THE 2020 PNC CHRISTMAS PRICE INDEX

 

It’s that time of year again – time for the 37th annual PNC Christmas Price Index!   

The PNC Christmas Price index reports the cost to purchase the gifts included in the classic holiday song “The 12 Days of Christmas” – “a light-hearted take on the Bureau of Labor Statistics' (BLS) Consumer Price Index, which measures the average change in prices consumers pay for goods and services over time.”

PNC tells us –

“Considering the impact of social distancing, PNC calculated the 2020 price tag for the PNC Christmas Price Index at just $16,168.14, a considerable decrease of $22,825.45 or -58.5% over last year's cost, with a third of the index constituents literally not available for purchase this year.”

The major differences in the included items are –

* The 2020 cost of the performers in the listing – dancing ladies, leaping lords, piping pipers, and drumming drummers – is $0.00, as live performances are non-existent this year due to the virus.   

* The “birds of a feather” in the list represent a combined increase of $328.50, or 36.4%, from 2019.  “The inability for consumers to eat at restaurants or even get takeout during the lockdowns drove an increased need for cooking at home, leading to an unexpected increase in demand (and subsequently prices) for our fowl friends.” 

The chief economist of a bank in Philadelphia, which eventually became part of PNC, began estimating the cost of the 12 Christmas gifts in 1984 as a holiday client letter.  

For those who prefer the convenience of online shopping the Index also calculates the cost of the gifts purchased on the internet.  As online costs are higher due to travel and shipping, the total cost is $20,355.09 - $4,186.95 more than “in store” purchases and $21,903.82, or 51.8%, less than 2019.

The actual true cost of every gift in the song (with each previous day’s purchases repeated over the 12 days) is $105,561.80 in store and $133,355.96 online.

Click here for the press release that includes the full chart.

TTFN

THE 2019 PNC CHRISTMAS PRICE INDEX

It’s that time of year again – time for the 36TH annual PNC Christmas Price Index!  

The PNC Christmas Price index reports the cost to purchase the gifts included in the classic holiday song “The 12 Days of Christmas”.

PNC tells us it has “ . . . calculated the 2019 price tag for The PNC Christmas Price Index at $38,993.59, a negligible $67.56 or 0.2% more than last year's cost, but less than the government's Consumer Price Index, which increased 1.8% through October in year-over-year measurement before seasonal adjustment.”

The major differences in the included items are –

* a 20% drop in the cost of turtle doves, “the first drop in price since 2004”.  

* a 10% increase in the price of 5 gold rings.  “After falling in 2018 due to less demand and fluctuations in gold prices, Gold Rings rebounded” in 2019.  

* a 7.7% jump in laying geese “largely due to an increase of interest in backyard farming”.

* a 4.5% drop in the cost of one partridge in a pear tree, resulting from a $10.00 drop in the price of the tree.

Once again, the labor unions for musicians, dancing ladies and leaping lords proves to be better than the milking maid union.  The milkers were paid the minimum wage of $7.25 per hour for 2017 through 2019.  After the individual partridge, costing $20.18, the $58.00 price tag for 8 milking maids was the lowest on the list.  Leaping lords got $1,000 each, slightly more than dancing ladies.  The musicians got a small .8% raise for 2019.  

The chief economist of a bank in Philadelphia, which eventually became part of PNC, began estimating the cost of the 12 Christmas gifts in 1984 as a holiday client letter.  This year’s price is about 95% higher than the first index from 34 years ago.

For those who prefer the convenience of online shopping the Index also calculates the cost of the gifts purchased on the internet.  As online costs are higher due to travel and shipping, the total cost is $42,258.91, $3,265.32 more than “in store” purchases.

The actual true cost of every gift in the song (with each previous day’s purchases repeated over the 12 days) is $170,298.03 in store and $194,502.72 online.

There appears to be some discrepancies in the 2018 numbers reported in this year’s press release and table from PNC and the numbers from the 2018 chart that I had reported in last year’s post.  PNC tells us the 2018 prices were “adjusted to better reflect open market pricing”. 

Click here for the press release that includes the full chart.

TTFN 

THE 2018 PNC CHRISTMAS PRICE INDEX

I’m a bit late in reporting this.  But it’s here - the 35TH annual PNC Christmas Price Index!  

The PNC Christmas Price index reports the cost to purchase the gifts included in the classic holiday song “The 12 Days of Christmas”.

PNC tells us it has “ . . . calculated the 2018 price tag for The PNC Christmas Price Index at $39,094.93, approximately $450 or 1.2 percent more than last year's cost, but less than the government's Consumer Price Index, which increased 2.5 percent through October in year-over-year measurement before seasonal adjustment..”

The major differences in the included items are –

* a 9.1% drop in the cost of gold rings, due to less demand and fluctuations in gold prices throughout 2018,

* an 8.3% jump in the cost of laying geese, after not seeing an increase since 2014, and

* a 3–3½% pay hike for leaping lords and the musicians (pipers and drummers), as lagging wages start to catch up to a tight labor market.

Once again, the labor unions for musicians, dancing ladies and leaping lords proves to be better than the milking maid union.  The milkers were paid the minimum wage of $7.25 per hour for both 2017 and 2018.  While the dancing ladies fee remained the same for both 2017 and 2018, they continue to be the highest paid individuals on the list.  

The chief economist of a bank in Philadelphia, which eventually became part of PNC, began estimating the cost of the 12 Christmas gifts in 1984 as a holiday client letter.  This year’s price is about 95% higher than the first index from 34 years ago.

For those who prefer the convenience of online shopping the Index also calculates the cost of the gifts purchased on the internet.  As online costs are higher due to travel and shipping, the total cost is $41,165.95, $2,071.02 more than “in store” purchases.

The actual true cost of every gift in the song (with each previous day’s purchases repeated over the 12 days) is $170,609.46 in store and $193,360.92 online.

There appears to be some discrepancies in the 2017 numbers reported in this year’s press release and table from PNC and the numbers from the 2017 chart that I had reported in last year’s post.  There were changes to the leaping Lords amount on the “traditional” listing and leaping lords and dancing ladies in the “internet” listing.  The 2018 chart indicates that 2017 prices for these items were adjusted, but I could find no explanation for the changes.

TTFN

THE 2017 PNC CHRISTMAS PRICE INDEX

It’s here!  The 34th annual PNC Christmas Price Index, that is.

The PNC Christmas Price index reports the cost to purchase the gifts included in the classic holiday song “The 12 Days of Christmas”.

PNC tells us “ . . . the 2017 price tag for The PNC Christmas Price Index at $34,558.65, approximately $200 or 0.6 percent more than last year's cost and less than the government's Consumer Price Index, which increased 2.2 percent through September for the past 12 months.”

The only increases in the included items are –

* a 5.2% jump in the cost of the pear tree in which a partridge resides, due to a limited supply of larger more mature trees,

* a 10% increase in the cost of gold rings, due to increased demand and popularity, and

* a 2% pay hike for leaping lords, who apparently have a better union than musicians, milking maids and dancing ladies.

The chief economist of a bank in Philadelphia, which eventually became part of PNC, began estimating the cost of the 12 Christmas gifts in 1984 as a holiday client letter. This year's price is 83 percent higher than the inaugural report 33 years ago.

For those who prefer the convenience of online shopping the Index also calculates the cost of the gifts purchased on the internet.  As online costs are higher due to travel and shipping, the total cost is $45,096, $10,538 more than “in store” purchases.  The internet Index reflects a $493.90 or 1.1% increase over 2016.

The actual true cost of every gift in the song (with each previous day’s purchases repeated over the 12 days) is $157,558 in store and $204,848.65 online.

TTFN

THE 2016 PNC CHRISTMAS PRICE INDEX

 

It’s that time of year again!

 

As it has been doing since 1984, PNC announced its annual Christmas Price Index, which shows the current cost for one set of each of the gifts given in the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas”. 

 

The price tag for the 2016 PNC Christmas Price Index totals $34,363.49, only $232.50 or .7%, more than the 2015 CPI.  The increase is less than the 1.6% increase in the government’s Consumer Price Index. 

 

Eight of the twelve items show no change for 2016.  Only the Turtle Doves (up $85 or 29.3%), the Pipers Piping (up $73.20 or 2.8%), and the Drummers Drumming (up 79.30 or also 2.8%) cost more in 2016 than 2015.  The cost of a Partridge in a Pear Tree actually dropped (down $5.00 or 2.3%).  The cost of the tree remained the same; the drop is in the price of the Partridge, from $25.00 to $20.00.   

 

The increase in the Turtle Dove is due to a shortage of the birds.  PNC tells us “A turtle dove only lays two to three clutches a year, with only two eggs per clutch, making these lovebirds a hard gift to find.”  There has, however, been an increase in the supply of Partridges, resulting in the price reduction. 

 

Apparently the musicians had the only effective union this year.  Each musician received an average raise of $6.63. 

 

The performers in the group, Leapers and Dancers, earn much more than the musicians, Pipers and Drummers, the average performer earning $687.45 each while the average musician earned only $245.33.  The Dancing Lady is the highest paid of the group, earning $288.33 more than a Leaping Lord (I know from firsthand knowledge that dancing ladies are expensive).  The poor Milking Maids get the minimum wage of only $7.25, which did not go up in 2016

 

PNC also calculates the total cost of the items gifted by the True Love in all of the song’s verses, aka the “True Cost of Christmas”.  The total cost for all 364 gifts for 2016 is $156,507.88, $1,100.70 more than last year.

 

And it adds up the cost for those who prefer the convenience of online shopping.  The 2016 Internet CPI is $44,602.53, over $10,200 more than buying in person.  This is up $975.80 or 2.2% from 2015.  Convenience is expensive, mostly due to added shipping and handling costs for the specialty items.

 

FYI, the “cheapest” PNC Christmas Price Index was 1995, when it was just over $15,600.

 

For more information on the PNC Christmas Price Index click here.  

2016 PNC CHRISTMAS PRICE INDEX

	2015	2016	CHANGE
One Partridge in a Pear Tree	$        214.99	$        209.99	-2.3%
Partridge	$           25.00	$           20.00	-20.0%
Pear Tree	$        189.99	$        189.99	0.
Two Turtle Doves	$        290.00	$        375.00	29.3%
Three French Hen	$        181.50	$        181.50	0.0%
Four Calling Birds	$        599.96	$        599.96	0.0%
Five Gold Rings	$        750.00	$        750.00	0.0%
Six Geese-a-Laying	$        360.00	$        360.00	0.0%
Seven  Swans-a-Swimming	$  13,125.00	$  13,125.00	0.0%
Eight Maids-a-Milking	$           58.00	$           58.00	0.0%
Nine Ladies Dancing	$     7,552.84	$     7,552.84	0.0%
Ten Lords-a-Leaping	$     5,508.70	$     5,508.70	0.0%
Eleven Pipers Piping	$     2,635.20	$     2,708.40	2.8%
Twelve Drummers Drumming	$     2,854.80	$     2,934.10	2.8%
Total Christmas Price Index	$  34,130.99	$  34,363.49	0.7%

TTFN