Hazel

The real value of washing machine prices has gone down as the value of the dollar has gone down. That’s not the same thing as the ticket price going up.

You’re talking about different things in the economy going up at different rates or stagnating. That’s a $268 increase over a period of time in which the value of the $268 that the price went up has plummeted. So, yes, a washing machine costs less in buying power than it did 50 years ago, but it doesn’t actually cost less numerically, in terms of dollar amount.

There certainly are some products that are more responsive to the economy in the short-term, such as fuel, but there’s a pretty big difference between a price holding steady while the economy changes around it to devalue that price and goods that actually respond to market conditions by decreasing the numerical dollar amount charged for them.

As far as washing machines specifically, I see washing machines from Best Buy and Walmart marked somewhere between $600 and $2000, and I would frankly be quite surprised if the average $700 washing machine is anywhere near as durable as a $500 washing machine from the 70s. Most products today, in general, are made to be cheap and disposable rather than to be well constructed for long-term use.

I have a few things from my grandparents’ house when they passed that have been around since at least the 70s and are in extremely good condition that I feel pretty confident saying a modern equivalent of wouldn’t last nearly as long. Like, I have one of my grandfather’s hammers that’s older than I am with a sturdy wooden handle and a solid head that will probably still be perfectly useful when it’s twice as old as it is now. I’ve got a couple of his lock boxes as well that are in absolutely amazing condition. If I bought a hammer today from Walmart, chances are it’s going to come with a rubberized plastic grip that’s going to start wearing down in the next 10 or 20 years. Appliances made in the 70s were also designed to be repaired rather than replaced, whereas today there are only a handful of places that are even willing to do repairs. I had an AC that needed cleaning some routine maintenance and I literally ended up just buying a new one because there was nowhere that was willing to do that work anymore.

A $500 washing machine from the 70s may well still be in operation today. A $700 washing machine today? Good luck getting it to last 20 years let alone 50.

When have washing machine prices ever gone down due to this? Not sales, the ticket price.

If I need an air conditioner, I’m going to buy an air conditioner because I need one, whether it’s $100 or $300. If I need a new exhaust to get my car to pass inspection, I literally need to pay whatever it costs unless it’s so expensive that it would be cheaper to buy a new car (which, considering that all cars have exhaust, is unlikely).

This model of economics is complete fiction when it comes to essentials. If you’re talking about optional purchases? Yeah, maybe. But when you’re talking about things people actually need? That’s not how it works.

Otherwise we’d all have stopped paying exorbitant rents a decade ago. But we can’t, because people need homes.

Competition may prevent companies from charging completely arbitrary amounts for everything, but if the only control is being somewhat close to what other companies charge that means the price is going to gradually rise. In a world where corporations are expected to increase their profits every quarter, the entire market is incentivized to continually hike their prices with the cooperation of the rest of the market. They all just have to decide they want more money. It’s a death spiral.