things that have (or haven't) increased in price a lot from when you were younger

[surfsatwerk]

That's the sad part. Say you wanted to buy some shitty album, by like Tupak or something, that was done say 20 years ago. Still $15.

At least DVDs devalue over time.

Dude get over it.

 

[Paul98]

Audio/video, computer equipment have gone down in price quite a bit for what you get.

 

[Thump553]

Calculators have been the same over decades, no clue why.

I remember when hand calculators came out. I was working in a lab and one of my coworkers proudly showed me the four function hand calculator he bought for $100 (this was when a new car from Detroit was probably $5000-7000). Within a year or two that calculator was one quarter the size and maybe a buck or two.

 

[Anubis]

Cigarettes 75¢ per pack to $6 per pack

lol if they were still 6$ a pack here people would be very happy, they are just under 10 in NY

 

[Svnla]

Increase a lot:

Gasoline - I still remember $20 for 13 gallons fill up (mid 90s).
Healthcare cost - I am always healthy so far but the amount of $ that I have to pay for health insurance is ridiculous.


Increase little or downward:

Eggs - $1 or so per dozen.
Computers - you used to have to spend about $1.5K for a decent computer/laptop. Now $500 is the norm.

 

[sonambulo]

Gas - It was 99 cents a gallon when I stopped driving...during the Clinton era. It's over 3 now.
Toys - When I was a kid it was super rare for an action figure to cost $5 and my mind was blown at the $20 price for a giant Krang. $5 now only gets you a poorly sculpted, inarticulated lump. Real figures are closer to $10.
Gum/Candy/Food - I very distinctly, clearly, remember my parents feeding a family of 5 for $100 or less per week because they whined about approaching that mark so often. It's hard to feed two people for $100 a week these days. I remember when milk used to cost a DOLLAR for a gallon.

I'm actually rather surprised at how much video games have come down in price since the PS1 era. I have a very clear memory of asking my parents and relatives for no birthday gifts and to use that money towards of Illusion of Gaia at Christmas instead. It cost close to $80 with tax IIRC. A lot of cash for a 10 year old. IIRC Earthbound cleared the $100 mark at release but it was OH so worth it.

Cigarettes 75¢ per pack to $6 per pack

These too. I can't remember that far back but they were a couple of bucks when I was a kid. They keep ratcheting up in price every few months it seems. Glad I don't smoke.

 

[Linflas]

Gas - It was 99 cents a gallon when I stopped driving...during the Clinton era. It's over 3 now.
Toys - When I was a kid it was super rare for an action figure to cost $5 and my mind was blown at the $20 price for a giant Krang. $5 now only gets you a poorly sculpted, inarticulated lump. Real figures are closer to $10.
Gum/Candy/Food - I very distinctly, clearly, remember my parents feeding a family of 5 for $100 or less per week because they whined about approaching that mark so often. It's hard to feed two people for $100 a week these days. I remember when milk used to cost a DOLLAR for a gallon.

I'm actually rather surprised at how much video games have come down in price since the PS1 era. I have a very clear memory of asking my parents and relatives for no birthday gifts and to use that money towards of Illusion of Gaia at Christmas instead. It cost close to $80 with tax IIRC. A lot of cash for a 10 year old. IIRC Earthbound cleared the $100 mark at release but it was OH so worth it.



These too. I can't remember that far back but they were a couple of bucks when I was a kid. They keep ratcheting up in price every few months it seems. Glad I don't smoke.

When I started smoking they were 35 cents a pack, 7-11 prices when I quit was around $1 a pack. Used to get them for $2 a carton on board ship in the Navy.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Cigarettes 75¢ per pack to $6 per pack

Even more than that. When I started smoking in the late 80s or so smokes were less than a dollar a pack. I think it was either 89 or 99 cents a pack here, MUCH less than that in states with lower taxes or ties to the tobacco industry. I quit in 1999, a carton was about $20 or so, maybe $2.50 a pack if you bought them that way. So they doubled in about 10 years. 10 years later it was more like $8 a pack in this area, so they quadrupled in the last 10 years. Other that volatile commodities like gold/silver/oil that can fluctuate wildly I can't think of anything that's quadrupled in price over such a short period of time.

 

[geecee]

College tuition (at least where I went to school).
Annually $22-23K w/room & board then
$50K+ now.

Probably couldn't afford it now. Then again, probably couldn't even get in now.

 

[highland145]

College tuition (at least where I went to school).
Annually $22-23K w/room & board then
$50K+ now.

Probably couldn't afford it now. Then again, probably couldn't even get in now.

'82-'86 Clemson $5K/yr for the whole ball of wax. $18K now.

 

[bobdole369]

I made my cousin spend $80 on F-19 Stealth Fighter. It came on 2x 1.2MB 5 1/4"s for IBM PC.
Now that same game actually costs to get rid of it.

 

[ElFenix]

only been around for 20 some odd years, so i won't exactly have those "when I was a kid" stories to tell.
excluding technology products....

major increase:
8 oz potato chips used to be $1. now they're $2. 100% increase.

minor increase:
video games were $50, now they're $60. only a 20% increase, not bad IMO.

super nintendo games used to be $70. $60 is a nominal decrease, and a real decrease of over 40%


edit: i see i am late to this convo

 

[Ichinisan]

In the 16-bit days, a 3rd-party title was $75-$80 MSRP. I recently found an old flier with Earthworm Jim advertised for $75. Cartridges were EXPENSIVE. I'd be really pissed if I took a chance on a game and it sucked. Of course, most retailers in the 16-bit days still allowed you to return video games.

I remember paying about $75-$80 for Killer Instinct Gold on N64. Fortunately, most first-party titles cost $10-$20 less than a 3rd-party title.

[edit]
Damn. I would have beaten ElFenix if I didn't spend so long typing this

 

[Murloc]

gas
prices of food supplies at school, but those are political prices, not dictated by the market.

 

[Macamus Prime]

Chewing gum has remained the same. The crappy kind.

The fancy stuff is something like $3 a pack - and it doesn't even last for more than 10 minutes.

 

[Sho'Nuff]

Question is not specific enough. Should we consider inflation or not? What about adjustments to income? If you take one or both of those factors into account, the "cost" of many items is probably about the same now as it was back in the 80's.

Consider minimum wage. In 1955, the federal minimum wage was 0.75c/hour. In 1980, it was ~$3/hour. Now, it is $7.25. Although many factors contribute to adjustments in minimum wage, an overarching goal in many adjustments was to bring the minimum wage into line with a "living wage" that would enable minimum wage workers to buy many essential goods in view of past inflation in the price of consumer goods.

If we (possibly unreasonably) assume that the average income of an american more than doubled between 1980 and 2011 (like minimum wage), the true "cost" of products to workers in 2011 may be the same as the cost of the same products in 1980, even though the price in 2011 is about double the price in 1980.

In other words, assume that you make $30k/year in 2011, but you would have made $15k/year doing the same job in 1980. Also assume that the price of hot dog in 2011 is $2, whereas the price in 1980 was only $1. In terms of "real" dollars, the "cost" of the 2011 hot dog to you would be the same as the "cost" of the same hot dog to you in 1980.

What I'm getting at is that price per se is not all that important. What is important is purchasing power. I.e., how far your dollars will go, taking into account inflation and adjusments to income.

That being said, certain products have not changed much in absolute price terms since I was a kid in the 70's and 80's. E.g., video games (most computer games are still $49.95), Pizza (can still get a pie for under $10 in many places, though the quality is not the same), and canned vegetables (some generic brands are still ~40-50c a can in my local store). On the other hand, some items have gone up exponentially in absolute price, e.g., bananas (in the 80's I remember bananas being sold for less than 10c a pound. Now they are usually ~75c a pound or more); gas (1980s ~65c a gallon, now around $4), tickets to sporting events (particulalry hockey - 1980's ice level seats to the caps were <$30/seat, now they are a couple hundred a seat). Etc.

Inflation sucks. Especially if income levels do not keep up.

 

[soulcougher73]

Tops baseballs cards in the early 80s were 25cents a pack. Now they are upwards of $5 everytime i see them at the store. Dont want to do that math but that is HUGE increase.

 

[waggy]

Gas: when i started driving it was $.75 a gallon stayed pretty low for years. I just filled up at $4.09 a gallon
pop: used to get a 20 oz pop for $.75 and a can for $.30 now a 20oz is $1.59 and a can is a buck
candy: used to get a candy bar for $.33 now its $1
milk: i remember getting a gallon of milk for $2 now its $3.21 or so

 

[her209]

Lapdances. Still just $20. 0% increase.

 

[PingSpike]

Milk has stayed about the same since my youth.

What? Do you live on a dairy farm?

 

[Rhoxed]

Im only in my 20's but there are quite a few I can think of. Mid 90's you could buy a can of soda (generic) out of a machine for $.25 now its $.75

Cigarettes went from $2.75 a pack to $4.75 a pack

Blank cd's went from $10 for 25 to $10 for 100

Peanut oil went from $25 for a 35lb vat to ~$37 a 35lb vat

Actually pretty much the only things i can think of that got cheaper have to deal with electronics, maybe that's why my house is full of them....

 

[AgentUnknown]

20oz pop from $1 to $1.59, 59% increase.

Gas obviously.

Pop? Are we living in the 1950's?

 

[BoomerD]

Hell...this thread is designed to make me feel old...

I started driving when gas was ~$.30/gallon...Yesterday, the cheapest I saw was $3.85
New cars sold for $3000...I bought my first brand-new pick-up in 1976. Dodge Power Wagon with a 440 and a ton of options. $7500.
New houses were <$30,000 in the 60's and 70's...
Concert prices...I paid $3.00 to see most of the bands of the 60's and early 70's. $5.00 was a fucking rip-off.
Milk...$1.00 per gallon was high in the early 70's...that was 7-11 prices. Your local grocery store was about $.75/gallon.
Ground beef...3 pounds/$1.00 was normal.
We paid 1.1 cents per Kw for electric in the mid 70's...(cheap hydro power from the Columbia River projects)
I remember the outrage when cigarettes hit $.50/pack!! OUTRAGEOUS!!
and in the base commissary, $1.80/carton went to $2.10...Highway robbery!

I could go on and on and on...but it's depressing.

 

[Spikesoldier]

I'm surprised nobody mentioned healthcare.

You don't have to work very long to notice the outrageous increases that have been going on.

 

[BoomerD]

I'm surprised nobody mentioned healthcare.

You don't have to work very long to notice the outrageous increases that have been going on.

I never even thought about that...I remember paying $30/month for full coverage health insurance with a very low deductible for my entire family...in the 70's and early 80's.
Nowadays, I'd be paying around $1500/month for coverage that's worse than I had back then. (once you hit 50, the price really jumps)