The Energon Pub

As many Canadians know the $CDN has been steadily gaining over the last 5 years on its $US counterpart. Just 5 years ago the $CDN was worth around $0.60 US and it now sits at almost $0.98! That is a more than 60% increase in value over that timespan. To put this in perspective if I wanted to buy a $60 US TF 5 years ago I would have to have paid $100 CDN. Now I would have to pay $62 CDN. Quite impressive. See the graph below for a 5 year review.

Factors such as the Iraq war and a US debt that has grown to more than 8 trillion from 2 trillion since Bush took power are obvious reasons for the weaker $US while the CDN government is in debt paydown mode and only now owes about $500 odd billion. However, the CDN economy is also flexing its commodity based muscles. Many people do not know that most of the oil the US consumes comes from Canada. Canada is a well established resource based economy which makes it a player on the world stage in a time of high resource demand. There is a downside though as we have lost manufacturing jobs though due to higher cost of our exports.

What is my point you ask with these statements in this post? Well this has all made collecting for many Canucks a much cheaper enterprise. Paying $US for exclusives, going to BOTCON, cross-border shopping and even buying local CDN retail TFs is cheaper. The retail costs still need to drop much more but there is some movement downwards at some stores like the Bay and Walmart who both dropped the Leaders to $59.99 from $69.99 unlike TRU. Still unfair that the Ultimate Bumblebee is priced at $109.99 CDN and is priced at $79.99 US in the States. That is way out of whack when we are almost at par. With luck and some time we should see more movement downwards in due course.

Celebrate Canada. The $CDN strength is something to celebrate as TF collecting (especially the originals priced in $US) keeps getting a whole lot cheaper.

The US$ has been getting weaker on the international markets for quite some time now. Only 3 years ago the AU$ was worth about US$0.55. It is now worth around US$0.85.

Too bad the toy prices in commercial stores here have not changed to reflect the improving AU$, technically we are paying even more now for the same size classes of 3 years ago.

i_amtrunks wrote:The US$ has been getting weaker on the international markets for quite some time now. Only 3 years ago the AU$ was worth about US$0.55. It is now worth around US$0.85.

Too bad the toy prices in commercial stores here have not changed to reflect the improving AU$, technically we are paying even more now for the same size classes of 3 years ago.

I hear your points. Australia is much like Canada's sister country. Very much commodity based as well. Retail has all kinds of excuses for not bringing down the costs. The main one I heard is economies of scale and that we are 10 smaller hence the cost to profit ratio is lower. Bull plop in my mind. Greeting cards is a case in point. 40% mark-up between US and CDN prices is too much for me to stomach on a card! I simply shop online for many TFs and I can now consider buying the US version cross-border or on eBay and paying the US cost and having it shipped and still save money vs retail up here.

The $CDN though has gone from $0.85 at the beginning of 2007 to almost $1.00 now. This is an unprecedented level of value added benefit.

http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/q?s=CADUSD=X

That's great for Canadian TF collectors!

However, it really, REALLY sucks for us Americans who cross the border to take part of the many Canadian pleasures, namely good booze, tons of strip clubs and some amazing food. Sadly, my trips to good 'ol Montreal have decreased from a couple times a month to maybe once every couple months.

Very, very sad.

Zeds wrote:

i_amtrunks wrote:The US$ has been getting weaker on the international markets for quite some time now. Only 3 years ago the AU$ was worth about US$0.55. It is now worth around US$0.85.

Too bad the toy prices in commercial stores here have not changed to reflect the improving AU$, technically we are paying even more now for the same size classes of 3 years ago.

I hear your points. Australia is much like Canada's sister country. Very much commodity based as well. Retail has all kinds of excuses for not bringing down the costs. The main one I heard is economies of scale and that we are 10 smaller hence the cost to profit ratio is lower. Bull plop in my mind. Greeting cards is a case in point. 40% mark-up between US and CDN prices is too much for me to stomach on a card! I simply shop online for many TFs and I can now consider buying the US version cross-border or on eBay and paying the US cost and having it shipped and still save money vs retail up here.

The $CDN though has gone from $0.85 at the beginning of 2007 to almost $1.00 now. This is an unprecedented level of value added benefit.

http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/q?s=CADUSD=X

More power to the Commonwealth I say. Now if only you Canadians could get better at Cricket and Rugby...

i_amtrunks wrote:More power to the Commonwealth I say. Now if only you Canadians could get better at Cricket and Rugby...

You are correct my friend. Long live the Queen and all. As for Rugby forget it. Canada will never be as good as the Wallabies (OZ) and All Blacks (NZ). YOu guys are just nuts with that sport ! Like Olympic swimming. As for Cricket well I think that Canada will stick to Hockey where we kick ass everywhere we go.

Thenedain wrote:That's great for Canadian TF collectors!

However, it really, REALLY sucks for us Americans who cross the border to take part of the many Canadian pleasures, namely good booze, tons of strip clubs and some amazing food. Sadly, my trips to good 'ol Montreal have decreased from a couple times a month to maybe once every couple months.

Very, very sad.

Indeed you are correct. Many Americans are shocked when they arrive and see that they do not even get an exchange rate anymore on their $US. Soon they will be getting less for the $US as the $CDN will surpass it in value in the coming months given present market conditions.

We kick the most american ass!

The english pound sterling is worth pretty much $2!


So $100 worth of tf goodness costs me £50!

Yay!

The Master Blaster wrote:We kick the most american ass!

The english pound sterling is worth pretty much $2!

So $100 worth of tf goodness costs me £50!

Yay!

Ah point taken but the $CDN has been gaining on the UK pound too. 5 years ago it was at one time $2.65 CAD to the pound and now it is $2.00. 25% increase in value. Also shipping to the UK from the US is more than shipping to Canada so we got you beat on those two fronts if I wanted to buy some US exclusives or go to the US for BOTCON would also be cheaper given it is just across a border instead of an ocean !

The Master Blaster wrote:We kick the most american ass!

The english pound sterling is worth pretty much $2!


So $100 worth of tf goodness costs me £50!

Yay!

Sounds great! Have you guys gotten Energon there yet? heh.

Zeds wrote:

The Master Blaster wrote:We kick the most american ass!

The english pound sterling is worth pretty much $2!

So $100 worth of tf goodness costs me £50!

Yay!

Ah point taken but the $CDN has been gaining on the UK pound too. 5 years ago it was at one time $2.65 CAD to the pound and now it is $2.00. 25% increase in value. Also shipping to the UK from the US is more than shipping to Canada so we got you beat on those two fronts if I wanted to buy some US exclusives or go to the US for BOTCON would also be cheaper given it is just across a border instead of an ocean !

Touche salesman

It's good that you guys are seeing an improvement in currency value.

Now if only both of us can get better distribution and all of the US releases, why it would be just dandy.

Sloptank wrote:

The Master Blaster wrote:We kick the most american ass!

The english pound sterling is worth pretty much $2!


So $100 worth of tf goodness costs me £50!

Yay!

Sounds great! Have you guys gotten Energon there yet? heh.

Bleh

We got all but most of the combiner parts, Quintesson, silly Kicker minicon two-pack, Wingsaber, Dinobot two-pack, repaints etc etc etc


But we got most of the core figures.

The Master Blaster wrote:Now if only both of us can get better distribution and all of the US releases, why it would be just dandy.

IMHO I cannot agree more with you. There are rumours that TRU US and CANADA are going to merge so that will help on that front with TRU exclusives. However, we still do not get all the Walmart US exclusives and we get none of the Target ones since we do not have Target up here. We do get the COSTCO exclusives though. Speaking of exclusives...got an extra Nightwatch Movie OP lying around by any chance

The Master Blaster wrote:We kick the most american ass!

The english pound sterling is worth pretty much $2!


So $100 worth of tf goodness costs me £50!

Yay!

Too bad the UK is such an expensive place to live though. The pound is such a strong currency, yet you pay the same amount of pounds as other do dollars. Loaf of Bread = US$2, AU$2 or 2 Pounds (don't have that symbol...)

Zeds wrote:You are correct my friend. Long live the Queen and all. As for Rugby forget it. Canada will never be as good as the Wallabies (OZ) and All Blacks (NZ). YOu guys are just nuts with that sport Wink! Like Olympic swimming. As for Cricket well I think that Canada will stick to Hockey where we kick ass everywhere we go.

Well to be honest Australian Rugby sucks at the moment.
Canada could probably compete with England in both Cricket and Rugby at the moment, considering how bad they are at both

i_amtrunks wrote:Well to be honest Australian Rugby sucks at the moment. Canada could probably compete with England in both Cricket and Rugby at the moment, considering how bad they are at both

I sense a war within the Commonwealth if this thread is allowed to continue