Great time to be a Canadian TF Collector. $CDN almost at par with the $US!
Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 10:58 pmAs 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.
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.
! Like Olympic swimming. As for Cricket well I think that Canada will stick to Hockey where we kick ass everywhere we go.
