A rather old price tag from a Rockwell 14″ Bandsaw ,
The tag had a date of 9/20/33 on it .
those were the days .
dusty
A rather old price tag from a Rockwell 14″ Bandsaw ,
The tag had a date of 9/20/33 on it .
those were the days .
dusty
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Replies
no way, that's awsome. do you know the rough equivilant of the price to today
Can you hold the laser level while I shave?
Well Andy , A new Delta 14" probably sells for $600 - $800 or so my guess.
Some tools and machines were very expensive in those old times in comparison to the cost of living at the time .
dusty
wow, yeah. I can see why they were more expensive back then.
Can you hold the laser level while I shave?
Dusty , your the best.
In 1933, a working man might take home $20-25/week- if he had work: 1933 was the trough of the Great Depression, and ~25% people were out of work. So that BS was two weeks wages.Glaucon
If you don't think too good, then don't think too much...
During that time period a person would have to work 50 - 60 hours per week to gross $25.00 let alone take home. And I've heard my dad talk about working as an off-bearer at a sawmill for $2.50 per day.
Harry
Following the path of least resistance makes rivers and men crooked.
Edited 4/1/2008 11:21 am by harrycu
In 1934, my dad lied about his age and got a job as the slinger on a high rise rivet crew. I think he said, he got $1/hr. Which upset my Grandfather, as it was more than he made.
$1/hr...Wow! That was good money. ;^)
Harry
Following the path of least resistance makes rivers and men crooked.
One of those high skill jobs. You had to pick up a red hot rivet with a pair of tongs, and pitch it to guys out on the structure, who caught the rivets in buckets. The catcher was standing on a beam, or strapped onto a column and couldn't move to chase it, and, if you missed it could hit the guys working below. Basically they were pitching several hundred "strikes" a day, with no "balls".
No, I'd say they had plenty of balls for being up there to begin with. :^)
Harry
Following the path of least resistance makes rivers and men crooked.
I recall my parents talking about the Depression; they both worked but took home about $25.00 per week together!
I have an SK tool box that my dad bought during that time loaded with tools for $10. He got it from a pawn shop and told me saved and scrimped for almost six months to buy it. He told me he walked by almost every day and was dreading the day someone else got it. Most likely the best tool buy of his life!!! I'm still using many of the tools although lots were gone by the time I even became aware of tools let alone became the owner.
I have lots of respect for folks that lived through those times. They have a sense of value that we would all do well to adopt.
Regards,
Mack
"WISH IN ONE HAND, S--T IN THE OTHER AND SEE WHICH FILLS UP FIRST"
The common wage at that time for common labor was one dollar per day. That is six dollars per week and there were lines of men who were wanting the job. We were not so unlucky but my father spent less than one hundred dollars for family expenses in one of those years - I think it was '36 or '37 and we had food on the table for every meal. Some were not so lucky.
The inflation calculator I used (http://www.westegg.com/inflation/) says $44 in 1933 = $662 in 2007.
Cheers
tsgraz,
That's a good calculator! Thanks for posting it. I used a table and hand calculator and figured $388 today @3% and $794 @4%, so the calculator you used was using around 3 1/2 % annual rate of inflation. Sounds about right.
Cheers!
oldfred
Dusty, that's cool! I kept the $5 price tag that was on the rummage-sale Inca table saw that I bought, refurbished, and sold for $700. I think I'm going to put that tag on the Unisaw that I used the money for! ;-)
FG ,
Yeah , this tag was on the machine when I bought it new .
dusty
The US city average CPI in Sept. 1933 was 13.2 (82-84-100). The US city average CPI in Feb. 2008 (the most current year reported) was 211.693. Multiplying the price of the saw by the ratio of 2008 CPI/ 1933 CPI yields an adjusted price of $703.24 in todays dollars.
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