Wealth & Poverty Review Coca-Cola Abundance
Get 214 percent more refreshment today for the same time price in 1959.
From 1886 to 1959 you could buy a 6.5 ounce bottle of Coca-Cola for 5 cents. This puts the cost per ounce at around 0.77 cents. In 1959 unskilled workers were earning around $1.16 per hour. This means they could buy 150 ounces of the delicious beverage per hour.
Today at Walmart you can buy a 1.25 liter (42.27 ounces) bottle for $1.52, or 3.5 cents per ounce. Unskilled workers are now earning closer to $16.51 per hour, giving them a rate of 472 ounces per hour.
Unskilled workers are getting 214.7 percent more than their 1959 counterparts. For the time required to buy one ounce in 1959, they get 3.14 ounces today.