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Arrested Development aired from 2003 through 2008. The average price of bananas during that time was around $0.62/lb. The average price currently is still $0.62/lb.
So…. No. Not “good old days.” Is more like same old days- if all we are using is a banana for scale.
Yeah, bananas are a singularly bad example to show inflation because, for some reason, they became so associated with the idea of "cheap" that when supermarkets increase their price any way it makes the entire supermarket be considered as expensive, so supermarket chains are locked in a standoff over its price.
Unfortunately, this is being subsided by the workers that aren't getting paid a living wage to produce the bananas, and it seems we are close to a breaking point, so there might be a price realignment soon.
I think banana production is also significantly less labor intensive than most other fresh fruits.
The trees grow in season-less climates where they can be planted and harvested at any time of year, so the steady work requirements can use a fixed number of workers rotating fields (contrast to seasonal harvests where a surge of workers need to be brought in for a few critical weeks, and not paid the rest of the year, so that the unavailability of year round work for the workers can turn exploitative, especially in employer-provided transportation and housing).
The actual characteristics of the plant grows a lot of fruit in bunches, where a single worker can cut off a single bunch containing 25-65 kg of fruit, and where the bunch can be subdivided easily into crates for shipping. So on a per-kilogram or per-fruit basis, the human labor tends to be much more efficient than other plants where each fruit might be picked by hand individually.
The fruit itself can ripen off the plant, and naturally comes in a tough protective exterior, which means they can be processed and shipped with minimal protections against rough handling or bruising, and don't need much in the way of washing or waxing or things like that.
And that's why advocates for fair wages in the banana industry correctly argue that increasing labor costs wouldn't make bananas all that much more expensive, either. Labor is just too small a proportion of the overall cost, because the workers are so productive.
I read this as being some time in the future, when the monoculture of bananas currently dominating planting has succumbed to sickness and bananas no longer exist in any form but special orders from hyper specialized grow houses and they cost a small fortune to obtain.
This was always wrong as a meme though. They weren't talking about price of bananas at the store. It was a frozen chocolate banana dessert stand in LA on the beach. 10 dollars isn't an unreasonable price for basically a food truck item, her guess was higher than the actual price listed but it's not unreasonable like the quote suggests.
In an early episode where they're taking money from the till, and George Michael says his dad checks the banana inventory to make sure the money matches up, it's $1 per banana. Pretty cheap price in that context, but that's the in-universe price.