While the average price per pound of bananas has literally doubled since January 1980 to December 2025 per this chart it is still only within 36 cents of the 1980 price.
Jack in the Box tacos were 2 for 99 cents for close to 30 years. I think the menu price is 2 for $1.49 now, but they still offer 2 for 99 cents on the app almost all of the time.
A Costco large 1-topping is still like $10, but what gets me is like the 3-4 topping combos at small neighborhood joints. Those seem to be in the like $30 to $40 range now, which is crazy for some bread and cheese and sauce with like half a cup of toppings.
Was “real” pizza always that expensive, or is this a recent ish thing?
This is the one that I was going to mention. I bought my first personal computer (a 386 desktop) for about $500, in 1994; I’ve bought probably fifteen desktop and laptop machines in the last 30 years, and the pricing has pretty consistently been around $400-$500 for a basic model, and $800 to $1000 for a high-end model (even more for a high-end gaming laptop these days).
Air-fares.
My first overseas trip in 1995 was from Melbourne Australia to London and it cost app $1500 AUD return.
I can do the same now.
Prices for restaurant food have gone up hugely in the past six years, between ingredient shortages during COVID, and then general price inflation on ingredients (and labor). Prices for a comparable pizza from my couple of frequently-used local joints have probably gone up by 30-40% over the past few years. A “large” (14") pizza with two toppings is running about $25-$30 now.
National chains still sell pizzas fairly cheap. A costco pizza is almost the area of 2 large 14" pizzas for $10.
In between costco, sams club, little ceasers, dominos and Papa Johns, medium and large pizzas are still fairly affordable. But the non-chain pizzas are far more expensive and some chains are pretty expensive. Where I live, a 16" pizza king pizza may cost $30, but you can buy an 18" costco pizza and 3 12" medium pizzas from dominos for that price.
however little ceasers pre-covid $5 pizza is now closer to $7. So a 40% price hike.
The thing many folks are missing here is what’s exemplified by the parable of the pizzas told by the last few posters.
The well-dressed well-made quality ingredients $10 pizza from our college years is utterly unlike the $10 garbage pizza sold today. The price is the same. The product is the same only in name & general shape.
In our area we have a neighborhood pizza place near the beach and a Papa Gino’s (New England chain about 75 locations) near our house (about 2 miles apart).
We have been going to them for twelve years. In 2021 Papa Gino’s small cheese was $9.99 and the neighborhood place $11.99. Now the neighborhood place is $17.99 and Papa Gino’s is $11.99.
And this is consistent with my impression of all kinds of price gaps between local and chain places. Local toy store for the identical products is now 3X or more the prices in Target.
A small local burger chain is now $17.99 for a cheeseburger that was $7.99 or $8.99 before the pandemic. McDonald’s prices have NOT doubled in the last six years.
I had that same experience with our favorite local burger place. The same $14 burger in 2023 is now $28. And there’s not even meat in that burger… and it doesn’t come with fries. I have no idea how anyone can still afford to eat at such places. Meanwhile the Costco food court is more packed than ever.
I play in a band at small bars and restaurants. We get about $100 each.
My dad used to do the same thing in the 70s and he tells me they used to get…about $100 each.
Is the reason that your father received more for performing that his was a better band?
Edited to add, an inflation calculator says that a hundred dollars fifty years ago is worth roughly six hundred dollars today.
Same thing in OP- I don’t know Dröste , but when the OP says a similar one was on sale for $4, I’m guessing it’s like the difference between a dollar store , no-name candle and one from Yankee Candle.
And some of the examples,I think must be very specific to location or brand. For example, I have no idea how much chain pizza costs off the top of my head - but I do know the current price for a slice in independent pizzerias is $3 and I remember $0.35 slices in the 70s.
Also, I wonder how much people’s memories are not so good - sure, maybe Costco started selling its hot dog combo for $1.50 in the 80s. But I’ve had reason to look through old editions of a local newspaper - Arthur Treacher’s was selling a fish and chips dinner for $1.79 in 1984 and sit down restaurants had prime rib dinners for about $12. If the hot dog combo was $1.50 in the 80s , it was overpriced. A 6 pack of Coke at the distributor (lowest prices) was $1.89 in 1985. ( I don’t think they had 24 packs then in name brands) Now a 24 pack is about $15.
When I first started see these old prices, I was shocked - because I really don’t actually remember them.
McDonald’s prices may not have doubled in the last six years, but they have definitely gone up, quite a bit.
I get carryout from McD’s and Burger King semi-regularly, for my wife and myself. A typical order at either place is two sandwiches, fries (for me) and a chocolate shake (for my wife) – and at either restaurant, that adds up to about $22 now. I can’t tell you exactly how much it cost six years ago (because my memory just isn’t that good), but it was definitely significantly less than $22.
Oh, definitely a better band with a better pedigree, but we were talking about the same small bars and restaurants. I’m sure he got paid more when he was playing concerts and the like!
Basically the rate for a band playing in a bar is about the same.
Yeah, good point. It’s the even more sinister counterpart to shrinkflation… maybe edible enshittification?
I came to mention that very item. I was sore after shoveling snow a couple weeks ago* and bought a bottle of plain, storebrand aspirin, 100 count. I think it was $1.29 or so, def under $1.50.
I already take a daily 81 mg ‘baby’ dose for heart health reasons and they cost more but at least they’re coated. The cheapies are indeed chalky & dusty and brimming with that winning flavor.
*Another reason that won’t come up for a few months: I read about a theory about aspirin and sunburn inflammation here on the boards and wanted a bottle for my own ‘focused clinical trials.’ I’ll take some before beach, ballgame, lawnmowing and other high sun exposure times. I can usually expect some sunburn and try to apply product & cover but there’s always a few missed spots or days.
Cutting quality is certainly a popular technique. Done gradually enough the customers will never notice. Unlike “shrinkflation”, I don’t know a portmanteau buzzword for this trick. Anyone?
This is especially true about food. Somebody might still have a 20 year old e.g. screwdriver to compare to a modern one. But nobody really remembers precisely what their local chain’s pizza was like 20 years ago, nor do they have a still-edible example in their freezer to compare to.
Wikipedia, per the NY Times, calls it “skimpflation”:
While ‘shrinkflation’ gets measured, ‘skimpflation’ does not.
Shrinking itself is captured in official inflation data, but another sneaky force that costs consumers is getting missed in the statistics. Companies sometimes use cheaper materials to save on costs in a practice some call “skimpflation.” That is much harder for the government to measure.
If your paper towel roll costs the same but you’re getting fewer sheets — shrinkflation — that shows up clearly as a unit cost increase that is added to official inflation. If your paper towels are the same size but are suddenly made of worse material — skimpflation — the government does not record that as inflation.
I bet we can come up with a better term.
Back when I worked in consumer products, the term we used (not a portmanteau) was “creeping incrementalism.” We had mandates from senior management to reduce the cost of products by ~5% or 10% a year, each year, and when you start stacking repeated reductions in the quality of your inputs, it doesn’t take too long for the quality to go from “good” to “shit.”