“A dime a dozen” is a wonderful turn of phrase.
The alliteration makes it fun to say, and when I grew up, everyone knew exactly what a dime was. If you could buy a dozen of something for a dime, those things cost less than a penny each.
Even back in the cold, dark days before the internet, pennies weren’t worth a whole lot. In other words, the meaning hasn’t changed very much over the last five decades or so.
What has changed, however, is what’s cheap. Today, let’s talk about a few things that were a dime a dozen in the past but aren’t today, and then let’s invert this and point out a few things that are a dime a dozen today (but weren’t in the past).
Things that are now cheap, but didn’t used to be:
Sharing information (email/texts are now free). I remember being terrified of sending an accidental text message from my first cell phone. Unlike today, text messages weren’t free to send or receive. Remember using a calling card to make a long-distance phone call? International calls cost an arm and a leg, and today, you can speak to anyone in real time, anywhere in the world for virtually nothing.
Electronic anything. Remember plasma TVs that cost like $5000 each? I’m pretty sure you can get a TV of higher quality today for under $1000. If a computer cost $5000 20 years ago, you can probably get one that does the same things for under $1000.
Learning things. I remember the World Book Encyclopedia set my parents had. All of the information from 1985 you could possibly want was in there, except all the stuff that wasn’t… but there was a lot! The whole set of books was a real investment for a middle class family, costing more than $1000. Today, you can get much more accurate information for free, instantly, from your phone or computer.
And
Things that used to be cheap, but aren’t any more
Housing. This one’s painfully obvious if you’re trying to be a first-time homebuyer in the US now, and the rest of the world has seen a similar rise in the price of both owning and renting. 40 years ago in the US, the average price of a house sold was $94,700. Today, it’s $513,400.
In-person education. This one gets an awful lot of attention, and rightly so: when I went to college, in-state rates in South Carolina were $1500 per semester, and in Virginia it was around $2000. SC is more than $12,000 today, and VCU is over $16,000. Meanwhile, minimum wage for my first year of college was $4.25; today it’s $7.25.
Experiences - going out and doing things with other people. Especially after 2020, demand for live concerts went through the roof, causing the price for live shows to spike.
For the things that became more expensive over time, it seems like the human labor component is central, whereas all of the things that have become cheaper don’t. The more something can become automated, the more likely it is to become cheap over time, and anything that requires a human touch may become more scarce and pricier.
What other reasons might there be for vast price changes like these? What are some examples of things you’ve seen become cheaper or more expensive over your lifetime?
What’s a dime a dozen today that might be a dozen to a dime in the future, and vice versa?
I always like running the inflation calculations. For example, a meme constantly circulates with an image of a lady gassing up her car with the price of $0.49 in the background. Sounds cheap!
But that car is from 1970. So assuming 1972 and inflation adjusting, that gas was 2022 dollars worth $3.62. Gas today in AZ is $2.89. So gas is actually cheaper and actually moreso since fuel efficiency is much higher.
I always warn people to run the inflation calcs because it changes the perspective of cost.
In addition to the financial cost of things changing, I think our primary form of currency is also changing. We've stumbled full force into an economy ruled by attention. Friendships, conversations on complex issues, challenging art have become more 'expensive' because they require so much attention and, due to the increase level of distraction coming from our phones, computers, TVs (i.e., the things that have become cheaper financially), we are left reaching into our pockets for spare attention and finding nothing but lint.