ARE YOU A SHOPPER? HERE’S GOOD NEWS!

Mall

BY ELIZABETH LAZAROWITZ
New York Daily News

You don’t need a time machine to get some items for even less than you could in the mid-1980s.

Televisions, furniture, computers, accessories and apparel are just a few of the things that have dropped, sometimes sharply, in price over the past two decades, analysts said.

In the high-tech world, computer prices have plummeted since the days when desktops where typically as big as suitcases. In 1985, an IBM PC cost about $4,000. Today, an IBM desktop with at least a thousand times more memory, a flat-screen monitor, and a CD-ROM drive goes for $800 to $1,000.

Prices of many home appliances have also dropped outright. Washing machines now cost about $426 on average, down from $454 in 1985.

If you really feel like you’re getting a bargain, blow $1 on a ballpoint pen. When they made their U.S. debut at a New York City department store in the mid-1940s, they went for about $12.50 each.


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