1954 Washer & Dryer Retail Price List

Very cool Fred, I take it that this list was for dealers that had taken in trades that they reconditioned and wanted to resell. The prices are on the slightly high side, I would guess the purpose of this list was so it could be shown to people who were considering buying a 2nd hand machine. With the dealer having this [ official ] list in hand it was meant to help the appliance dealer justify their prices to potential customers.

Tom has several little books that lists most appliance model #s from the 50s and on that lists the trade-in value of appliances year by year. The prices in Toms books are just the opposite because the books Tom has were designed to show just how little appliances were worth in just a few years if you wanted to trade them in.

Overall in spite of what were high prices for early automatics and dryers very few of the 50s automatics lasted even ten years before most customers gave up trying to repair them again and again, and service call charges in the late 50s were only around $3-5 if the servicer even charged a house call at all, LOL, so in reality 50s and 60s automatics were usually thrown away faster that they are today.

John L.


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Post# 821058 4/26/2015 at 20:53 (3,281 days old) by Blackstone (Springfield, Massachusetts)
Checkrate/Likes 4 I just came across this retail price list from a Dec. 1954 Mart Magazine. I only scanned in the listing for washers and dryers, but other products were in the publication. The list does not include Blackstone 350s, only up to the model 250. Price appear to be very high on a lot of the models, considering that these are 1954 prices. Definitely not throw-away machines. I also have a similar list for 1957, which I hope to be able to scan at a better resolution. This 1954 list is only 100 dpi, so it will be blurry if you enlarge too much. Fred View Full Size

Post# 821071 , Reply# 1 4/26/2015 at 22:47 (3,281 days old) by PhilR (Quebec Canada)
Checkrate/Likes That's very interesting info Fred, thanks for sharing it!

Post# 821077 , Reply# 2 4/26/2015 at 23:39 (3,281 days old) by A440 ()
Checkrate/Likes Amazing. Do you know if this was suggested retail prices? Or cost prices offered to dealers? Very cool to see this! Thanks Brent

Post# 821116 , Reply# 3 4/27/2015 at 08:37 (3,280 days old) by combo52 (50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md)
Checkrate/Likes 1 *1954 washer and Dryer Retail Price Guide* Very cool Fred, I take it that this list was for dealers that had taken in trades that they reconditioned and wanted to resell. The prices are on the slightly high side, I would guess the purpose of this list was so it could be shown to people who were considering buying a 2nd hand machine. With the dealer having this [ official ] list in hand it was meant to help the appliance dealer justify their prices to potential customers. Tom has several little books that lists most appliance model #s from the 50s and on that lists the trade-in value of appliances year by year. The prices in Toms books are just the opposite because the books Tom has were designed to show just how little appliances were worth in just a few years if you wanted to trade them in. Overall in spite of what were high prices for early automatics and dryers very few of the 50s automatics lasted even ten years before most customers gave up trying to repair them again and again, and service call charges in the late 50s were only around $3-5 if the servicer even charged a house call at all, LOL, so in reality 50s and 60s automatics were usually thrown away faster that they are today. John L.

Post# 821119 , Reply# 4 4/27/2015 at 09:13 (3,280 days old) by Blackstone (Springfield, Massachusetts)
Checkrate/Likes *Better Scan* I rescanned this page at higher resolution, so it will be clearer when enlarged. Prices were retail list prices, with the condition that freight charges might increase the prices. Customers tended to repair machines rather than buy new ones more frequently, even though the older machines did need more frequent repair work. My father would usually encourage repairs on the Blackstone 350s (especially), probably because they were such interesting machines, that needed to be saved. With the throw-away mentality today, customers probably just expect to have to buy a new machine every few years. Fred View Full Size

Post# 821122 , Reply# 5 4/27/2015 at 09:30 (3,280 days old) by Blackstone (Springfield, Massachusetts)
Checkrate/Likes *1957* Three years later: View Full Size

Post# 821635 , Reply# 6 5/1/2015 at 07:01 (3,277 days old) by Jetcone (Schenectady-Home of Calrods,Monitor Tops,Toroid Transformers)
Checkrate/Likes *Wow* EASY, GE, HOTPOINT were expensive at $479 and $529 !! The ABC 92 at $329 and the Kelvinator WAH-9 machine could be had for the same price yet the cabinets were 6 inches different in size ?????

Post# 821639 , Reply# 7 5/1/2015 at 07:25 (3,277 days old) by mayken4now (Panama City, Florida)
Checkrate/Likes *Bendix CEV-NS* Would be only purchased by the high roller in 1954!

Post# 821916 , Reply# 8 5/3/2015 at 18:43 (3,274 days old) by ovrphil (N.Atlanta / Georgia )
Checkrate/Likes *RCA-Whirlpool 1957* I'm blown away by the prices for these, especially these pairs: View Full Size

Post# 821918 , Reply# 9 5/3/2015 at 18:51 (3,274 days old) by Lorainfurniture (Cleveland )
Checkrate/Likes 2 Adjusted for inflation the price is right around $3500 each. No wonder why "they don't make them like they used to ".