THE good old days when things used to be like this.
A common phrase used to describe something that was thought to be good back then. This week we look back at shopping and prices of goods and compare them to today’s prices.
Newspapers in the 1980s and 1990s dictated consumer behaviour as supermarkets would compete with one another by advertising their prices.
A common trait for the shopper back then was to earmark the best prices and then go to the different places to buy different items. Nowadays the behaviour is such that everything is usually bought from the same place.
On September 11, 1992 these items were advertised by a supermarket, note the prices.
? Coke 1 litre – $1.19, current price is $3.50
? Chicken number 15 – $5.59, current price is $12.55
? Golden Country Beef – $1.99, current price is $3.99
? Fiji Beer 750ml x 12 – $17.89, current price is $57.00
Arun Singh, 50, of Toorak in Suva said when he was growing up, all he needed was 10 cents to take him to the city. He would pay five cents at the Olympic Pool and the other half of the money was spent on snacks.
“I guess the value of money was more back then. $5 could get you a carton of beer and another $2 would ensure that you could have some meat to go with it,” Mr Singh.
“I am not sure if it is inflation or the value of the money which has gone down.”
Alanieta Koroi, 48, of Nasinu said she could remember buying a loaf of bread for 12 cents.
“I cannot forget the price of bread and cigarette. Because my grandmother would send me to buy cigarettes and it cost around 80 cents a packet of 10s,” she recalled.
Ajnit Singh, 36, said he remembered the prices of snacks in his school canteen.
“It was a school in Lautoka. It was one cent for the coconut lollies, five cents for peas, dhal and seo. Twin pop was 30 cents, for 15 cents they would half the twin pop. Soft drinks such as Coke was 50 cents and it was all bottle,” he said.
“When I went to the movies, all I needed was $5. Pay for tickets, have some snack and maybe fish chips which was sold for $1.”
Jokatama Moceica, 19, said he could not imagine coming to the shop with less than $5.
“There is nothing really worthwhile you can buy with less than $5. Going to the movies costs around $30 now. Tickets are $10, then the snacks are $10 and any meal you want to eat is definitely more than $10.”