Top 20+ Pricey Things in the ’80s That Are “Free” Now

As technology updates and drives progress forward, the economy will follow. Supply and demand dictates that every hot, new piece of technology comes with a high price tag. But if you’re willing to wait a couple of years (or decades) until that hot new invention becomes old news, you can get a lot of cool (if not mildly obsolete) stuff for next to nothing. Here, we’ve highlighted 12 once-popular and expensive items from past decades that people practically give away for free today.

#1: Long-Distance Phone Calls

In 1980, a 5-minute weekday phone call between Detroit and Los Angeles cost approximately $2.17. That’s roughly equivalent to about $7.36 by today’s standards. These days, you can get an unlimited nationwide plan (on your cellular device, no less) that makes the cost of an individual long-distance call negligible.

#3: Calculators

Calculators, like computers, have journeyed from being grandiose and extraordinarily expensive, to something so basic and necessary that it’s been programmed into our cell phones. Today, companies will even give small calculators away as promotional items.

#4: Color Televisions

In 1977, the average cost of a color television was around $800. When you consider that the average salary was around $200 a week, that TV comes across as a significant investment. Today, a television unit can be purchased at a range of prices, with smaller models often sold for under $100.

#6: Video Cassette Recorders (VCRs)

Introduced in the 1970s, video cassette recorders were initially cost prohibitive. Not only could you play a VCR tape and watch its contents on your TV screen, but you could record those must-see TV moments that you couldn’t physically be present to witness. But as entertainment technology forged onward, the VCR went out of fashion, relegating it to thrift store finds and garage sale regulars.

#7: Portable Music Players

When the Sony Walkman hit the scene, people could, for the first time in history, live their portable lives while listening to their music and have a relatively easy time doing it. In 1979, you could own your very own Walkman for around $150 (equivalent to about $550 today!) But as our portable technology advanced, music streaming capabilities now come with every cell phone, and portable music devices are much more affordable than ever before.

#9: Cordless Phones

When cordless phone technology was new on the scene in the 1980s, you could expect to pay around $200 per unit (around $500 by today’s standards.) Now, fewer and fewer people even have landline phones any longer, making the cordless phone an accessible and inexpensive device.

#10: Microwave Ovens

In the 1970s when just about every family in America had a microwave oven, you could expect to pay around $500, or $2,500 by today’s equivalency! Today, your most basic models can be had for under $100, not to mention the resale market being flush with all kinds of options.

#12: Answering Machines

Another dinosaur of the pre-digital age, the answering machine was once utilized by every household in America. In the 1980s, standalone machines cost anywhere from $100 to $300. Today, however, voicemail services come as a standard feature with every phone plan at no additional charge to you.

#13: Word Processors and Typing Machines

One of the earliest word processors, IMB’s Magnetic Tape Selectic Typewriter, carried a price tag of between $10,000 and $30,000! That’s way too salty for average families to afford, so the machines were primarily sold to government agencies, large corporations, universities, and law firms. By the 1980s, word processors were included in home computers and the cost dropped to a more affordable $2,000 to $5,000. That’s still pricey by today’s standards.

#15: Digital Storage (Floppy Disks, Early Hard Drives)

Remember buying a box of floppy discs and carrying them around with you so you could access and share your files? It was the only method for storing our documents, so we had to foot the bill for these external storage devices. When thumb drives were introduced to replace floppy discs, our heads were in the clouds. Now, of course, so is all our data.

#16: Wallpaper Samples and Paint Chips

Narrowing down your home decorating inspiration impacted your pocketbook in the 1970s and 1980s. Many retailers charged a fee for wallpaper samples and paint chips. Typically, getting a wallpaper sample meant asking the retailer to cut a chunk off a roll of wallpaper, thus reducing the price tag on the roll. That’s why a fee was charged for this service.

#18: Home Exercise Videos

If you wanted to work out with Richard Simmons or Jane Fonda from the comfort of your own home, you had to make your wallet lighter in the process. Celebrity workout videos were all the rage in the 1980s, but celebrities don’t work for free. In 1982, the retail price of the Jane Fonda workout tape was around $60. A Planet Fitness membership today is much cheaper.

#19: Cookbooks

Before we could Google recipe suggestions or get culinary inspiration from our favorite foodie bloggers, we had to rely on old family recipes written on faded index cards or fancy cookbooks to know how to cook dinner. Yes, we purchased a thick, costly cookbook to only use about ten recipes from it.