This feels a bit disingenuous. For one, a penny could always buy you a wish.
Also, individual candy can still be had for a dime.
If the point they are trying to make is related to inflation, I would suggest the Federal Minimum wage as an additional column to really make a statement.
@Star2236
I want someone to show me something they bought at a thrift store for 10 cents. All the ones by me, the lowest they’ll mark anything down to is $1 so they can sell it half off for fifty cents.
@Star2236 Two of my local thrift stores might come close. One does 90% off on clothing after a number of weeks (never paid attention for how many colors they use, though) and another goes to 75% off after the third week and items are from 49 cents.
@Kyeh@Star2236 Recently? An unused roll of brick patterned contact paper for 30 cents which I might try and use for a laptop skin. Also a couple USB and HDMI cables for 50 cents.
Also recently bought this for $1. Unwashed, unworn, and I guess unloved since it was donated in the first place. https://shirt.woot.com/offers/embrace
@blaineg
Man why don’t they come to my town, I’d ride it. I love that going around breathalyzing people, we’d have a blast with that. To bad the info is in another language
@Cerridwyn I could get penny candy in the early 90s, and that was in the equivalent of a convenience store in a small town (100 residents). That is, I would expect the price to be higher than national average. Either he was doing the kids a favor, or that was a reasonable price.
(I expect the size/amount and quality of the penny candy diminished from earlier decades, but the point is that something was still available, which the chart is intentionally leaving off.)
And of course there was Ford gum for 1¢ from those vending machines. I don’t remember when I last saw those; probably some time in the later 90s.
We lived in Reno for a while when I was a kid. There’s slot machines in grocery and convenience stores, and my father once put his change into one and won about $20.00 in dimes. I was SO impressed - it looked like such a fortune!
For those of you who don’t follow storytelling, let me tell you about teller/song writer, Michael Reno Harrell. He wrote a song sometime ago, called “The Nickel.”
I have heard him sing it many times now, when I go to a storytelling. If he is on the bill, he will usually sing it by popular demand.
It gives new meaning to “just a nickel.”
And if you like it, try listening to some of his stories on YouTube – like this one called, “That Old Piano.”
This doesn’t go back far enough to include the Half-Penny, but it’s my understanding that when it was discontinued it was worth about half a dollar in today’s money.
I guess people from the mid-1800s had no time for small change.
The illustration for a 1920s “girls bike” is interesting. I thought “Girls bike” was always a euphemism for “step-through frame”, but that bike clearly has a traditional diamond frame.
@apLundell@Kyeh The bike shown is a roadie/racer, and not a girl’s bike. The drop bars were already established as the go-to design for roadies/racers at that point. Later on, here in the US, anything with narrow tires, multiple gears, and normal handlebars was called an “English racer”. I don’t know for sure when that term fell out of favor, but it was pretty much gone before the '70s bike boom.
Maybe a plastic cup to hold some free Bud Light, if they’re still around in 2025.
KuoH
@kuoh Plastic cups will be around in 2025.
@yakkoTDI They’re trying to get rid of plastic straws, so you never know.
KuoH
This feels a bit disingenuous. For one, a penny could always buy you a wish.
Also, individual candy can still be had for a dime.
If the point they are trying to make is related to inflation, I would suggest the Federal Minimum wage as an additional column to really make a statement.
@onae I think this is less about things becoming expensive, and more about what each physical coin can buy at a given time in history.
If I didn’t bring a reusable bag and cared about using a bag at all, I could buy a paper bag from the store for a nickel where I live.
@heartny Wow, it costs a dime here.
5 pennies.
@Star2236 That make so much cents.
@Star2236 @yakkoTDI Came here to say that
And you can still use a penny to ride the pony at Meijer’s where I live.
@Star2236
I want someone to show me something they bought at a thrift store for 10 cents. All the ones by me, the lowest they’ll mark anything down to is $1 so they can sell it half off for fifty cents.
@Star2236 That’s cool that they still have the ponies!
@Star2236 Two of my local thrift stores might come close. One does 90% off on clothing after a number of weeks (never paid attention for how many colors they use, though) and another goes to 75% off after the third week and items are from 49 cents.
@narfcake @Star2236
Wow - what’s the cheapest thing you’ve ever bought there?
@Kyeh @Star2236 Recently? An unused roll of brick patterned contact paper for 30 cents which I might try and use for a laptop skin. Also a couple USB and HDMI cables for 50 cents.
Also recently bought this for $1. Unwashed, unworn, and I guess unloved since it was donated in the first place.
https://shirt.woot.com/offers/embrace
@Star2236 Hard to top the Kiddy Ride Police Patrol.
https://www.actic.nl/kiddy-ride-police-patrol
@Kyeh
I saw it a couple weeks ago and was debating riding it. Instead I just left pennies for kids.
@blaineg
Man why don’t they come to my town, I’d ride it. I love that going around breathalyzing people, we’d have a blast with that. To bad the info is in another language
@Star2236 That was nice of you!
A dirty look.
In the 60s and even into the early seventies, you could still get penny candy. Or gumballs from a gumball machine
@Cerridwyn I could get penny candy in the early 90s, and that was in the equivalent of a convenience store in a small town (100 residents). That is, I would expect the price to be higher than national average. Either he was doing the kids a favor, or that was a reasonable price.
(I expect the size/amount and quality of the penny candy diminished from earlier decades, but the point is that something was still available, which the chart is intentionally leaving off.)
And of course there was Ford gum for 1¢ from those vending machines. I don’t remember when I last saw those; probably some time in the later 90s.
We could get a 5¢ root beer at the A&W down the street from high school. For another 5¢ they would add a little scoop of vanilla ice cream. (1965)
In 1969, the Student Union still had a nickel fountain Coke. They also had 25¢ Marlboro Reds.
Of course, I was working for $1.85 an hour, which was way better than minimum wage. It’s all kinda relative, ya know.
@2many2no In 1969, the minimum wage was $1.60 an hour. You were only about 16% over minimum wage.
This is really neat. It’s been 20 years since it left off, though…would be neat to see the same folks update it!
@PooltoyWolf Even the $1 level is tough. Dollar Tree is $1.25!
@narfcake You can still get some stuff for $1 at Dollar Tree, but you’re right, it IS tougher now.
@PooltoyWolf A quarter can get 7oz of pasta at my local Aldi:
@narfcake Not bad at all!
We lived in Reno for a while when I was a kid. There’s slot machines in grocery and convenience stores, and my father once put his change into one and won about $20.00 in dimes. I was SO impressed - it looked like such a fortune!
For those of you who don’t follow storytelling, let me tell you about teller/song writer, Michael Reno Harrell. He wrote a song sometime ago, called “The Nickel.”
I have heard him sing it many times now, when I go to a storytelling. If he is on the bill, he will usually sing it by popular demand.
It gives new meaning to “just a nickel.”
And if you like it, try listening to some of his stories on YouTube – like this one called, “That Old Piano.”
@Jackinga I like his hair!
This doesn’t go back far enough to include the Half-Penny, but it’s my understanding that when it was discontinued it was worth about half a dollar in today’s money.
I guess people from the mid-1800s had no time for small change.
@apLundell It also doesn’t show the half dime.
The illustration for a 1920s “girls bike” is interesting. I thought “Girls bike” was always a euphemism for “step-through frame”, but that bike clearly has a traditional diamond frame.
@apLundell I’m not sure the little pictures are very accurate.
@apLundell @Kyeh The bike shown is a roadie/racer, and not a girl’s bike. The drop bars were already established as the go-to design for roadies/racers at that point. Later on, here in the US, anything with narrow tires, multiple gears, and normal handlebars was called an “English racer”. I don’t know for sure when that term fell out of favor, but it was pretty much gone before the '70s bike boom.