Who Wants To Be A Millionaire
US premiere-1999
Original top prize-1 million
Current top prize-1 million
Today, that’d be worth $630,000.
Jeopardy
Alex Trebek premiere-1984
Original top prize on top question-$1,000
Today-$2,000
Today, that’d be worth $780.
$220 less than the original.
Hell’s Kitchen
US Premiere-2005
Original top prize-$250,000
Today-$250,000
Today, that’d be worth $183,000.
Top Chef
Premiere-2006
Original prize-$100,000
Today-$125,000
Today, that’d actually be almost tied, but still down $550.
America’s Got Talent
Premiere-2006
Original & current prize-1 million
Today, the million is $760,000, compared to 2006, for a $240,000 loss.
What was the point of writing this?
Besides the obvious point that reality/game shows should pay more, there is a point in how inflation doesn’t always adjust prices or payments properly.
A big example of this is the Hershey Bar.
Hershey bars came out in 1900, at a price of 5 cents.
They held that price for 69 years, until 1969, when it was impossible to hold at 5 cents and they moved to 10 cents.
The actual price of Hershey bars should have been about 18-23 cents, but the company fought to keep it at 5 cents.
Changing sizes
Manufacturing changes
Sourcing of goods
Labor policies
Some innovation
Tons of actions made to keep the brand on point.
Which when Hershey finally raised the price of the bar to 10 cents, despite making it noticeably bigger, they saw a short term sales crash, because of unhappy customers.
The economy is probably about to witness a pretty rough inflation, but companies will fight for branding to stick.
McDonalds will still have a dollar menu.
Costco will still have $4.99 chicken.
Vending machines will still try to stick at $1-1.25.
The economy has perception with dollar amounts and it’s why “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” isn’t “Who Wants To Make 1.4 Million Dollars” and why other menu items at McDonalds could be price hiked to keep the dollar menu alive.
Inflation will always exist and isn’t always the worst thing, but rapidly it can get really weird on an economy for both businesses and workers.