New fridge and freezer prices June 22nd 1956

About the same price per cu ft fridge then and now.
How many many hours wages in 1956 and in 2014?
Note 60Hz only, no longer any new 25Hz fridges. The doors also had the hazard handles that were later banned.
The phone numbering was the old system as well.

That was a lot of money in 1956.

I suspect that such appliances command considerably fewer working hours now than then, but we are heading back in that direction.

Neat ad.

Dean

Inflation calculators are on the .net, Fridges seem to follow the basic inflation rate from 1956 dollars to todays dollars. edit: judging by the ad, those are clearance or special prices too.

$200 in 1956 = $1700 now
$300 in 1956 = $2600 now

Some items dont follow the above example though, so do and some are close.

New 1/2 ton truck in 1956 = $1500 dollars, that would be around $13,000 now, I wish you could get one for that, even as plane as they were.
Minimum wage in 1956 = $1.00, now $8.76 (inflation) todays fed min wage rate $7.25
Avg annual salary in 1956 = $5300, now $46,000 (inflation), todays avg annual salary is $44,000

Sorry I can't agree with your logic. No way can you compare
what you got, and the quality you didn't get in yesteryear for the
price you had to pay.

No way can you compare what you were paid in salary, vs what it
would/could purchase.

No way does today's big box store offerings and prices compare
with the mom and pop shops of yesteryear who occupied all the
vacant buildings in yesteryear's urban America. I was there then
and I am here now. Where were you?

Today's products and prices are a fantastic bargain for the price
the consumer is asked to pay. Even before all the "moving it
overseas" senario, absolutely no way can it compare.

To state examples would only bring me down to your level of
thinking.

Mark

I bought a brand new Fridgeaire chest freezer 3 years ago from Lowes. $ 290 it is about 7 cubic feet. I think what I paid is a great deal. At that price I almost want to buy another one.

Well, Texasmark1, we are happy that someone has a vantage point from an ivory tower! I was there also, and the quality, which according to you, one "didn't get", in an appliance such as a refrigerator, freezer, or washing machine, was quality that only lasted twenty or thirty years. How many appliances today will be around in that long? I understand that things are different in Texas, but my dollar seemed to go a lot further then than it does now. Don't bother to answer, I wouldn't want you to stoop that low.

So what's with the "60 cycle only"? Was there ever
anything else in USA?

Like to know where you find those fourty thousand dollar jobs. I have never made anywhere near that.

(quoted from post at 15:04:51 09/06/14) Well, Texasmark1, we are happy that someone has a vantage point from an ivory tower! I was there also, and the quality, which according to you, one "didn't get", in an appliance such as a refrigerator, freezer, or washing machine, was quality that only lasted twenty or thirty years. How many appliances today will be around in that long? I understand that things are different in Texas, but my dollar seemed to go a lot further then than it does now. Don't bother to answer, I wouldn't want you to stoop that low.

Click to expand...

Gotta disagree. One of my school/boy scouts friends dad used his GI bill at the end of WWII and became a mechanical engineer. He worked for an appliance manufacturer. I remember my dad and this guy talking. Now this would have been mid 60's. This guy was complaining that he'd designed a new transmission for a washer (that's when I learned that washers had transmissions). He was kinda mad because he turned in the plans/specs and it was sent into machining. He got called in and told "it's over designed and wont wear out fast enough". Was supposed to go into a base model. So there were different quality levels even back then. I think the big difference is that more men knew how to do basic repairs. So they knew that the better quality machines that would last longer were more expensive so they opted to buy those.


Rick

State of NY had all kinds of 25cycle from Niagara Falls for decades.

Secretarys at work make $40.30 per hour. Just seen a pay stub today.

Don't knock the mentality. It's called "Design to Cost". You get
a spec for a piece of equipment. The spec exists for a certain
reason be it longevity, safety, cost, performance, environment or
what have you. You design and build it to that spec. If it passes
inspections and testing, and is designed to the spec, it's a quality
product.

Obviously a Ford Falcon had one and a Cadillac Coupe DeVille
had another. One cost what it did and so did the other. Just
because it was a Falcon did not mean it wasn't a quality product.
The designer that thought "gee wouldn't this be neat" went over
to the Caddy design team.

As a matter of fact, one of my buddies bought a 1960 2 door
coupe, when the Falcon first came out. Stick shift no nothing.
Tight as a drum, handled like a dream, got 30 mpg without
trying but he had to mechanically raise and lower the windows,
manual wipers, manual door locks, adjust the brakes himself and
no PS, PB, AC, tilt wheel, power locks, CD radio and on and on
that are standard in the specs of today. The Caddy came with
that as standard equipment.

Your buddy's dad was facing just that. However, I agree that
coming from the machine shop was a funny source. Usually it's
from management when they do the final design review before it
is released for developmental model production, and later the
final product inspection.

I was there but it wasn't cars or washing machines.

Mark