US$ - Will be break PAR again this week??
For those looking to head to Vegas this spring/summer, we are almost at par again with the US$. Might be a good time to get your US$ now, in case things turn around again. So, who thinks we will make it to $1.10 US this time around? Wouldn't that be sweet 
Time to start to looking for retirement properties down south.
Time to start to looking for retirement properties down south.
Comments
Bad enough its as high as it is now. Almost every cent of profit has been dissolved due to the high dollar. Wish it would come back in line quickly, we need it at no more than .85 just to sustain.
yeah it's crap like this that really makes me hate capitalism. the canadian dollar is getting stronger which is good and it's supposed to. but then as it gets higher it makes it harder for companies to make money. so stupid. just another hypocritical aspect of capitalism. who the hell ever thought that it was a good idea in the first place?
I'm affraid your business is just in the wrong sector, as Milo stated imports will be the ones cashing in, exports and manufacturing will suffer.
The only benefit for myself will be a cheaper Vegas excursion.
Downfall is my online roll will decrease, and not because I suck.
Forced to agree with you, can't see it getting any lower anytime in the near future either. Sadly, that will have a profound impact on manufacturing in this country. The cascading effect will be no one will be able to afford to go on holidays because there'll be no earning at home.
Same here and the fact that is extremely tough to sell our u.s. customers price increases based on fx fluctuations.
I still don't see the benefit in imports. Like Milo stated, even if they were cheaper, the consumer doesn't reap those benefits whatsoever, or at least, not for a considerable amount of time.
I'm of the mind set that all manufacturing in North America is doomed, especially with the high dollar, but moreso due to offshore competition. We simply can't compete with China these days. Used to be Mexico, now its China...20 years from now it will be some African country threatening manufacturing.
The days of MADE IN CANADA or MADE IN U.S.A. are over. Pretty soon, you won't be able to find locally made goods because imports will dominate the market to the extent to make the entire hemisphere service oriented instead of manufacturing.
Loblaws, etc. should have a 'Made in Canada' aisle just like the foreign product aisle.
I have to disagree. Importing raw goods is cheaper due to the high dollar and we should be making use of those cheaper imports to be a producer of value added, innovative, high margin goods. Exporting raw materials has very little added value and low margin. A high dollar means Canadian manufacturing has to be innovative and provide products that no-one else can. They must find cost savings and efficiences which will benefit them no matter how high or low the dollar is to reduce the cost of the goods and improve margins. Canadian manufacturing must improve quality and produce technologically superior goods that are in demand no matter what the cost.
A low dollar has meant our manufacturing sector has gotten lazy and complacent and willing to rely on a low dollar to provide profits which is stupid short term thinking at best. To say that we need a 15% price advantage of a .85 dollar in order to compete is saying that we must be 15% less efficient, 15% lower quality, 15% less cost effective, 15% less in demand. Are we really that stupid?
I am planning a autumn trip to Vegas, and I will start buying American pesos in the near future.
Dollar cost average it and get $100 each week. I use ING. Seems to provide the best exchange rate I can find and the accounts are free.
Here's the problem. Yes Canadian manufacturers must look for cost savings, and I'm sure theres a lot that can be made. Problem is, so do their customers. You can't find that much in savings to compete with the low cost countries. In many manufacturing sectors there is no gain in producing technologically superior goods.
I'LL SPEND IT ON BOOZE AND HOOKERS SHORTLY AND GOD WILL SINK THE DOLLAR SO LOW THAT MEXICO WILL LOOK TO UNLOAD SOME OF THEIR MANUFACTURING JOBS ON US!
Weird, this is the exact thing I thought of while opening this thread. I'm pretty sure Milo and I being on the same wave length is a sign of the apocalypse.
I hate the whining that starts every time the dollar goes up. So our goods are the same price now on a currency basis with the US. So what? You don't see the US whining that their dollar is higher than many other currencies and people demanding that the gov't do something to lower their dollar so that they can compete on a currency basis. It's bullshit, 2nd class, inferiority thinking that we can't do something to make our products compete without having a lower dollar. Smart lean innovative companies will survive, thrive and be successful. The others will not and that is the true effect of real capitalism and it has nothing to do with the value of the dollar.
I see your thinking process here Moose, and for the most part agree with it. Only those that are willing to THINK SMARTER will survive. The biggest issue is that so many manufacturing companies over the past 30 to 40 years (or more) have depended on the low dollar, and they represent such a huge portion of the total manufacturing sector that it will have a massive impact on the whole. Most companies won't, or can't, change the way they do business and therefore will die off. And the ones that do go lean and smart are going to face tougher and tougher competition and demands from their customers just to stay afloat.
I'm not saying thats a bad thing at all, just going to be quite abit different from the way its been done in the past.
A good example is ATS Automation out here in Kitchener. When Klaus Woerner was alive it was company policy to never lay off employees, rather to engage idle employees in company improvement projects. Klaus died and without his control over the board very quickly layoffs began and ATS's lead as an innovator in the automation industry began to evaporate soon after. An excellent example of short term thinking that has made the company suffer in the long run.
isn't that supposed to be the essence of capitalism? i.e. the competition of the market creating jobs, money, and what-have-you? (not that i actually agree with this in practice, but that is the argument from the capitalist view-point.)
Yeah, that was one of the main reasons LaZBoy closed down 5 years ago. The dollar shot up to 90 cents instead of being down around 70 cents like it was since the mid 90s.
A high dollar is good for some but not good for others.
And I think it's not so much our dollar getting stronger but the American dollar getting weaker against all world currencies.
Can't you transfer the funds to a US dollar account? then keep it for your next trip south or until it recovers.
It's okay Walleye, we'll still take it off you when you play up here. We'll even let you buy-in at par . . .
Like Hell we will. Pay up, BIATCH!
Excellent discussion going on here. Moose, this is one of the most obvious things that has to change. Short term thinking. By tying executive compensation to short term fluctuations in share price there can be no strategic thinking without someone holding the reins that has a vested interest in the long term success of the company. Unfortunately we seem to be producing such strongly focused entrepreneurs less and less. I think this is the area to focus on to develop the next ATS or the next RIM. Companies who's products were so leading edge that currency exchange was just an added bonus and not a reason to do business in the first place.
In order to compete with offshore manufacturing on their terms we would need to decrease the wage scale of those employees to such a degree that it would have a much more profound effect on our economy than just a 15% hair cut on US exports. We also need to start diversifying our trading partners such that the US dollar isn't such a factor.......easier said than done when we are geographically separated from large chunks of the world and oil is going up.......
Greek Curse - "May you live in interesting times". seems we are there.
fyp.