Phone prices, then and now

[McHeath]

I found a catalog online of Stromberg Carlson phones for sale to the public, about 1976 or so.  They also have refurbed phones in the catalog, some are WE and some are NE and so on.

The prices really surprise me, they are quite high.  When I use an inflation calculator they come out to a lot of loot.

For example, a 500 series single line ringer phone is $19.95.  That's about $74.68 in todays money.

A 2500 single line ringer is $38.55, or $144.25 today.  (ouch)

A Trimline, well SC's copy of it the Slenderline, desk model with touch tone dial, was $50 even, or $187.10 today.  (major ouch!)

A refurbed WE Princess was $15.70, or $58.75 today.

A refurbed 354 WE wall phone was $12 even, or $44.90 today.

A refurbed black AE 80 with single line ringer was $11 even, or $41.16 today.

A new three line Call Director copy from SC was $66.80 with a rotary dial, or a whopping $249.96 in todays moola.

Clearly these phones were not cheap.

[McHeath]

Just noticed that they want $69.50 for an amplified G6 handset.  That's $260.07 in todays money.

[bingster]

When phones weren't something that could be purchased at the local dollar store (or anywhere else), those prices aren't surprising.  Still, it's a LOT of money, as you said.

[LarryInMichigan]

In 1978, I bought a new beige SC 500, without a ringer, for $20, on sale at Montgomery Ward.  As I remember, that was a really good price at the time.  The phone is sitting in the corner of my bedroom now.  For those people living in Bell territory, there were few alternate sources of phones.

Larry

[Stephen Furley]

I remember in the days when you couldn't buy a telephone here either, at least not to connect to the PSTN that the Post Office  published an insurance value for telephones.  I think it was thirty-something pounds for a standard 706/746 type desk set at the time, probably '70s.

[McHeath]

I guess that since the phone company owned these phones and never wanted to have to deal with trouble from them, and the end user would pay rent fees forever on them, that low cost was not the main issue driving production. 

As my first job paid 3 bucks an hour in the late 70's it would have taken a bit of time to save up for that Touch Tone Trimline.   

[bellsystemproperty]

I didn't realize thse phones cost so much to make. Guess we can't complain about eBay prices for all of them

[Tonyrotary]

At least those phones were made with quality. But then again the phone companies had to make something that would last to lower their overhead. Good thing for us they built these wonderful old quality phones to last.

[ntophones]

I was telling my dad that's one of the reasons I love these phones. They were made so well, and the workmanship is so lacking in many things today. But, the old phones are a tangible reminder of when things were not built for obsolescence, but for quality and durability (not to mention style.)

[dsk]

I dropped over the price of 1 field telephone to the Norwegian army 1931, adjusted to the index of 2008, and converted to US $: 981,76!  

This was of course in a period of economical problems, just like now  

dsk