A 20.00 Train Ticket purchased in 1942 would cost 264.59 today

[tomikawaTT]

Looked at another way:

In 1942, you could buy a $20.00 train ticket and travel from someplace in the wilds to someplace else, pretty far away, in the boonies.

In 2006, the tracks are gone from the wilds, the Class I connection was swallowed up in a megamerger, Amtrak dropped passenger service on the (partially parallel) route and the freight-only line through the boonies is now controlled by another mega-railroad headquartered in a southeastern state 1200 miles away.  You couldn't duplicate that trip by rail at any price.

OTOH, thanks to the Interstate highway system, 4 people can cover that distance a lot faster for something less than $264.59 in gas for the PMV you have to have to survive.

Progress

Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - where you didn't need a PMV)

[Li'lJugs]

In 1989 my first cellphone cost $600. That would be $986 in today's dollars -- and all it did was transmit and receive phone calls! With not even a number memory!

Oh, heck, since we've wandered off topic anyway, let me just push the whole thing over the edge (true story, though)...a techno-geek friend of mine was showing off his new cell phone after church one day and was waxing eloquent about the "voice recognition calling". Someone, of course, asked what that was and he explained that, rather than dial a number or even keep track of it, you just opened the phone and said into the receiver, "call so-and-so" and it would dial that number for you. Our former pastor (in his 70's at the time) just started laughing and said, "Well, in my day, all the phones were like that!"

Everything old is new again.

 

LOL, one probably has to be of a certain age to see the humor in that. 

[Kevin C. Smith]

In 1989 my first cellphone cost $600. That would be $986 in today's dollars -- and all it did was transmit and receive phone calls! With not even a number memory!

Oh, heck, since we've wandered off topic anyway, let me just push the whole thing over the edge (true story, though)...a techno-geek friend of mine was showing off his new cell phone after church one day and was waxing eloquent about the "voice recognition calling". Someone, of course, asked what that was and he explained that, rather than dial a number or even keep track of it, you just opened the phone and said into the receiver, "call so-and-so" and it would dial that number for you. Our former pastor (in his 70's at the time) just started laughing and said, "Well, in my day, all the phones were like that!"

Everything old is new again.

[Poppa_Zit]

There's still a place in town with a $1.50 steak.

But instead of asking you how you want it cooked, they ask you how many times you want them to hit it.

Seriously, to make a true comparison, as others have pointed out, you'd have to see and taste both steaks.

You can get a "steak" dinner at one of those family places for $5.99 with a coupon special.

Or you can go to Smith & Wollensky and pay $35-$40 to get just as full (no drinks). But the two experiences don't faintly resemble each other.

PZ

[Murphy Siding]

....Am I missing something.....I don't believe a polio vacine was available yet in  1942.  {And I could be wrong but}, didn't Dr. Jona Salk bring that to reality about 1956.....

  I think Bob was trying to make a point, that our standard of living has improved so   much, that it is difficult to subjectively "measure" some things.

Cup of coffee......5 cents

Train Ride.......20 dollars

My kids having no clue what polio is......Priceless!!

[Murphy Siding]

http://www.westegg.com/inflation/infl.cgi is a "Inflation Calculator"

So a train ticket that costs 20.00 is about the same cost as a Airline ticket today on the same route. (With a 7 day advance purchase)...According to wikipedia the Century made 10,000,00 in 1928 which is about 112 Million today..

  For what it's worth, I don't know if it's quite fair to compare the two, even if it is adjusted for inflation.  The train ticket was for a trip over rails owned by an owner who paid property taxes.  The plane ride is from a government owned airport, in a plane belonging to an airline who probably owes it's existance to Uncle Sam's bailout money.  Apples/Oranges:  comparison of which can mean anything you want it to mean.

[Brooklyn Trolley Dodger]

   So the round trip ticket That bought from Cleveland to Chicago was 100.00 in 1990 now its only 110.00 bucks...At a inflation rate of about 4.5% why is the ticket not $196.97

http://tickets.amtrak.com/itd/amtrak/FareFinder?_tripType=Return&_origin=Cleveland&_depmonthyear=2007-03&_depday=13&_dephourmin=&_destination=Chicago&_retmonthyear=2007-03&_retday=14&_rethourmin=&_adults=1&_children=0&_infants=0&_searchBy=schedule&x=22&y=16

[Anonymous]

4 bedroom house with basement and half acre of land was about 24,000 dollars in the late 60's today something like that will run you up to a million dollars depending on where you are at.

At the same time basements have been cut out and square footage dropped where one must consider N scale to get any meaningful train or build on an addition. (Or sell old house and buy new bigger one....)

Cars back then got you 7 miles to the gallon on a 5 dollar fillup. But they were also truly powerful vehicles and BIG and STRONG comparied to the tinfoil (Now plastic) crap that we get today. I imagine 10 years from now I might have to pay 59K for a little Cupcake.. errr.. Golf Caddy... err... electric Vehicle that barely gets you to work if such a thing as commuting exists at that time.

Moller Skycars were a fantasy back then, today they are getting ready to implement a way to use these skycars to by-pass jammed and unuseable highways.

I recall some food menus in the truck stop after world war two that gave you 5 cent coffee, 1.50 steaks and taters and 50 cents a side for your greens, 70 cents for the salad. 4.50 or so and your all fed. Today such a meal will run you about 10-18 dollars. To even see a coffee for sale in a rest area will run you 5 bucks.

The poor workers downtown fill the starbucks for 5.00 coffee several times a day when you could take a Stanley thermos and pour your own coffee pot from home all day.

[Modelcar]

....Am I missing something.....I don't believe a polio vacine was available yet in  1942.  {And I could be wrong but}, didn't Dr. Jona Salk bring that to reality about 1956.....

[bobwilcox]

Hey dd!
Do you have a line on a good Chi-Town dog?
They are impossible to get up here in the toolie boonies
and you can`t make them at home.

kurt 

Get your credit card out and go here:

Tastes of Chicago -- Vienna Beef

Best value is the beef and hot dog combo!

This the best thing about making a connection through O'Hare! 

[dldance]

Hey dd!
Do you have a line on a good Chi-Town dog?
They are impossible to get up here in the toolie boonies
and you can`t make them at home.

kurt 

Of course - I wouldn't pay that price for an ordinary dog.  I got a taste for Chicago style hot dogs at a little shop in Austin TX.  The owner moved there and missed the dogs so she opened a shop and started importing Vienna Beef brand.

dd

[Poppa_Zit]

Hey dd!
Do you have a line on a good Chi-Town dog?
They are impossible to get up here in the toolie boonies
and you can`t make them at home.

kurt 

Get your credit card out and go here:

Tastes of Chicago -- Vienna Beef

Best value is the beef and hot dog combo!

[Clutch Cargo]

Hey dd!
Do you have a line on a good Chi-Town dog?
They are impossible to get up here in the toolie boonies
and you can`t make them at home.

kurt 

[wallyworld]

interesting chart..dollar values since 1913...

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001519.html

 

[bobwilcox]

How much did a polio vacine cost in 1942?

[wallyworld]

It would be interesting to know the dollar purchasing power..valuation..cost of living for that time...I don't think tickets were amazingly cheap..cost less...but folks made less...what could a dollar buy back then?

[spbed]

In 1969 when the New York Jets won SB3 the Daily News was $0.08

 

 

http://www.westegg.com/inflation/infl.cgi is a "Inflation Calculator"

So a train ticket that costs 20.00 is about the same cost as a Airline ticket today on the same route. (With a 7 day advance purchase)...According to wikipedia the Century made 10,000,00 in 1928 which is about 112 Million today..

[Poppa_Zit]

Of course, let us not forget this works both ways.

Here are examples:

In 1928, a Sparton AM cabinet radio (one of the first home radios using AC power, not batteries) cost $499. In today's dollars it would cost $5,610.56 -- for an AM radio in a wood cabinet.

In 1938 it cost a nickel to make a local call on a pay phone. That would be 68 cents today.

In 1978 a one-hour call to San Francisco during non-prime hours (after 9 PM) cost $24.46. Today, I make that call for pennies as we have an unlimited local and long distance package for $50 per month.

In 1983 I paid $350 for my first VCR with a wired remote. That's $704.89 today, when I can buy a far better one with a wireless remote for less than $70.

Of course, I needed videotape cassettes for that recorder. In 1983 a 6-hour tape cost $4.99. That would be $10.05 in today's money -- when I can buy a 10-pack of 6-hour tapes at Sam's Club for $7.99 (1983 cost over $100).

In 1983 my Hitachi 19-inch color TV cost $499. That's would be $1,004.00 today for a 19-inch CRT color TV.  

My first computer in 1984 was a Commodore 64 with an exterior 5.25-inch floppy drive and a dot-matrix printer -- cost $895.00. That included a whopping 64k of RAM and no hard drive. In today's dollars it would cost $2,527 and be far inferior to what $600 would buy me at Best Buy or Circuit City.

In 1989 my first cellphone cost $600. That would be $986 in today's dollars -- and all it did was transmit and receive phone calls! With not even a number memory! Today, if you buy a package the phones are free!

Maybe the good old days weren't always as good as our memories select.

PZ

  

[wallyworld]

I remember when gas was .27 a gallon...women stayed at home as one income was all that was needed. Income, cost of living and debt....the national figures may be a macrocosm of trends...in households..I keep hearing about the record level of debt families carry...link to website having US government graphs...interesting stuff..politics aside....

http://www.uwsa.com/

 

 

A bigger picture..

[oltmannd]

http://www.westegg.com/inflation/infl.cgi is a "Inflation Calculator"

So a train ticket that costs 20.00 is about the same cost as a Airline ticket today on the same route. (With a 7 day advance purchase)...According to wikipedia the Century made 10,000,00 in 1928 which is about 112 Million today..

And a gallon of gas at $0.20 in 1942 would cost $2.65 today.  (But a car that got 20 mpg was very rare in those days....)

So if the value of the service hasn't changed but the loss as a % of revenue has gone up, what does that tell you about the cost of providing the service versus vis a vis inflation?

[dldance]

http://www.westegg.com/inflation/infl.cgi is a "Inflation Calculator"

So a train ticket that costs 20.00 is about the same cost as a Airline ticket today on the same route. (With a 7 day advance purchase)...According to wikipedia the Century made 10,000,00 in 1928 which is about 112 Million today..

So what - I paid $5.99 in Chicago last month for a hot dog that would have cost 10 cents in 1942.

dd

[Brooklyn Trolley Dodger]

http://www.westegg.com/inflation/infl.cgi is a "Inflation Calculator"

So a train ticket that costs 20.00 is about the same cost as a Airline ticket today on the same route. (With a 7 day advance purchase)...According to wikipedia the Century made 10,000,00 in 1928 which is about 112 Million today..