The price of stuff ...

The price of stuff ...

Author
Discussion

Fastchas

2,645 posts

121 months

Monday 27th February 2017
quotequote all
In 1990 I remember the price of diesel being MUCH cheaper then petrol. Then the Iraq/Kuwait war started, diesel and petrol rose sharply in price. Since then diesel has never been cheaper than petrol. I can't remember the prices and can't find them online for 1990, anyone?

LeighW

4,396 posts

188 months

Monday 27th February 2017
quotequote all
Fastchas said:
In 1990 I remember the price of diesel being MUCH cheaper then petrol. Then the Iraq/Kuwait war started, diesel and petrol rose sharply in price. Since then diesel has never been cheaper than petrol. I can't remember the prices and can't find them online for 1990, anyone?
I started driving in December 1990, and I can remember that petrol was £1.89 per gallon. Lord knows why that sticks in my mind, wish it didn't!

GetCarter

29,377 posts

279 months

Monday 27th February 2017
quotequote all
The first blank CD's I bought (which I could only source from the USA) were £30 each. Plus P&P. Ouch.

Still, I was the only composer submitting CD demos - not cassettes, so got loads of work! (I'm sure people were just impressed by the tech).

TVs were also miles more expensive than now. My first job was selling/delivering them in 1974 and a decent set would have cost 3+ months (of my) wages.

...and my first 2.7mp DLSR in 2000 was over £4000 with no lens! A £300 Sony compact now takes better photos than it ever did.

Fastchas

2,645 posts

121 months

Monday 27th February 2017
quotequote all
LeighW said:
Fastchas said:
In 1990 I remember the price of diesel being MUCH cheaper then petrol. Then the Iraq/Kuwait war started, diesel and petrol rose sharply in price. Since then diesel has never been cheaper than petrol. I can't remember the prices and can't find them online for 1990, anyone?
I started driving in December 1990, and I can remember that petrol was £1.89 per gallon. Lord knows why that sticks in my mind, wish it didn't!
I'd guess diesel was £1.60-1.70 then. Maybe less!

Terminator X

Original Poster:

15,061 posts

204 months

Monday 27th February 2017
quotequote all
LeighW said:
Fastchas said:
In 1990 I remember the price of diesel being MUCH cheaper then petrol. Then the Iraq/Kuwait war started, diesel and petrol rose sharply in price. Since then diesel has never been cheaper than petrol. I can't remember the prices and can't find them online for 1990, anyone?
I started driving in December 1990, and I can remember that petrol was £1.89 per gallon. Lord knows why that sticks in my mind, wish it didn't!
Inflation has led to that increase though over 27 years. My point with the CD is that they are cheaper today vs 1991 even though we've had 26 years of inflation!

TX.

kingston12

5,480 posts

157 months

Monday 27th February 2017
quotequote all
MiggyA said:
Yep, the money is increasingly tied up in housing these days. Most other everyday things seem stagnant or at the least, cost of production has decreased ahead of increase in money supply/average wages.
The percentage increase in house prices dwarves everything else.

We visited some relatives on the weekend. They have lived in the same house (standard semi in north London) since 1990.

It cost £100k then, and is probably worth £700k now. One of the neighbours has a brand new Bentley Continental GT Convertible. It looks a bit out of place but is worth about 20% of the value of house. Back in 1990, the equivalent car would have been worth almost as much as the house.

glenrobbo

35,245 posts

150 months

Monday 27th February 2017
quotequote all
I can remember the huge outcry in 1965? when petrol went up to the stratospheric price of 5 shillings a gallon ( 25p per 4.5 litres )
Allowing for inflation, that is roughly 77p per litre in today's terms.

Yes, we are being ripped off. We don't even get expensive lead additives in today's stuff. Just nasty corrosive bio-ethanol that rots your fuel lines and seals frown

brrapp

3,701 posts

162 months

Monday 27th February 2017
quotequote all
glenrobbo said:
I can remember the huge outcry in 1965? when petrol went up to the stratospheric price of 5 shillings a gallon ( 25p per 4.5 litres )
Allowing for inflation, that is roughly 77p per litre in today's terms.

Yes, we are being ripped off. We don't even get expensive lead additives in today's stuff. Just nasty corrosive bio-ethanol that rots your fuel lines and seals frown
I didn't start buying fuel until the 70's, but can remember it being thirty something pence per gallon at the start of the 70's (when we decimalised) then being the same price per litre at the start of the 80's so almost a fivefold increase in 10 years.

kingston12

5,480 posts

157 months

Monday 27th February 2017
quotequote all
Terminator X said:
Inflation has led to that increase though over 27 years. My point with the CD is that they are cheaper today vs 1991 even though we've had 26 years of inflation!

TX.
Tech always goes down in price. I remember £10k 42" plasma TVs as recently as 2002 - now that screen size starts at about £200.

CDs were always a rip off in the 80s/90s. They were sold at a premium to LPs based on perceived higher quality, but they are much cheaper to produce and distribute, especially once they became the dominant format in the 90s.

Vinyl LPs have gone up even more in that time. An LP would have been a few pounds cheaper than the equivalent CD in 1990, but now they are £20+. That is mainly due to it being a niche product now.

Alex_225

6,259 posts

201 months

Monday 27th February 2017
quotequote all
It's odd as with things like music, it's become cheaper to buy. I recall heading to HMV in the 90s and seeing albums from £12-£18 and that not being entirely uncommon. I think with the birth of Play.com where CDs would be bought for £8 with free postage it forced prices down. Now if I see a CD for more than £10 I wait until it's cheaper.

Same goes for video games as well. I recall saving my pocket money to buy a Megadrive game so must have been early 90s and buying Turtles Tournament Fighters, for £45!! Probably the equivalent of about £80 today and yet video games are still around the £40 mark when they're first out.




anonymous-user

54 months

Monday 27th February 2017
quotequote all
So generally, frivolous 'luxury' items such as electronics, hoildays, new cars/finance are FAR cheaper and important stuff, like say, buying a house, was much cheaper?


That really does explain the attitudes of people of a certain age have towards millennials and their spending habits. These days the savings you'll make from not having the latest mobile phone, a large telly and a week in spain isnt going to make a jot of difference in terms of being able to buy a house, while i imagine back in the 70s/80s they were significant outlays and would be seen as frivolous wastes of money?

kingston12

5,480 posts

157 months

Monday 27th February 2017
quotequote all
Alex_225 said:
It's odd as with things like music, it's become cheaper to buy. I recall heading to HMV in the 90s and seeing albums from £12-£18 and that not being entirely uncommon. I think with the birth of Play.com where CDs would be bought for £8 with free postage it forced prices down. Now if I see a CD for more than £10 I wait until it's cheaper.

Same goes for video games as well. I recall saving my pocket money to buy a Megadrive game so must have been early 90s and buying Turtles Tournament Fighters, for £45!! Probably the equivalent of about £80 today and yet video games are still around the £40 mark when they're first out.
Music has had to become cheaper as people just aren't buying it. When iTunes came to prevalence they were charging about £10 per album. Then Spotify came out enabling streaming of all of the music that they wanted for £10 on all of their devices and most people stopped buying music altogether.

I am sure I saw a stat recently that showed paid for digital downloads are now behind CD and vinyl again in terms of sales.


Kermit power

28,642 posts

213 months

Monday 27th February 2017
quotequote all
Wacky Racer said:
My first VHS Ferguson video recorder was £575 in 1975.

Probably around £2500 today.

Asda were selling new ones a few years back for £40.00
According to the Bank of England inflation calculator, your £2,500 should be more like £4,426!

patmahe

5,749 posts

204 months

Monday 27th February 2017
quotequote all
Rawwr said:
Yeah, Lidl do a 20-pack of dual blade razors for £3.29 and I actually find them better than my old Gillette Turbo Stealth Mach VII GTI Fist Power Hammer Steel XL.
I grew a beard wink (because I wanted to, not to save money) bought a hair cutting set and beard trimmer for 50 quid total, haven't shaved or been to a barbers for over 6 years now, a modest estimate is that its saved me 7-800 quid.



Rawwr

22,722 posts

234 months

Monday 27th February 2017
quotequote all
patmahe said:
I grew a beard wink (because I wanted to, not to save money) bought a hair cutting set and beard trimmer for 50 quid total, haven't shaved or been to a barbers for over 6 years now, a modest estimate is that its saved me 7-800 quid.
On the downside though, you do have a beard.

dazwalsh

6,095 posts

141 months

Monday 27th February 2017
quotequote all
Remember when bluray players came out? i remember seeing themk at 800 quid now you can pick them up for £50.

Same with TV's. i would hate to see how much an early lcd tv costs, yet i just bought a 4k 50 inch LG TV in black Friday sale for £339


AdamIndy

1,661 posts

104 months

Monday 27th February 2017
quotequote all
Rawwr said:
patmahe said:
I grew a beard wink (because I wanted to, not to save money) bought a hair cutting set and beard trimmer for 50 quid total, haven't shaved or been to a barbers for over 6 years now, a modest estimate is that its saved me 7-800 quid.
On the downside though, you do have a beard.
laugh savage!biggrin

patmahe

5,749 posts

204 months

Monday 27th February 2017
quotequote all
Rawwr said:
patmahe said:
I grew a beard wink (because I wanted to, not to save money) bought a hair cutting set and beard trimmer for 50 quid total, haven't shaved or been to a barbers for over 6 years now, a modest estimate is that its saved me 7-800 quid.
On the downside though, you do have a beard.
biggrin I figured there'd be a response along these lines so I'll just add.

<inbetweeners mode>Your Mum seems to like it</inbetweeners mode>

glenrobbo

35,245 posts

150 months

Monday 27th February 2017
quotequote all
patmahe said:
Rawwr said:
patmahe said:
I grew a beard wink (because I wanted to, not to save money) bought a hair cutting set and beard trimmer for 50 quid total, haven't shaved or been to a barbers for over 6 years now, a modest estimate is that its saved me 7-800 quid.
On the downside though, you do have a beard.
biggrin I figured there'd be a response along these lines so I'll just add.


<inbetweeners mode>Your Mum seems to like it</inbetweeners mode>
biggrin First class comeback there by patmahe. clap Got to be worth many internet points!

Rawwr

22,722 posts

234 months

Monday 27th February 2017
quotequote all
patmahe said:
biggrin I figured there'd be a response along these lines so I'll just add.

<inbetweeners mode>Your Mum seems to like it</inbetweeners mode>
Well she is mentally ill.