Of Beer, Ammo, and Wages

In another thread, there was a tongue in cheek comment about inflation causing a case of beer and a box of ammo to exceed the weekly average wage at some point due to inflation. Just because I’m a sucker for obtuse data questions, I dug in:

The most recent statistics from the BLS show that in the fourth quarter of 2022, the median weekly income of all full-time wage and salary American workers was $1,084. This was a 7.3% year-over-year increase and a 1.3% increase from the previous quarter. Assuming a 40-hour workweek, the average hourly income for American workers in Q4 2022 came in at $27.10.

https://www.oberlo.com/statistics/average-us-income#:~:text=Average%20US%20Income%20(Q4%202021,increase%20from%20the%20previous%20quarter.

Currently a case of “commercial” beer (think a Budweiser, Micheloeb, Miller, and maybe Coors or Rolling Rock) costs between $15 and $30. Craft beers are higher, often approaching $80-$100 a case. And they vary widely in price by state, as do the taxes you pay for that case.

Ammunition is also highly variable. Aside from taxation issues, you have differing calibres, different gun powder loads (which influence lethality and speed of projectile), full metal jacket/partial or no coating, etc.

Fiacable was selling boxes of 9mm rounds for $12 pre-pandemic — that rose to $40 to $60 during peak pricing. Meanwhile a box of .380 caliber rounds that cost $15 pre-pandemic was going for $50 to $60 at peak, while a box of .22 rounds rose from $7 to $20, a box of .45 rounds rose from $15 to a range of $50 to $60, and a box of .38 Special rose from $15 to a range of $50 to $60. Boxes of these calibers typically contain 50 rounds.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/aaronsmith/2021/08/10/ammunition-inflation-prompts-gun-buyers-to-count-their-bullets/?sh=4d4e36007ce3

So while the prices are indeed going up, inflation would have to really really be beyond bad to get to a point where you need to spend a week’s worth of pay to shoot a case of Bud Lite.