Your true love won't save money on seven swans-a-swimming or nine ladies dancing by shopping on the Internet this Christmas season.
An annual tally of the gifts in "The Twelve Days of Christmas" increased to US$15,210 from US$14,940 last year, PNC Advisors said. That's a 1.8 percent rise in its Christmas Price Index, while the US Consumer Price Index rose 3.4 percent, boosted by soaring energy prices.
Buying online can cost even more, PNC found, in a new twist on its tongue-in-cheek survey. Going to Web sites to buy the goods and services quoted in the Christmas carol cost US$23,103, a whopping 50 percent premium -- mostly because of shipping and handling charges.
Bargain hunters needn't despair, though. Some items, such as five golden rings and the pear tree in the oft-repeated refrain, cost less online than at the mall. The rings cost US$147 on the Web, for example, but US$250 in stores.
True loves today prefer platinum or two-tone diamonds anyhow, PNC Advisors investment strategist Rebekah McCahan said.
Other gifts, like three French hens and eight maids-a-milking, were costlier on the Internet, Pittsburgh-based PNC said. The milkmaids priced at US$296.32 online, more than seven times the going rate to hire their services off line.
The cost of labor-intensive gifts such as 10 lords-a-leaping, 11 pipers piping and 12 drummers drumming rose 3.5 to 4.8 percent because of a tight labor market in the entertainment industry.
Inflation didn't hit the market for fowl. Prices for two turtle doves, four calling birds and six geese-a-laying remained the same, as did the obligatory partridge at US$15.
And should your sweetheart buy all of the 364 gifts listed in the song, repeating the prior day's gifts on each successive day, PNC said the total bill would be more than US$60,000.
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