A penny for my thoughts

If my thoughts are worth a penny, how much should I charge?

The idiomatic guidance for this is clear: “a penny for your thoughts”, so I will only charge a penny for my thoughts (henceforth known as a “thought-penny”), however I will adjust for inflation 😇.

tl;dr: as of February 24th, 2024, an inflation adjusted thought-penny is ≈ $4.14 … and with at least 2 posts a month, it would be $8.28 (Substack requires a minimum monthly subscription of $5).

Origin

The earliest known written record of the idiom is in 1522 from Sir Thomas More’s book Four Last Things in England.

‘As it often happeth that the very face sheweth the mind walking a pilgrimage, in such wise that, not without some note and reproach of such vagrant mind, other folk suddenly say to them, “A penny for your thought.”’ - Sir Thomas More, 1522

How much is inflation?

As Sir Thomas More published in England, let’s first track the inflation of the British Pound. According to the Bank of England inflation calculator, a pound from 1522 is worth £788.45 adjusted for inflation.

Since I’m charging USD, £788.45 is equal to $993.27:

Since there are 100 pennies (a.k.a. pence) (p) to a pound (£), a 1522 penny adjusted for inflation should be $9.93, right? Wrong.

Decimalisation: the pre-decimal penny

Prior to 1971, there was the pre-decimal penny (d) that was worth 1/240th of a pound. Back then, a pound (£) was worth 20 shillings (s), and a shilling (s) was worth 12 pre-decimal pence (d). The penny was withdrawn in 1971, in an event known as “decimilisation”, and replaced with the decimal half-penny, with ½p worth 1.2d.

Final Math

A thought-penny is worth $993.27 / 240 = $4.138625 ≈ $4.14.

Committing to two subscriber posts a month, the final amount is $8.28 (also because substack requires a minimum of $5 ☹).

Lock in the rate!

I will regularly be updating the new subscription cost to keep up with inflation of the thought-penny. Earlier subscriptions will lock in their previous rates. Assuming inflation stays positive, the cost of delaying subscription to my blog will likely increase over time!

A more variable factor is the foreign exchange rate between a Pound sterling (£) and a United States Dollar. It would be cheaper to subscribe when the UK economy is weak and the US economy is strong.