Then and now

[vacmadman]

I was reading some of my old vacuum ad's I've collected, and I noticed in very small print on a 1920 Air-Way ad like this one shown, that had the delivered price of $55.00 and west of the Rockies $60.00. $60 in 1920 is equivalent in purchasing power of about $851.15 today, an increase of $791.15 over 102 years.

The dollar had an average inflation rate of 2.63% per year between 1920 and today, producing a cumulative price increase of 1,318.58%. I think it's interesting to know that the early vacuums that we love to restore and collect were quite the investment for an individual or family to afford. Making them out of reach for many of the day.

 

[hoover300]

Oh yeah. I have no idea where or for how much the Eureka Standard #2 was sold for, but the only one I've ever seen came out of Southern California. The Standard and Standard #2 were presumably top of the line, I hate to think how much it cost to get one over there.

 

[ohiovacuums]

I think you could have purchased a very nice used car for $ 55 back then.
Hmmm..buy a new vacuum or a car ?
Tough choice

 

[huskyvacs]

OhioVacuums

That was very much exactly how it played out. The husband had his car to provide for the family, and the wife had her cleaning and cooking. Most houses were all wood floors then and just area rugs, so "cleaning" could be done by just heaving them outside to beat them to death and then flop them back down. A vacuum was not seen as a life and death importance.

In addition to the low sales numbers of them, plus the WW1 and WW2 scrap metal drives, not many of these early cleaners made it through time at all.

They are still out there though, squirreled away by their previous owners and long forgotten by the planet until someone discovers their hiding place. I just got a Health-Mor vac a month ago for a great price, guy was selling it off peacemeal as junk and I bought the whole thing. It's my first antique vac purchase that I have found in many many years. Just keep an eye out and look everywhere.

Also a lot of these vacuums in their early days were only sold in a specific radius around where the factory was located, it was a strange thing but that was how they did it. Maybe to save money on trucking and transit costs (or the lack of interstate travel thereof).

 

[oreck_xl]

If I could buy a BRAND NEW Air Way Sanitary System manufactured EXACTLY as it was in 1920, I would buy it for $851.15. It'll certainly outlast a new Rainbow with it's circuit boards and whopping $2000.00 price tag. It's a shame Air-Way didn't continue with uprights after World War II. Their canister was a fine vacuum, but canisters aren't for everyone.

 

[texaskirbyguy]

Love these old ads - would love to see more of them.
The costs for vacuums, fans, and other appliances were way up there. Today we see the value in these old relics compared to the new stuff. Very high build quality for many things back then - would last and last if you just took some care of them. Long ago these were often considered luxuries and people were willing to pay for them.
Now we take the function of these things for granted and we want the cheapest cost. We now get what we pay for when buying new.