Nicola's Baby Blog

The Strength of the Canadian Dollar

Living so close to the US (we're about 5 minutes away from the bridge), we are used to seeing our fair share of American money.  And we tend to be pretty aware of the exchange rate.  The stores around here accept both Canadian and American tender.

Up until a couple of weeks ago, I have always known the Canadian dollar to be worth less than its American counterpart.  Working in a store, we know that the total cost of a purchase will always be a few dollars less when in US funds.

But then everything changed and now the Canadian dollar is worth more than the American dollar.  How strange!  You should see the faces of the Americans who come into the store wanting to spend their American dollars.  When we tell them the total, they'll normally ask how much it is in American money.  Usually, that amount is lower.  But not anymore!  Now it costs more.

But this change in the trend has certainly brought about some interesting situations.  For instance, Wal-Mart is now selling their greeting cards, magazines and books at the American price.  Magazines have two prices listed - American and Canadian.  The US price might be $4.99 while the Canadian price is $6.99.  Well, now we pay the $4.99.

I bet Wal-Mart are selling more magazines, books and cards than they were before!  Everyone seems to be waiting for the exchange rates to go back to "normal", but it doesn't look like they'll be doing that any time soon.

The down side is that some of my income comes from American sources.  That used to be great because it calculated into more Canadian dollars, but now I get less.  A few months back, $250 American became $280 Canadian.  For the same amount now I only get $227.

Oh well.  There are pluses and minuses, I guess.

6.11.07 19:08