$17 or less NEW LPs

-- Man, I wish records were cheap like in the '70s.  
-- In 1970, my dad made $10,000 a year for the entire budget of a family of eight.  And he still had money to buy records. [true winch story]
-- How much did your dad pay for them records?
-- I still have some of his records, still in shrink, with original price tags on them.  He paid either $3.98 or $4.98.  One was $2.99!   
-- And you still have them?  Over 50 years later?!
-- No doubt.  He enjoyed them, cranked 'em on his Advent speakers, but took care of them.  He passed them to me, and I already passed some down to my grandkid!  My dad's great grandkid!  Four generations!  
-- And he only paid $5 for them?!
-- At the most.
-- But with inflation, what is $5 in today's money?
-- $43.
-- What?!
-- A five dollar record in 1970 is the same as paying $43 today. 
-- But what if I pay $17 for a record today, what would that be like paying in 1970?
-- $1.98.
-- Did they sell $1.98 records in 1970?
-- You could find $1.98 records in 1970. In the budget racks at Meijer's Thirfty Acres. But most were shit records.  Labels sold wholesale for $3 ($25 in 2026 money) so it's easy to see why record stores often charged $4.99.  Good Records in Chicago sold wholesale at $2 ($17 in 2026 money) but Columbia Records destroyed the label by dragging them to court with bogus lawsuits...they never planned to win, just wanted to destroy the label for daring to offer cheaper records and offering more money to the artists.  Good Records only released one record, and I bought it, for $2.99 ($25 in 2026 money).  Also, I used to get cut-outs with sawcuts or punchholes drilled through the jackets, got them through the mail for $1.98, plus shipping and handling.  It took 4-8 weeks to get your records, but it was a blast, looking through the typewriter photocopied list, finding some to order, sending in my form, waiting for the records to come in the mail.  Cracking them open, reading the handwritten notes, jamming out.
-- That does sound like fun.
-- Tons of fun. And when punk labels started, you could mail order directly from them, and get LPs for about 5 bucks, which even inflation adjusted, that's only about $17.

-- So labels like Dirtnap Records rule.  You're selling Dirtnap titles for what would be $1 - $2.25 in 1970.   

-- That is correct.

-- And Green Noise has hundreds of new titles $17 and under, so that's the same as $5 punk records in the 1980s or $1.98 cutout records in 1970.  
-- That's what I'm talking about.  But admittedly, I can't sell all records for $17.

-- But a $25 record is the same as a $2.99 record in 1970, and a even a $35 record is the same as a $3.99 record in 1970.  And you're selling imports for those prices.  The imports from Wild Honey are priced like $2 or $2.50 records in 1970.   

-- That is correct.
-- Thanks Winch.
-- No sweat.