Tractors are getting more costly every year

[CalG]

My first tractor (Fordson E27n) cost me $200 cash. Brand new rear tires, but needed the main bearings re-babbited. (Mowing hills with only splash lube is a devils mix)

The second tractor (Bolens HT, with a 54 inch mowing deck and snow blower) I traded for a Honda trail 90 that I had bought for $80

The third tractor, B7200 came along with a snow blower that I wanted , all for $2K

The forth tractor (Hurlimann Prince 435) was bought from a dealer for $6500, but I asked the fellow throw in a Cat 1 tool bar and a new seat!.

The fifth tractor, is a B2601, that was a private sale at $12,500. Less than 200 hours, with FEL and a rear snow blower, wheel chains and spacers. The fellow delivered it to the house.

All of them are in good shape and I use them all the time/

Now I hear the dollar is losing value. With this prgression, I can't imagine what the next tractor is gonna cost!

 

[grsthegreat]

Not just tractors. I stopped at a food truck today. A single burger without cheese or fries, $11. $4.5 for fries, and $4 for can soda.

Dont think so.

Walked over to taco truck. They wanted $15 for 3 tacos.

Dont think so

Went to Red Robin, ate in air cond restaurant and had full meal for way less money. And alot better food.

Was going to hit buffalo wild wings for their lunch specials for about $10 which include drinks, but was on opposite side of town.

What happened to cheep food trucks

 

[CalG]

Not just tractors. I stopped at a food truck today. A single burger without cheese or fries, $11. $4.5 for fries, and $4 for can soda.

Dont think so.

Walked over to taco truck. They wanted $15 for 3 tacos.

Dont think so

Went to Red Robin, ate in air cond restaurant and had full meal for way less money. And alot better food.

Was going to hit buffalo wild wings for their lunch specials for about $10 which include drinks, but was on opposite side of town.

What happened to cheep food trucks

I can't recall the last time I "ate out".

Though there was catering at my young son's wedding a couple of weeks ago.

 

[4570Man]

Not just tractors. I stopped at a food truck today. A single burger without cheese or fries, $11. $4.5 for fries, and $4 for can soda.

Dont think so.

Walked over to taco truck. They wanted $15 for 3 tacos.

Dont think so

Went to Red Robin, ate in air cond restaurant and had full meal for way less money. And alot better food.

Was going to hit buffalo wild wings for their lunch specials for about $10 which include drinks, but was on opposite side of town.

What happened to cheep food trucks

I don’t do food trucks pretty much ever. I’m already working outside, I want an air conditioned lunch with a bathroom and like you said they’re a ripoff. Fast food in general is a ripoff. This was my lunch check at a sit down restaurant. I couldn’t eat McDonald’s or Taco Bell for less. I always pay extra for the grilled chicken because I hate the boiled chicken and I usually drink water because I think $2.85 is a ripoff too.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Somehow people keep paying the prices, otherwise they would not continue to increase.

We eat out about 3x per month. Nothing fancy.

I cook A LOT.

Our total food bill for three, including eating out, is about $475/mo

 

[sd455dan]

Pretty much have given up on buying a new tractor, but I just bought a spare of the same model Rhino for parts, and with the Schulte 84" snowblower included almost makes the tractor free. No emission BS either. Figuring 3.2K spent - Blower has to be worth at least $1500, new spare starter and $400 worth of new HD Les Schwab batteries. Feel like at worst have $1100 into the New to me tractor.



edit: Got the tractor, 84" Schulte snow blower, field drag, forks, and spare parts home tonight.

I have twins!

So much for parts, going to just fix up the new twin and then if one breaks I can just use the other until I can find what I need to fix the broken one. Probably convert the Fast attach bucket to bob tach / Skidsteer, mounts as well like I did the original, the new to me unit engine data tag says 7 years newer so a 2000 year model.

ps. Would have had them home earlier but was lifting the spring harrow off of the trailer deck and blew an old FEL lift hydraulic hose on the left side of the Ford TLB- the split line shot about 3 gallons of fluid in just a few seconds -actually landed on the backhoe as well I got covered.

Luckily had a new spare line that I neglected to change months ago... DOH

 

[Tinhack]

It's just the cost of doing business is what I'm told. I don't know why the doctor's office charges over $400 for a two hour infusion. That doesn't count the cost of the medicine. It takes the APRN about 3 minutes to set it up. I lounge there for two hours. I might get a soda and a snack. I understand the retail price of the medicine is around $2500 for a couple of ccs mixed with 100ml of salt water.

 

[ptsg]

My tractor costs now €7500 more than it did when I bought it in 2017. Indeed prices have been going up.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

I must have gotten a bad deal on mine...

The price now, is what it was three years ago.

About $30k

 

[Hay Dude]

There’s NO WAY wages are keeping up with prices.
Only way manufacturers are selling is through more gimmicks, like “0 percent financing” or 7-10 year loan terms, leasing, etc.
Tractors aside, Look at housing in most parts of the US. Young people are having trouble buying a shoebox home now.
A 3/4 ton crew cab truck is $85,000. Heavy duty Trailers are $15,000.
I’ll be OK as I can probably keep cobbling my stuff together, but I have no idea how a young man can start a business today without outside capital.

 

[masseyrider]

Not just tractors. I stopped at a food truck today. A single burger without cheese or fries, $11. $4.5 for fries, and $4 for can soda.

Dont think so.

Walked over to taco truck. They wanted $15 for 3 tacos.

Dont think so

Went to Red Robin, ate in air cond restaurant and had full meal for way less money. And alot better food.

Was going to hit buffalo wild wings for their lunch specials for about $10 which include drinks, but was on opposite side of town.

What happened to cheep food trucks

There's a local independent "ethnic" grocery that has an in store coffee shop/pizza fast food area.
Their add had a picture of a double stack burger (looked great, Big Mac done right) and fries for $8.99.
I was ready to go until I read the smaller print.
$8.99 for the single burger. Upgrade to double stack, $4 = $12.99.
Fries are extra. Small fries are + $4. Is there anything they can sell you much cheaper than a medium potato?
$12.99 + $4 = $16.99
Beverage, medium $3.50.
$16.99 + $3.50 = $20.49 + 13% sales tax.
At a different store they had lean ground beef on for $5/lb
2 lbs plus buns, bag of fries, I already had the condiments and soda.
No sales tax because it was groceries, not a prepared meal.
Cost less to feed 4 of us than 1 order at the other place.
And some left overs for later.

 

[D&D]

My tractor costs now €7500 more than it did when I bought it in 2017. Indeed prices have been going up.

The dealers are paying the mechanics 3x as much

 

[D&D]

There’s NO WAY wages are keeping up with prices.
Only way manufacturers are selling is through more gimmicks, like “0 percent financing” or 7-10 year loan terms, leasing, etc.
Tractors aside, Look at housing in most parts of the US. Young people are having trouble buying a shoebox home now.
A 3/4 ton crew cab truck is $85,000. Heavy duty Trailers are $15,000.
I’ll be OK as I can probably keep cobbling my stuff together, but I have no idea how a young man can start a business today without outside capital.

Mommy and daddy or in-laws providing outside capital from their nest egg. Somebody I know gave up their whole nest egg (only 30k) so their kid could buy a house. At 69, he and wife both still work part time to make ends meet.

 

[grsthegreat]

Theres a new local sit down restaurant here that has $10 lunch specials. Great, fat hamburger, small order of tasty fries and refillable drink included.

Way, way better than mickyd or other chains. Dont know how they do it, but the place is packed.

 

[masseyrider]

From a young age Pa used to involve me with the transactions connected to the farm.
It was either 1975/6 in the Fall.
One of the local Massey dealers was clearing out his stock of new MF135s.
He asked me If I thought he should buy one. What did I know at that age. I was more interested in the sprouting bosoms of the girls at school.
Well he ended up buying 2.
They had the heavy rear ends and single remotes. The front axles were also heavier to be able to accept a FEL. 8x2 transmissions which were an upgrade over the standard 6x2.
$7000, all in for the pair.
Never one to stand pat on equipment a few years later he went to trade them on a pair of MF245s, the new equivalent. $8500 each.
He got almost double on the trades than what he had paid just a couple years earlier.

 

[bigtiller]

Perkins Restaurant & Bakery has 300 locations in 32 states and 2 Canadian provinces. Their special is burger, fries & pie for $9.99.

 

[WinterDeere]

There’s NO WAY wages are keeping up with prices.

I have spent a lot of time thinking about this over the last few decades, and even still can't find an easy way to compare, because the standards of daily life have changed so much.

Things like smart phones, wireless plans, and data plans all cost us a fortune, and are yearly expenses our parents just couldn't have imagined or even thought about budgeting. On the flip side, we can buy a pretty darn nice television on an hour or two of salary, whereas our parents or grandparents had to save weeks or even months for a new TV.

Many in my grandparents generation lived in houses of only 1500 square feet, but I can't even remember the last time I saw a new house under 6000 square feet built around here. Standards have obviously changed toward the more expensive.

So, looking at these things, it's hard to say standards haven't improved. But of course, now dual-career families have become the norm, in an effort to support all of this. So, how do you settle with that?

 

[5030]

Show me somthing that don't cost more today please?????

 

[WinterDeere]

Show me somthing that don't cost more today please?????

Televisions. For as much as six decades, the average "large" family room television had cost very roughly $700. But what you would get for $700 improved dramatically over that time, and the value of said $700 kept decreasing over time.

Yeah, I've paid double that for leading-edge TV's (e.g. 75" LED back in 2011), but the greater trend is the masses of 45" and 50" LED TV's that can now be had for $250 - $450... an amount most make in a single day. Your father probably had to save for weeks to buy a TV... for $700.

Computers are an even better example. I remember my father buying three computers in the mid-1980's, each close to $5k. Today, I buy $800 computers for my wife and kids, which work quite well for basic home chores. Even my high-end engineering workstations are under $10k... roughly $2k-$3k in mid-80's dollars, and these can do more calculations in a few seconds than my father's computers did in a full day.

 

[masseyrider]

Televisions. For as much as six decades, the average "large" family room television had cost very roughly $700. But what you would get for $700 improved dramatically over that time, and the value of said $700 kept decreasing over time.

Yeah, I've paid double that for leading-edge TV's (e.g. 75" LED back in 2011), but the greater trend is the masses of 45" and 50" LED TV's that can now be had for $250 - $450... an amount most make in a single day. Your father probably had to save for weeks to buy a TV... for $700.

Computers are an even better example. I remember my father buying three computers in the mid-1980's, each close to $5k. Today, I buy $800 computers for my wife and kids, which work quite well for basic home chores. Even my high-end engineering workstations are under $10k... roughly $2k-$3k in mid-80's dollars, and these can do more calculations in a few seconds than my father's computers did in a full day.

My parents first refrigerator was $500.
Pa and Ma working brought home aboot $140 a week.
Ma worked for the Parks Department and Pa for Ontario Hydro.
The fridge was a return. The original owners couldn't keep up with the payments.
Store gave them the full warranty because it was only 6 months old.
White and not even self defrosting.