As I’ve said before, I know what things cost today: too damn much. But now I want to know what things cost in 1993, which is 30 years ago.
This all started simply enough. My youngest wanted some Doritos. He loves Doritos. But we shop at Trader Joe’s and they don’t sell Doritos. So to procure some Doritos, I was going to have to make a run to my to the big chain grocery store down the street. I only shop there when I there’s something I can’t get at TJ’s, like Doritos, so I wasn’t prepared when I saw the price stamped on the bag.
The grocery store wanted $6.99. For a bag of Doritos.
I won’t make you suffer through my rant again. I’ll just leave it at this: Doritos don’t cost $6.99. The global COVID-19 pandemic, the accompanying supply chain shortage, and the suspicious bout of inflation that has accompanied record profits for corporations (funny how that works, isn’t it?) have created the perfect storm of consumer goods costing more than the should. But was it always like this?
What Things Cost in 1993: Another Hard Look at Historic Prices
The short answer is: yes. Consumers have been taken advantage of to varying degrees for as long as there has been a free market with consumers and consumables. But as I said in this look back at what things cost 20 years ago, in 2003, I don’t want to go all the way back to the 1950s, because of course a gallon of milk 70 years ago was dirt cheap. But 20 or 30 years ago? That standard of comparison seem to make more sense.
So away we go in our wayback machine to 1993. I’ll stick to the same products I looked at for my piece on 2003, and even keep those prices in the mix for frame of reference. Again, my thanks to the Morris County Library’s Historic Prices lists for providing the info.