Re: Iris prices have gone down!
- To: Multiple recipients of list <i*@rt66.com>
- Subject: Re: Iris prices have gone down!
- From: m*@ix.netcom.com
- Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 11:13:13 -0600 (MDT)
Bill Shear wrote:
>
> >>A coworker presented me with an iris catalog 1932 vintage in excellent
> >>condition and with color photos!! The catalog was from Robert Wayman's
> >>garden in Bayside, L.I., NY. The new introductions were listed at $25.00.
> >> Inflation has not effected prices much in 60+ years!
>
> Actually, if we make some basic assumptions about purchasing power, $25
> would have been an astronomical price for an iris rhizome in 1932! For
> example, in 1944, my dad paid $3200 for a 3-bedroom house and lot. Today
> in the same community, a similar house sells for about $85,000. That's
> about 27 times more. So if you wanted to keep purchasing power parity with
> the 1932 introductions, you'd have to sell today's new iris for $675!
>
> I checked some old Schreiners catalogs from the 1950s. New introductions
> were indeed still $25-30, but we can perhaps assume a 10-fold decrease in
> purchasing power (a guess based on my starting salary in 1965 and what new
> assistant professors get now), they'd have to be priced at $250-300 now.
>
> So what has happened is not that prices have not been affected, but that
> they have gone down at an incredible rate!
>
> Remember nickel candy bars and ten-cent cokes?
>
> Bill Shear
> Department of Biology
> Hampden-Sydney College
> Hampden-Sydney VA 23943
> (804)223-6172
> FAX (804)223-6374
> email<bills@tiger.hsc.edu>
Bill, would you believe that on May 18, 1997 a person in Fulton,
Mississippi could go to a particular store and purchase a 16oz. can of
soft drink for 25cents?
Diana
