My job requires me to monitor exchange rates so I may time our procurements when it's low against our currency. Especially against the Euro. But recently the Euro's been steadily rising. It affects my company and now I am actively searching for alternative American suppliers. I wasn't surprised to learn that our local hobby shop wont be purchasing from Italeri/Humbrol/Heller until such time that the Euro goes down to a reasonable price. Well it's going to be quite sad since they'll just be finishing off their European stocks and we'll end up with just Tamiya or Academy to choose from. DML can't reach the Mid-East except through Italeri so we'll have to pay Euro to get to them too.

Hi Mondo,

I'm a buyer by profession, and I'm finding at the moment that I'm buying as much as I can in US$ as the £Sterling is so strong. This is good for my employer (where we can switch to $) and for my hobby - I can import a kit from the US or HK etc. for about 1/2 of the UK cost!

hey were should what should i do to save so much

Frank

I gotta say, I'm having a great time with the devalued USD. The South African Rand (ZAR) is strong against both the USD and the GBP.
Our petroleum price came down astronomically this month. This also affects our prime lending rate, currently 11%, which if it decreases leaves us with more money in the pocket - or in my case paying of my properties quicker.
More relevant to this site, all our modeling goods are imported, so this eventually leads to cheaper goods. This gives many of us the opportunity to either stockpile our usuals or buy the more expensive kits we would not normally be allowed (by SWMBO :-) ) to buy.

As you're in Canada it'll be more difficult. Sterling is normally a strong currency and at present is close to $2 to the £1, so we can buy well in $ countries.
When I went to Canada last year I took an extra bag with me and filled it just with models as they are already about 1/3rd cheaper than UK prices.
We also get a lot of duty applied when goods are imported into the UK, and tax applied in the shop when we buy, so prices in the UK are artificially high anyway without the currency issue.

No, Italeri lost the contract to be the european supplier as the kit prices were starting to get silly up to £35 for a kit. A company in Austria now have the contract and the prices have come down by on average £12 and Austria isnt in the EU either so maybe think about ordering from there?

That may be true, but remember, the models on the shelves in the local hobby stores were bought when the prices were still high, so I doubt if we'll see any significant changes in the prices of kit's for a while to come

Cougar

to bad were not under the british regim anymore it would make my wallet happier

Frank

Don't know what the current US$ vs CDN$ is at this time but it used to be Americans would go to Canada to buy favorable products. I know it's still a very favorable US rate because my last set of Fruils cost me less than US$32 including shipping!!!

The steady decline of the USD to the JPY is what is killing me right now!I enjoy getting my kits from HLJ but that is getting expensive now!!!!!

Noticed in the last few days that prices seem to be levelling out - either shops in the UK are noticing that they are losing business overseas and lowering their prices, or those abroad are making a buck! The last three models I've bought are from good old Hannants!

Not only kits. I used to buy Military Modelling magazine every month and Scale Model Magazine whenever their is something interesting. Since they jacked up the price in the bookstore by 15%, it's been 6 months since my last purchase. I get a better deal surfing the net. When I started buying MilMod it cost us here 27 Saudi riyals in 1999, Now it's 38 Saudi riyals. Scale model Magazine started out at 17riyals now it's 32 riyals. If I subscribe the censors here will take out half the magazine for improper content.

hey, jsut for the fun of it
0.8118 is what our canadian dollar is worth compared to the us.

thats pretty high, i remember it being 75 cents, almost 76, guess i havnt paid much attention.

whats hte minimum wage in the states? here its 7.45, so this means 6 bucks in the states. how much is the minimum wage in the states?

Frank

I think the Canuck Buck was closer to $.63 a year ago. With it now up around $0.82, it makes it easier to buy stuff from the US. It's a good time to order stuff from all you guys down in the States. This may be a good year to stock up on some supplies.

Minimum wage is set by federal, state and local law.
I believe federal is currently $5.65. States sometime impose certain minimums if, for example you don't offer health benefits, you have to add another $1. City of Detroit requires $7.37 if you do business with the city. Its almost $10 if you have a city contract and you don't offer health benefits