Price index?

[Valerius]

Maybe a silly question, but I'm curious about the prices of shaving gear in the bygone days and how long time did you have to work to buy a DE etc. I've seen an old ad from Gillette guess it was from 1959 or close to that (Fatboy at the price of 1.95), but what was an average blue collar salary lets say in automotive industry at that time. The same for white collar. What would the price for a Fatboy be today when recalculating with price index.
Any ideas of the prices of blades at that time. Also interesting would be if anyone has info regarding prices/salaries from 1920ies and the 1930ies.

In the end how do these values to compare with todays cartridge sytems prices also in relation to wages.

All info regarding this topic is very welcome!

 

[PugslyCat]

My father was an automobile mechanic making a net $99.00 a week in the late 50's. That was in the rural midwest. Assuming that was a 40 hour week, I figure he would have had to work 47 minutes to pay for that razor. He bought a Remington electric instead.

 

[DonN]

well Social Security benefits are determined in part by using a wage index ( www.socialsecurity.gov) & the Bureau of Labor Statistics I'm sure has a lot of information also - blue collar , white collar and much more - start Googling and I'm sure you'll find good information - you'll eventually be able to relate that $1.95 and other prices from long ago to the average daily wage at the time - good luck .

 

[dcobranchi]

Here's the calculator you need: http://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm

$1.95 in 1959 is equivalent to about $15 today.

 

[Go West Young Man]

Different calculators give different answers depending on what factors they consider, but in general it seems like razors and blades cost about as much today as they ever did.

 

[sir-nix-alot]

I was talking to my grandma about inflation and she put it quite well. "Everything was cheap, but you couldn't afford anything."

 

[Valerius]

Thank you for your input, I'm digging further into this topic.

 

[KipNoxzema]

Here's the calculator you need: http://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm

$1.95 in 1959 is equivalent to about $15 today.

See, Valerius; for $15 you can get a nice vintage Gillette Super Speed Flare on Ebay.

 

[mftoms59]

Here's the calculator you need: http://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm

$1.95 in 1959 is equivalent to about $15 today.

Thanks I bookmarked this one. Here's another I usually use, Measuring Worth.com; http://www.measuringworth.com/uscompare/relativevalue.php