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More good news: pricing. While many lament the passing of the good old days when "Blue Boxes were a nickel and Bowsers four bits", actual analysis of pricing does not bear this out. A lot of this talk has been focused on beginners, who are being "priced out of the hobby", many claim. I bought a Sept, 1970 model railroader at the LHS recently for 50 cents. I compared a bunch of prices with their equivalents in the Sep 2005 MR. When adjusted for inflation, the prices are generally lower today. The US government says that $1 in 1970 is equivalent to $5.12 today. [url]http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl[/url] Given that calculation, here's what some things cost in 1970, what they should cost today, what they actually cost today, and the difference. In all cases, I am comparing advertised prices in the September MR magazines of 1970 and 2005. Becasue some of the gloom-and-doomers reject the CPI as a government plot, I also compared the number of hours a youngster earning the federal minimum wage would work to earn each item. (Of course, not even fast food workers get only minimum wage any longer, but just to be fair). Minimum wage in 1970 was $1.45 per hour, today it's $5.15 per hour. [IMG]http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i236/alco_fan/price_table.jpg[/IMG] A few of these points deserve clarification. Many of today's products are significantly improved over their 70s counterparts. It's interesting to note that an MR subscription has gone up more than would be predicted by inflation, but the cost per page for an individual copy has gone up less steeply ... and that's for four-color vs. B&W plus spot color. Maybe most interesting is to compare the price of a 1970 Bowser loco kit with the super detail vs. a modern BLI. The modern BLI costs more certainly, but not nearly as much more as one might suspect! Only 8% more than 1970 dollars for a vastly superior product. But how about our minimum wage earner? He or she works fewer hours to earn flex track, switches, and the Athearn kit in 2005 than in 1970. It will take a few minutes longer to earn the loco, but that's a much-improved model. It takes a little longer to earn the Athearn freight car RTR in 2005 than as a kit in 1970. (But unless you can build it in less than 38 minutes, the '05 RTR is still the better deal!) And it takes only about half as long to earn the power pack as it did in 1970. Our beginner can get started for less money by any measure in 2005 than 1970. Hmm, I guess prices aren't that out of line after all, eh? Jon
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