Posted on 3/27/2005, 4:54:02 PM by Dog Gone
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RESOURCES
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WHAT OTHER 'ESSENTIALS' COST BY THE GALLON |
At $32 per gallon, the popular Starbucks brew can make today's prices at the pump look like a real bargain.
Even so, a lot of drivers who complain about gasoline prices in excess of $2 per gallon seem to have no problem plunking down $3 or more for a designer cup of coffee.
What gives? In the United States, people spend so much time telling themselves they deserve to be pampered, they sometimes forget the basics, says Michael Solomon, a professor of consumer behavior at Auburn University.
From cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil to contact solution, American lives are filled with expensive liquids. Fancy-label products aren't the only items that add up.
Consider this. John Frieda's brilliant brunette color-boosting shampoo retails for $6.19 per tube at Randall's. That translates to a whopping $94 for a gallon. But even cheap-o bottles of Suave that sell for 89 cents on sale ring up to $8.14 for a gallon. That's four times the average price for regular unleaded in Houston.
Art Smith, an energy consult with John S. Herold, says when broken down, the overall price-per-mile ratio in this country still comes out to a mere 10 cents.
"Would you pay a dime to not have to push your car down the highway for a mile?" Smith asks. "I would."
Stupid article. None of the "essentials" listed are actually essential, whereas millions of Americans NEED gasoline to get to work and make a living.
I was going to ask when I would see a thread about the equivalencies to a gallon of Coke or Pepto :)
Still cheaper than bottled water...
I don't understand.... This thread isn't about the only thing of consequence on the planet-- events in Florida.
A gallon of shampoo would probably do me for a year.
Can't see a SUV running on a gallon a year, can you? ;-)
At 10 cents a mile, I think we get a good deal. Of course it may not come out that cheap if one owns a gas-guzzling behemoth, but for those of us who don't need large cars in order to produce testosterone will make it through okay.
Visine must be $50,000 a gallon.
| Item | Price in 1980 | 1980 price adjusted for inflation into today's dollars |
Price in 2005 | Change from inflation adjusted 1980 price |
| College tuition (public school) | $804 | $1,906 | $5,162 | 171% |
| Ford Mustang (average price) | $5,240 | $12,420 | $24,724 | 99% |
| Movie ticket (average price) | $2.69 | $6.38 | $6.21 | -3% |
| Butter (per pound) | $1.80 | $4.27 | $3.51 | -18% |
| Loaf of whole wheat bread | $0.72 | $1.71 | $1.36 | -20% |
| Gasoline | $1.25 | $2.96 | $2.11 | -29% |
| Milk | $2.04 | $4.84 | $3.30 | -32% |
| Ground chuck (pound) | $1.82 | $4.31 | $2.48 | -42% |
| Toilet paper (4-roll pack) | $0.99 | $2.35 | $1.15 | -51% |
| Dozen eggs | $0.88 | $2.09 | $0.99 | -53% |
| Color television | $367 | $871 | $229 | -74% |
| Chronicle research by Katherine Feser Sources: Bureau of Labor Statistics, College Board, Ford Motor Co., Motion Picture Association of America, Energy Information Administration, Procter & Gamble, Consumer Electronics Association, Federal Reserve Bank |
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Sure it is.. we all need to gas up and drive to Florida and storm the place, arm in arm...
I agree! Events in Florida are the MOST important topics there are!
Opening day is just a few days away!
PLAY BALL!
Here in the York, PA area, whole Vitamin D milk is $3.79/ gal, orange juice is $3.98/ gal and plain old water is still at $1.99/ gal.
But I do need a good sized pickup to haul around the product of my excessive testosterone.
;->
Amen to that!!!
How much for a gallon of "151"?
The only thing I see your list off on is the bread & movie ticket prices. Wheat bread is definitely more than $1.36. And I suppose if you only go to matinees you could see the $6 movie ticket price.
Good chart! Puts the lie to all the whiners.
I can get a loaf of break for $1.24 actually....
:)
I had to get a loaf last night for today at the Super Walmart....
That's nothing. "Purified" water in a bottle is $1.19 for 12 ounces at the gas station, or $2.63 per gallon. Budweiser is only $0.59 for 12 ounces, or $6.29 per gallon.
What other products do we use, a gallon at a time? Shower water is the only thing close.
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