Time travelers

[Rich P. Bingham]

I’m amused by how inflation through the years has disconnected us from our perceived values and the price of common items. I noted recently a vintage photo dated 1939 showed a car in a filling station, the price of gas was twenty cents per gallon. Posts made in response made much of twenty-cent gas, obviously wishing it still sold for that. Consulting the historic inflation index, it seems that twenty cents in ‘39 had the same purchasing power as $4.67 today.

Another thought, popular as Coca-Cola has been “forever”, consider the wall splash ads, “Coca-Cola in bottles - sold everywhere - five cents”. Those nickel bottles held six ounces . . . and in 1920, parting with a nickel meant investing $0.81 of 2025 purchasing power ! By contrast, a 12 oz. tin of Coke will only set you back ninety cents. Coke costs almost half of what it did back then !

[TXGOAT2]

Subsidy corn syrup makes it difficult to tell what Coke costs.

[TXGOAT2]

I bought a lot of gas at 16.9 to 19.9 cents a gallon into the early 1970s. 28.9 cents a gallon was high price full serve! When adjusting for inflation, be sure to adjust the gas tax and EPA regulatory costs, too. Tax at the pump is not all the taxes priced into retail gasoline, either. Then there's the Ethanol cost... which is substantial and hard to quantify. Some areas are blessed with federal , state, and local fuel taxes. Then there's California...

[ironhorse]

I remember working at a Gas Station in the early '70s to supplement my Army income. When the "embargo" hit I was fielding complaints about the price of gas doubling and the long lines and the limit on how many gallons you could purchase..... I learned from that experience that people don't think before they open their mouth. I had to pay the same price as they did and I had to wait in line too, the boss said so!

[TXGOAT2]

But... the oil barons! O! O my!!!

[TXGOAT2]

"Coke costs almost half of what it did back then !".....
To the extent that there is any real reduction in the real cost of a "serving" of Coke today vs 90 years ago, a substantial portion of that reduction is likely due to use of lightweight, higher volume, "disposable" containers and the elimination of low volume, heavy, returnable bottles and the several expenses associated with such programs. The 6 oz returnable glass bottle format involved a substantial cost, and required a large number of local bottling plants to function.

Fragments of broken 6 oz bottles can still be found across the USA and beyond, and they are both very hazardous and very durable hazards, especially when they are located in or near bodies of water.

Sales taxes add over 8% to the cost of a can or bottle of soda in most localities in Texas, and that cost is probably higher in many other places. Beyond that, most all soda sold in the USA is paid for with "after tax" income, which requires most people to earn a good deal more than they can spend or save. People in some highly populated localities face local, state and federal income taxes which greatly diminish their real income.

Many people make most of their purchases on credit cards, and pay substantial interest on every dollar they spend.

I pay cash. A carton of 24 12 oz cans of Dr. Pepper costs me $13.97 at WalMart, paid for with shrunken, after FIT dollars, plus about $1.15 sales tax. No telling how much tax is priced into the retail price of the soda, but it is substantial.