The $A crash and burns

[STL]

:( :( :(

Buying everything all of a sudden got a lot more expensive.

In the past month and don't expect things to change.

*runs off to his room and cries*

[roller]

looks like its back to the old Switerzland bank account.

I wish i had inherited great great uncle 'Hertz's' business savy, played the stockmarket and retired at 45, went around the world and lived in hotels, and this was like in the '20s!

Fortunately i have friends at Macquarie who manage my moneys! Remember in Ducktales, Scrooge McDuck had a room of money he swam in! Ive always wanted to do that! and bite a gold bar:D

[Pulse]

Atleast the dollar isn't as bad as it was during the RID/Car Robots era... (I mean, the price difference is still somewhat bearable)

[griffin]

The interest rate cut today, and possibly another 1 or 2 by the end of the year will mean the exchange rate is gonna get worse (for us importers of toys). It's good for Australian businesses though, who export or compete against foreign made stuff.
But since this is a TFs board, it's *bad* news... :p

[Kyle]

*runs off to his room and cries*

+ 1 :(

[Soundwarp]

Man i find it really hard not to swear at times like this.

[dirge]

I always expected this to happen, although I hoped it wouldn't for a while.

I'm not upset, since I went on a splurge once the dollar was over 90c and got a whole bunch of stuff I'd wanted but was never previously in my price range. Also managed to finish off G1. It's now lean times, but I'm still working my way through the splurge of TFs...

BTW don't feel so bad guys. The longer term fans here, such as myself, griffin, Demonac, Ark-Ivor, were buying TFs at 50c a few years back!

[MV75]

The interest rate cut today, and possibly another 1 or 2 by the end of the year will mean the exchange rate is gonna get worse (for us importers of toys). It's good for Australian businesses though, who export or compete against foreign made stuff.
But since this is a TFs board, it's *bad* news... :p

Yep, with interest cuts comes lower exchange rates. Ah well. At least local prices will come more in line again then Vs. the cost of importing. Hasbro AU would have made an absolute killing this year.

[Saintly]

bad bad for the OTFCC pre-order!

[iceburn]

absolutely...when paying for the CC. it was 0.819 from paypal.
anyone can convince me to pay for a Henkei Ramjet at A$30 from RK??

[sifun]

NOOOOO

[STL]

"We're all gonna die!" :( :( :(

*resumes crying like a little girl*

[sifun]

maybe we should all mail robot kingdom and tell them that our dollar is really bad and that most aussies wont be buying from them as much..

[Paulbot]

So the question is do I hold off buying things waiting for the dollar to rise again...

or do I buy buy buy before the dollar drops even more??

[Bartrim]

Okay lets stir the pot here:p

Yay for dropping interest rate charges!!!:D In all honesty it kinda tears me in two. Yes our dollar drops so things from overseas are now more expensive but I do have a whopping mortgage and this helps me in that regard.

[Saintly]

Okay lets stir the pot here:p

Yay for dropping interest rate charges!!!:D In all honesty it kinda tears me in two. Yes our dollar drops so things from overseas are now more expensive but I do have a whopping mortgage and this helps me in that regard.

+1

[i_amtrunks]

So the question is do I hold off buying things waiting for the dollar to rise again...

or do I buy buy buy before the dollar drops even more??

The next rate dropped is pegged to be in November Paulbot, so you have till then before the AU$ drops to US$0.75 or something!

I'm very glad I got my Encore Omega from Fatbot instead of doing a big RK order, also looks like trying to find DBZ cards from the states is going to have to slow down too. Bugger.

[MV75]

So the question is do I hold off buying things waiting for the dollar to rise again...

or do I buy buy buy before the dollar drops even more??

Depends. It should bounce back early next year, but if there are things that won't be around that long, buy them now.

[Fungal Infection]

I'm glad the rates dropped even though buying stuff from overseas will be more expensive. However, for those of us with a mortgage, I'm sure the money you save on your mortgage is more than what you'd pay for stuff overseas so its still win/win in some regards.

[Zippo]

Dropping like a brick in New Zealand as well. Making my holiday a bit more expensive.

[Golden Phoenix]

Maybe I should go buy a whole bunch of US$ now so I can save it for later when the AU$ goes even further down

[autobreadticon]

who faults is it, you guys. stopped your spending and borrowings when there was high interest rates ,slowing economic growth

[STL]

Maybe I should go buy a whole bunch of US$ now so I can save it for later when the AU$ goes even further down

I was actually mentioning that to Paulbot today at lunch. Like American Travellers Cheques. I don't want next year to be lookin' at an exchange rate of 0.70c while I'm at Botcon. :eek:

[iceburn]

its so crap!! time when i need to save even as little money, it's just getting more expensive....

[kup]

its so crap!! time when i need to save even as little money, it's just getting more expensive....

If it keeps lowering we may all need to take a break and be forced to mainly buy local figures, even vintage ones like G1 which would be a pain as Ebay US seems like the best source.

[JuzMel]

It went up a bit by 2 cents today.
Last night was AUD$1 = US$0.81 now its US$0.83

The BF's dad is a remiser/stock broker for a bank and he predicts it will keep falling to about $0.75 cents probably, the question is just WHEN? For the moment it's drifting up and down a few cents...

[GoktimusPrime]

As Pulse and dirge have said, the worst time was in 2000-2001 when the AUD hit about US50c, which was when Car Robot and the G1 reissues came out! (and I was still a student then!). (T_T)

[MV75]

Even 75cents isn't too bad. I remember I was glad when it came up to that. :D

Also it wouldn't surprise me if it did trend back up for a bit, what with the massive US government bail out of Fannie and Freddie. This thing is trillions of dollars.

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN0527801420080906

[Sky Shadow]

As Pulse and dirge have said, the worst time was in 2000-2001 when the AUD hit about US50c, which was when Car Robot and the G1 reissues came out! (and I was still a student then!). (T_T)

In the '80s it was all over the place as well. At one point in the late '80s/early nineties (dependng on the month) US Transformers comics in Australian Newsagents went down from $1.95 to $1.75 to $1.70 to $1.50. The UK comics went up and down too depending on the pound to the Aussie dollar ($1.25, $1.30, $1.50, $1.10, etc.) There are good times for our dollar and there are bad. These times aren't that bad at all yet. And yeah - 2001 was crap for buying, but on the plus side - when the dollar's weak I guess it can also be a good time to sell your superflous wares to international bidders in eBay auctions.

[autobreadticon]

I could be cruel and say the no-no word ''US recession...''

[GoktimusPrime]

meh, booms and recessions are economic realities. And while a low Aussie Dollar may be bad news for importers and those of us who spend overseas, it's good news for Australian exporters. There are winners and losers when our dollar is strong and weak.

[k.wong23]

Its back up to USD83/AUD ! ohhh yeh :D maybe i will order from robot kingdom!

[Paulbot]

In the '80s it was all over the place as well. At one point in the late '80s/early nineties (dependng on the month) US Transformers comics in Australian Newsagents went down from $1.95 to $1.75 to $1.70 to $1.50.

It helped that the US comics started being printed with AUS prices in the issue number box on the cover (from #70 or #71 if I recall correctly)

But it also meant our comics were considered foreign market reprints and of lesser value than the US editions. :rolleyes:

[TheDirtyDigger]

Been pretty peeved this time that the Australian dollar went so high as to be almost on par with the US but comic shops still charged double US cover price for single issues.

[loophole]

i remember my dad telling me that at one point he was paying less for comics in australia than what the U.S. cover price was i hope that makes sense :P

[MV75]

Yea, means he was picking up his copies of the phantom for 10pence while comparing against todays prices. :D