingo]

26. Actually I worked across the street from The Red Barn in 1966

It was a few years after that clipping was printed. By then the Chicken Dinner was about $1.50, I think. I earned $1.75 at the bowling alley, and that was pretty good money for a teen at the time.

Chick dinners at a comparable KFC are probably about $8 now.

[SpiralHawk]

3. You Bowling Alley Ringos are all the same

...they say.

[SoCalDem]

4. 1967.. hamburger, fries & coke = 50cents

they were all small sized, and not an every day treat, but a high schooler could go on a date to the movies & out for a burger for about $5..

[JohnnyRingo]

7. I like that pic.

Here's one from the other side of the window:

[SoCalDem]

9. Thanks ..that pic you posted is hilarious

what a cheeky little guy..:rofl:

[panader0]

6. You could get a brand new VW bug for 1495.00

and gas was a quarter........sigh

[WatsonT]

11. Foods been getting cheaper actually

as a percentage of your income the amount we spend on food today is less than half of what our ancestors spent.

[brooklynite]

12. Let's just see here...

fried meat...
fried meat with fatty cheese...
fried breaded onions...
fried breaded fish...
fried sausage...
fried potatoes...
fatty sugary drinks...

and, fried chicken WITH fried potatoes...

worth every penny.

[JohnnyRingo]

15. I guess you're out then?

Maybe next time.
LOL

[Erose999]

17. Well, at least some things never change, LOL.

[hlthe2b]

13. Having avoided candy for some time, imagine my surprise when...

I looked at the display of (small sized) M&Ms and other (regular, normal-sized) candy bars at the special price of $.99. A buck for a bag of M&Ms that even in a vending machine was no more than $.50 the last time I looked.

Then I started noticing the ridiculous prices for soft drinks, (which I essentially gave up 4 years ago). For the longest time, bottled water made soft drinks cheap in comparison. Now, a 20 ounce dispensed soft drink on ice (probably a "medium" size at most places) is going for nearly $1.50 at a minimum and nearly $2 elswhere? I'm not referring to movie theaters where you know the prices will be exorbitant.... You have got to be kidding me.

[Zephie]

14. Food prices are only going to go up

I started a container garden to deal with it myself. I'd keep chickens but I don't think the people on the other side of my duplex would appreciate it very much.

I hear horrible things about food prices every day from my husband. His job is really sweating the heavy increase lately and is facing downsizing it's chefs to deal with the increased cost of food production vs. the damage that the oil spill caused to the gulf coasts tourism industry, not to mention the horrible winter that damaged many crops nation wide. This year is going to be a tough one in the wallet.

[Rick Myers]

16. That ad is from the Youngstown Vindicator!!!

Right? Ah, the good old days!!!

[JohnnyRingo]

27. Hi Rick

Haven't seen you around these DU parts for a while. Good to hear from ya.
Yep, it's from the Vindy. I lived near the one that opened around '65 in Champion and worked at Laurel Lanes.

Actually, I risked life and especially limb working on pin setting machines. I'm not sure OSHA woul;d allow what we did 16 nowadays outside a farm. My friend broke his arm in two places when he reached through a moving scissor bar that was sweeping the pins away. I bought him lunch:

Whe the hungries hit, when the hungries hit....

?

[Hannah Bell]

18. In 1960, federal minimum wage = $1.00.

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0774473.html

cheeseburger, fries, pop = .45 = 45% of minimum wage

in 2008 minimum wage was 6.55, equivalent (45% of minimum wage) for the same lunch would be $2.90.

current fed minimum = 7.25, equivalent (45% of minimum wage) = $3.20.

however, the buying power of federal minimum wage continued to rise until the late 60s, after which it declined rather significantly, as you can see for yourself by looking at the value in constant dollars at the same link:

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0774473.html

buying power in 2007 (in 1996 dollars) was about the same as in 1955, & about 60% of buying power in 1968.

And this is not to mention several adjustments in the way cpi is calculated since then, which actually minimize the impact of inflation.

not to mention that things like university tuition, housing & medical have risen much more than the cost of food.

Value of minimum wage in 2009 in 1960 dollars = $1.01. Exactly the same, despite the fact that the US has, in the meantime, become a much richer country in terms of value of production.

http://www.westegg.com/inflation/infl.cgi

What that tells me is that much of the added value has been diverted into the pockets of the ruling class.

But we already knew that.

[Statistical]

20. Minimum wage should be fixed to inflation.

Most other things already are, standard deduction, tax brackets, IRA and 401K maximums, SS checks, etc.

Even better would be to tie minimum wage to average worker productivity (which has grown nearly twice as fast as inflation).

[Hannah Bell]

21. if it's indexed to inflation while the value of production rises above inflation, that means

the owners take an increasingly larger share of value.

[Statistical]

22. Which is why I said ...

en better would be to tie minimum wage to average worker productivity (which has grown nearly twice as fast as inflation).

Still EVEN if minimum wage was tied to JUST inflation those on minimum wage wouldn't have lost purchasing power over the last 4 decades.

[Bluenorthwest]

23. In Oregon, the minimum wage is tied to inflation...

it rises, but does not fall, with the price index, CPI or whatever they use. Automatic.

[Statistical]

24. Didn't know that but it shows there is already a model for federal level.

[JohnnyRingo]

28. Union jobs generally are

It's called COLA, or cost of living allowance.

When GM began the policy back in the mid '60s of pay raises based on inflation, it was actually a union concession. The union wanted a substantive pay raise over the three year contract, and the company balked at such an agreement. Some Nostradamus on the company's bargaining committee came up with an idea that members would only get a raise if the cost of living were to somehow increase. Imagine gas skyrocketing to $.75/gal. ... Hahahahahaha

They've been demanding a do-over on that one ever since.

[Statistical]

19. "a lunch cost me about an hour's wage"

Which still applies today.

The only way ahead of inflation is improved productivity.