As has been the case in recent weeks, I was reading more about Lloydminster’s history.
As always, it sent me down a history rabbit hole, one I’d like to take you down with me.
Back in 1914, in the early days of the Co-op in Lloydminster, you could get a barrel of coal oil for $10.60, which included the barrel. Pigs sold for five and ¾ cents a pound and it was 10 cents to have the pig weighed.
A hired hand received $1.25 a day for all-day labour. If you wanted this illustrious barrel, you’d have to work almost 10 days, or, two pigs.
It’s all in the context of the time period. Early Lloyd residents likely had to make tough decisions about what to spend their money on. Of course, over time, inflation plays a huge role in our dollars’ worth and what you can get with it.
The monetary amounts of the past may seem like peanuts, but that was big game to a 1914 family.
Today, for just 10 bucks here in Lloyd, you could get a whopper at Burger King, or a breakfast combo at Tim Hortons.
At Canadian Tire you could get the Mastercraft inflation gun, which is currently on sale.
Hopefully, that works to stop monetary inflation, but I propose an alternative. You could turn $10.60 Canadian into $4,716.9841 Sudanese pounds.
If you’re wondering, you could nearly pay for 4, 3-bedroom apartments in Sudan’s city centre.
These days I’m trying to save money, and clearly, I’ve had it all wrong.
Why would I stop buying coffee or lunch when I could move to Sudan and own multiple houses and businesses? Or I could invest all my money in Sudan into scientific research, build a time machine and go back in time to be a rich man in the early days of Lloydminster.
In the wise words of a famous doc, “Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.” Which is an accurate modern description of driving in Lloydminster.
Read more: Opinion: Marriage, fisticuffs and city hall
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