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0 pointslb1lf2y ago0 comments

I'll recycle a comment I made in another thread a few years ago:

When clearing out my grandmother's house a few years ago, my uncle and I almost broke our backs trying to get the freezer out. It felt like it weighed a ton, even empty.

My grandmother told us it had been a wedding present, and that they had been totally awestruck at the time at the generous present from her parents-in-law.

After all, a decent freezer cost at least 2,000 kroner! (At this time, the average yearly gross pay was just in excess of 7,000 kroner.)

My grandparents married in 1950. Since then, monetary value has been reduced twenty-fold. You can still buy a top-loading freezer for 2,000 kroner; I just checked.

So - in 1950, you had to work for five months to earn money for a freezer (after taxes.)

In 2023, I have to work five hours for a freezer (after taxes.)

(2,000kr is slightly less than US$200)

0 comments

thomasahle2y ago

2,000kr is $300. If you earn that in five hours, you make around $10,000/month after taxes. So more than double the median of $4,632/month. But okay, even at that median, I guess it's just two days of work.

Are you sure you had to work 5 months for a freezer at median work in 1950? Seems nobody would buy them then.

rsynnott2y ago

After tax, in many places you have to work a _decade_ at the median wage for a house (or in some places considerably more). And yet people buy those.

Domestic appliances really have gotten dramatically cheaper relative to earning power, pretty much everywhere. Have a look at some old prices and compare to median wages; it's really fairly dramatic for most stuff.

lb1lfOP2y ago

I am Norwegian, our kroner are somewhat less sought after than the Danish krone.

As for the cost in 1950, I have no idea except what my grandmother told me - but the 7,000kr average annual pay I looked up at the bureau of statistics.

My paternal grandmother, though, upon hearing my maternal grandmother had a freezer already in 1950, was green with envy - they had not got one until the end of that decade.

I guess being an early adopter came at a price back then, too.

lb1lfOP2y ago

I found this [0] story (In Norwegian only, use your translation service of choice), where it is observed that a freezer cost 'several months' wages' for a worker, and that adoption didn't take off until down payment options were introduced in the early sixties.

Interestingly, I found another couple of historical prices on consumer electronics:

A 21" black-and-white TV set in 1960: NOK 2,200 (two months' gross wages)

Tandberg 1/4" reel-to-reel tape deck (Also 1960): NOK 880 (Just shy of a month's wages)

'Cheap' 26" colour TV, 1993: Three weeks' wages

VHS recorder, also 1993: Another three weeks' wages.

Sony Walkman, also 1993: A week and a half of wages.

It is ridiculous how prices have come down in later decades.

[0] https://forskning.no/forbruk-hus-og-hjem-moderne-historie/dy...

tomtom13372y ago

Some context - I’m assuming that OP is Norwegian:

2000 Norwegian kr (NOK) = 198 USD

2000 Swedish kr (SEK) = 191 USD

2000 Danish kr (DKK) = 296 USD

2000 Icelandic kr (ISK) = 15 USD

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 pointslb1lf2y ago0 comments

I'll recycle a comment I made in another thread a few years ago:

When clearing out my grandmother's house a few years ago, my uncle and I almost broke our backs trying to get the freezer out. It felt like it weighed a ton, even empty.

My grandmother told us it had been a wedding present, and that they had been totally awestruck at the time at the generous present from her parents-in-law.

After all, a decent freezer cost at least 2,000 kroner! (At this time, the average yearly gross pay was just in excess of 7,000 kroner.)

My grandparents married in 1950. Since then, monetary value has been reduced twenty-fold. You can still buy a top-loading freezer for 2,000 kroner; I just checked.

So - in 1950, you had to work for five months to earn money for a freezer (after taxes.)

In 2023, I have to work five hours for a freezer (after taxes.)

(2,000kr is slightly less than US$200)

0 comments

thomasahle2y ago

Are you sure you had to work 5 months for a freezer at median work in 1950? Seems nobody would buy them then.

rsynnott2y ago

After tax, in many places you have to work a _decade_ at the median wage for a house (or in some places considerably more). And yet people buy those.

lb1lfOP2y ago

I am Norwegian, our kroner are somewhat less sought after than the Danish krone.

As for the cost in 1950, I have no idea except what my grandmother told me - but the 7,000kr average annual pay I looked up at the bureau of statistics.

My paternal grandmother, though, upon hearing my maternal grandmother had a freezer already in 1950, was green with envy - they had not got one until the end of that decade.

I guess being an early adopter came at a price back then, too.

lb1lfOP2y ago

Interestingly, I found another couple of historical prices on consumer electronics:

A 21" black-and-white TV set in 1960: NOK 2,200 (two months' gross wages)

Tandberg 1/4" reel-to-reel tape deck (Also 1960): NOK 880 (Just shy of a month's wages)

'Cheap' 26" colour TV, 1993: Three weeks' wages

VHS recorder, also 1993: Another three weeks' wages.

Sony Walkman, also 1993: A week and a half of wages.

It is ridiculous how prices have come down in later decades.

[0] https://forskning.no/forbruk-hus-og-hjem-moderne-historie/dy...

tomtom13372y ago

Some context - I’m assuming that OP is Norwegian:

2000 Norwegian kr (NOK) = 198 USD

2000 Swedish kr (SEK) = 191 USD

2000 Danish kr (DKK) = 296 USD

2000 Icelandic kr (ISK) = 15 USD

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse