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0 pointsthomasahle2y ago0 comments

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.

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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.

lb1lf2y 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.

lb1lf2y 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

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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.

lb1lf2y 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.

lb1lf2y 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