Gurps $, 2018

[DocRailgun]

It was pointed out to me recently that a single "normal" donut (one without special toppings or premium fillings) at a large American chain such as Dunkin Donuts or Krispy Kreme costs around one dollar. If the GURPS $ of 2018 purchases only a single donut and not a loaf of bread (considering a loaf of bread in an average gocery store in the place I live in costs at least $2.50), how would the various costs of items and services change to match such a new (and entirely theoretical) calibration?

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by DocRailgun

It was pointed out to me recently that a single "normal" donut (one without special toppings or premium fillings) at a large American chain such as Dunkin Donuts or Krispy Kreme costs around one dollar. If the GURPS $ of 2018 purchases only a single donut and not a loaf of bread (considering a loaf of bread in an average gocery store in the place I live in costs at least $2.50), how would the various costs of items and services change to match such a new (and entirely theoretical) calibration?

"Randomly"; unfortunately the values of many goods and services are not affected in the same way as the price of a commercial baked good such as a loaf of bread.

I believe economists use a "basket" of goods to average out across multiple sectors when trying to come up with a value equivalent between two points in time, which is a better approach for game purposes.

When I care (I don't always care), I just pop into Google and ask it how much USD 1.00 from 1990 is worth today. Saving.org figures $1 in 1990 equals $1.95 in 2018, overall, using numbers from the Consumer Price Index from January 1st of said years.

[Stormcrow]

The GURPS $ in the fourth edition is very approximately equal to $1 US in 2004. But the idea behind the $ is that it's generic. You don't need to adjust all the prices in GURPS books; you just need to convert to local currency, if you care at all. (Some people don't care, and their medieval fantasy characters buy and sell things in $.)

WolframAlpha is a converter that'll do currency. For example, $1 US 2004 = $1.33 US 2018.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Bruno

When I care (I don't always care), I just pop into Google and ask it how much USD 1.00 from 1990 is worth today. Saving.org figures $1 in 1990 equals $1.95 in 2018, overall.

I've been using a 2 to 1 ratio for Gurps bucks to modern money. Good to know its actually pretty close!


Its certainly worth pointing out that prices vary widely from seller to seller, and from day to day, so you shouldn't worry too much about precision. I find doubling everything in the books works well.

[AlexanderHowl]

I generally use as well 2:1 for 2018:2004, as it reflects the changes in the cost of living ($1200 per month is sufficient for cost of living for a single person at Status 0 in 2018).

[whswhs]

Kromm referred me lately to https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm . It says that $100 today is the same as $74.72 in 2004 (using January in both years).

[Anaraxes]

I also usually use the BLS calculator. (After all, they're creating the US CPI in the first place.)

The Consumer Price Index is just one of many inflation measures, and has been said, it's an average of the prices in a lot of other categories of goods. Here's a picture showing how some categories diverge, with "all items" in the middle of the pack.

It's pretty much impossible to be both precise and concise, even over a limited time span in one location and culture. So a rough approximation between GURP$ and your setting's currency is good enough.

[AlexanderHowl]

With health care prices going up 10% per year, I am sure that the cost of living is twice as much than it was in 2004. I would challenge any single person to support themselves at a Status 0 level in the metropolitan area of a major city in the USA with just $800 per month (taxes, food, rent, utilities, insurance, car payments, etc).

[hal]

Originally Posted by DocRailgun

It was pointed out to me recently that a single "normal" donut (one without special toppings or premium fillings) at a large American chain such as Dunkin Donuts or Krispy Kreme costs around one dollar. If the GURPS $ of 2018 purchases only a single donut and not a loaf of bread (considering a loaf of bread in an average gocery store in the place I live in costs at least $2.50), how would the various costs of items and services change to match such a new (and entirely theoretical) calibration?

Hi DocRailgun,

If you want to do the legwork for your campaign as a GM, or offer this as a suggestion to your GM - you may want to simply google prices online to get an idea of what anything is generally worth at this point in time.

For instance, Wegman's (A grocery chain) sells a gallon of 2% milk for a touch over $2. Two whole wheat loaves of bread run $3 (or $1.50 for one).

Gas prices you can usually google where needed.

In addition, if you need to price an item not in the GURPS equipment list, you can generally go online to get a rough idea of said item probably should be listed for with GURPS.

If you look at GURPS SPACE - where they give per capita income for various tech levels, TL 8 is listed as 31,000 give or take. Dividing that by 52 weeks in a year, 40 hours per week, and the hourly wage for that per capita income is roughly $14.90 an hour. If that seems reasonable to you to use for your campaign, then go with it. If not, there are other methods you can go with. ;)

The thing to keep in the back of your mind is that GURPS subsumes a LOT in their cost of living per month, but don't itemize what goes into that calculation. If you use the GURPS prices for various things for a TL 5 campaign set in the Old West for example, the income values per month don't seem to match real world income values at a historical level. How you handle that one is entirely up to you. ;)

So, my advice, don't sweat it too much when/where it comes to the GURPS wealth rules and the like. If you look at it too closely, you may end up going slightly nuts.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

With health care prices going up 10% per year, I am sure that the cost of living is twice as much than it was in 2004. I would challenge any single person to support themselves at a Status 0 level in the metropolitan area of a major city in the USA with just $800 per month (taxes, food, rent, utilities, insurance, car payments, etc).

But that has nothing to do with it. The monthly cost of living figures have never been a good fit to present-day costs, and they don't seem to be intended to be.

I did make about $800 a month back in the mid-1980s, and I wasn't living at a Status 0 level then. And $800 back then would be a lot more than $800 now. Nor do I think that $600 in 2004 was good enough for Status 0 in American terms.

This is a problem with the GURPS treatment of wealth, income, and cost of living, to be sure. But using the U.S. government ratios doesn't make the problem worse than it would be otherwise.