Lens prices in the UK

[jack the ripper]

Originally Posted by KeithT

Definitely not having a laugh. I was earning 28 quid a week in 1970 and that was as a film technician at Elstree Studios, and married with 1 child and a mortgage which was keeping me very poor I can tell you. A lot of people were on much less and I had the benefit of some decent regular overtime. Today's married unemployed get around 4 times that amount in benefits without their rent allowance on top.

Of course prices have gone up, but don't tell me that wages haven't kept up with that. For example an £800 lens is about twice a workers average weekly wage by today's standards. In 1970 a decent £80 lens equivalent cost nearly 4 times my weekly wage.

Debt isn't a new thing either. Most generations have had to suppliment their income with debt. In the 1960s,1970s, debt was via the old "Live now - Pay later" Hire Purchase agreements. If you missed a payment they would snatch back the lot even after the 30% charges they made and even if you had only one or two payments left to make.

I'm not saying prices aren't a rip-off, Im saying not much has changed in my lifetime. Nothing is cheap and there are no free rides anywhere you live.

I really dont wanna sound offensive but I have no idea what planet you live on, yeah maybe people on benefits are getting 4 times what you earnt but the cost of living definately has increased a lot more than wages have. I know in my town every single person I know is unemployed, and its a touchy subject in the uk but the foreigners have taken over the jobs, worked their way up to own the companies, then sacked all us british people, then on top of that, they employ their own race, and help their own race get benefits and pay the workers cash in hand so the workers can get away with working and receiving benefits and the bosses help the workers do it. Anyway, back on subject with the cost of living, if wages everywhere have gone up to equal the cost of living, why is it people who work at mc donalds earn £150 a week before tax has been taken off and then have to pay £100 a week rent, and then doesn't even leave enough to pay bills for gas, electric, water, council tax and food?

More people these days are resorting to dealing drugs to get enough money to feed their kids because income support for unemployed people is £58 a week. I know they dont have to pay rent but out of that they have to pay gas, electric, water and food bills and as you can see, it's impossible. I use hardly any electric in my 1 bedroom flat and usually even have the heat turned right down in the midst of winter and even that comes to £13 a week alone so living off £58 is impossible. Evereyone I know sells or takes drugs in order to deal with the depression of not knowing how they're gonna get through the next week, so cost of living for most people is the hardest and highest its ever been, and daily, more foreigners are coming into the country, prices are rising, petrol prices have shot up to astronomical highs, more people are losing their houses and being made homeless due to not having the money to live or pay bills and its only gonna get worse.

Maybe we should all move to the planet you live on because things there seems to be excellent.

[KeithT]

Hmm! Well, I don't want to sound offensive either. But if all these foreigners have done so well perhaps people in your town should take a leaf from their books and maybe they won't be stuck on the doll. As it happens I have been employed for low and medium wages, and I ran my own business for over 32 years before losing a fortune to the whims of economic cycles. I am now retired with housing benefit after the crash during the 1990s put me into dire straights. Do I moan about it? No. Do I blame the immigrants? No. I got over it and moved on, and maybe I was to blame for some of it. Anyway, that's the planet I live on. It's called Planet reality.

Edit: There are a lot more people in this country making a modest income and living a decent life than there are druggies beating up old people to get drug money, so don't give me that old cherry. You must live in a very narrow world to think all is hell. Enough said I think.

[donoreo]

1. Lets keep this on topic.

2. I did not realise that prices included the VAT, I thought it was on top.

[OldBoy]

Originally Posted by KeithT

I'm not saying prices aren't a rip-off, Im saying not much has changed in my lifetime. Nothing is cheap and there are no free rides anywhere you live.

I don't agree with that, as a lot of electical equipment is cheaper now than it was forty years ago. Think of washing machines, TV's, computers etc. I remember been quoted £300 for a 30mb, yes 30mb, harddisk in about 1994. I also remember my manager going out in 1968 and paying just under £1,000 for a new Ford Zeypher V6, which in today money would be about £50,000, whereas today's price would be about £16,000. So it's swings and roundabouts, some things have gone up but a lot of things have got cheaper.

[KeithT]

Actually, OldBoy I agree with you really and my statement above was a bit misleading I suppose. There are many things today which are a lot cheaper than they were in the 1940s 1950s. Fridges and televisions for instance were by an large only affordable by the rich and famous. And who could afford central heating in those days? It was not my intention to get into an argument, as you will see by my first post, but to point out that prices compared to wages have not made it harder these days for people to purchase goods, but in fact made it a lot easier.

I'm sure that's what I was trying to say really. Most businesses work out their profits based on costs and the monetary exchange rates if they are international. Percentage wise companies like Canon would probably be using a similar profit percentage to what it did 30 or 40 years ago. And yes, I remember my late mum buying her first refrigerator in 1956 for the princely sum of £70 and had to pay for it over three years. In today's terms it would cost around £1,350 according to the Historic Inflation Calculator. Using the same calculator a lens costing £80 in 1971 would actually be £910 at todays prices and a £150 Canon camera would be £1,707. Your Zephyr V6 at £1000 in 1968 is only a mere £13,360 at today's inflated price. I rest my case.

The calculator can be used here: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/histori...ion-calculator

[OldBoy]

Originally Posted by KeithT

Actually, OldBoy I agree with you really and my statement above was a bit misleading I suppose. There are many things today which are a lot cheaper than they were in the 1940s 1950s. Fridges and televisions for instance were by an large only affordable by the rich and famous. And who could afford central heating in those days? It was not my intention to get into an argument, as you will see by my first post, but to point out that prices compared to wages have not made it harder these days for people to purchase goods, but in fact made it a lot easier.

I'm sure that's what I was trying to say really. Most businesses work out their profits based on costs and the monetary exchange rates if they are international. Percentage wise companies like Canon would probably be using a similar profit percentage to what it did 30 or 40 years ago. And yes, I remember my late mum buying her first refrigerator in 1956 for the princely sum of £70 and had to pay for it over three years. In today's terms it would cost around £1,350 according to the Historic Inflation Calculator. Using the same calculator a lens costing £80 in 1971 would actually be £910 at todays prices and a £150 Canon camera would be £1,707. Your Zephyr V6 at £1000 in 1968 is only a mere £13,360 at today's inflated price. I rest my case.

The calculator can be used here: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/histori...ion-calculator