It’s become a yearly tradition for the folks at PNC to figure out how much it would cost to buy each of the gifts in the carol “The 12 Days of Christmas.” Here are this year’s results – complete with an interactive pop-up book accompanied by PNC’s Jim Dunigan’s lovely Mid-Atlantic accent. The total bill for our generous lover grew 9.2% to $23,439, while the government’s Consumer Price Index showed only a 1.1% rise over the past 12 months.
Buying the items online wouldn’t have helped – in fact, Dunigan says in the press release, that would have run you $11,000 more:
“In general, Internet prices are higher than their non-Internet counterparts because of shipping costs for birds and the convenience factor of shopping online,” Dunigan said.
Almost 50% more? I suppose that depends where you do your turtle dove shopping, online and off. I’d like to see their data set on this one. It was indisputably a tough year for milkmaids:
As the only unskilled laborers in the PNC CPI, the cost of the eight Maids-a-Milking is represented with the minimum wage. They received no increase in pay in 2010 as the Federal minimum wage did not rise for the first time in three years. With the minimum wage flat at $7.25 per hour, hiring the maids this year cost $58.
