In 1970, my parents made a decision to buy a color TV. I think it was a 19” “portable” and it cost something like $700. That same year, my dad bought an Olds 88 for $5200 and I think my dad was making something like $6 an hour at the time. So, that TV represented a major purchase for our family.
In 1976, the year I went off to college, I spent $299 for a color TV from a guy by the name of Moose Lueder. He owned a TV sales and repair shop in my home town. I shopped everywhere and that thing was a great buy. I think I was making something like $2 an hour at the time, a major purchase for me.
Today, I heard about a 32” flat screen TV being sold by Wal-Mart for $248 on Black Friday, and a 50” TV being sold for $498.
The amazing thing is I’ve got color TV’s coming out of my ears. My TV’s have TV’s. And, I still want another one, bigger, brighter, crisper, better. To think just a generation ago, we would have to work for over 100 hours to get a TV that we wouldn’t even look at today.
Things have changed.
