Ugh!
The freaking dollar was $2.10 to a pound and the Yen was something like 200 to a pound.
Now, the pound has dropped so much that it's $1.57 to a pound and yen is 154.

Thats pretty hardcore. And totally effects my purchasing power.
Gutting.

in jan 07',,£1 = 240yen but that was extraordinary & short-lived,,although it had safely been around 210-220yen to £1 until this past august..

the current rate,,, £1 = 154yen is bad....

as for the dollar,,it has really just regulated back to what it used to be,,the glory days (jan 07' - aug 08') of £1 = $2-$2.05 seems to be far behind us...(i never saw it go as high as £1 = $2.10 though)

so,,£1 = $1.55-$1.60 sucks but it is not that bad in the end of the day...

although,,the current strength of the yen will eventually effect my toy buying,,i am just trying to ignore right this moment..

As much as I wanna weep for my london toy geek comrades, I think other countries (US, Australia) suffer far worst fates on currency conversion. I've almost always had to double the price when buying goods from UK which really sucks.

I've never quite understood how come the pound is always so much stronger than any other currency. It's baffled me my entire adult life? Is it because England amassed so much wealth centuries before, so much so that it can bank this far into future? By that I mean it's pound is well backed up with gold etc unlike our dollar. Then again I'm not a economics major. I do feel bad for brits in one way though. England is probably one of the most expensive places to live in the world.

i haven't bought a new toy since i was in japan on holiday (may). since then i think i've only bought two or three things off dudes on here. just can't afford it. the australian dollar has been pretty much raped, which makes it even worse since i'm going back to japan i less than two months.

that guy just needs to get some display shelves.

The video was pretty cool.

I hear you on that...the £ to $ was so good earlier in the year and now...ouch! However, if there is an upside it does make me really think through purchases now and hopefully means less impulse buys that I then can't shift a year down the line!

Maybe

I guess that's true.
Only I have been far far to conservative with my spending.

credit: GUYx1

£1=$1.46!?!??!??!

that's 10 cents in a freaking week!

is that all?

Man I buy my music from the U.K. and I (used to) buy my toys from the US or Japan. Australians just arnt meant to have international culture!
Back to Honkey nut and banksia baby toys and bad rock and country music AAAAARGH!!
I wish I had bought U.S dollar 6 weeks ago I would have made 40% on my money

welcome to the "youve just been had in the arse club" that would be the one that allows all comers except the us and japan.

Is this a good time to visit Australia then?

It's always a great time to visit Australia, Joe!

if you're english, yeah. american, sorta.

Joe its an awesome time to visit. I cant see the AU$ getting a whole lot cheaper for you.
Middpa are you a closet Ozi..... or you really like place?

It's summer right now right?
Maybe it's time to plan a little trip.
I believe middpa is in AU.

Come on down buddy, the weather is warm the beer is cold...and the dollar is dirt cheap, ha.

road trip to Australia!

Indeed I am an aussie, germs. Yep, warm weather and cold beer was certainly the order of the day today!

I love andy's phase
"vinyl makers should go their own way in terms of decision making and not pay quite so much attention to collector demands"
This is so correct and true. Paying too much attention to fulfill the so-called demand eventually ruined the brand, ruined the demand and pulled the desire and trend to a dead-end. EXCEPT you are BANDAI

Andy's right...
Crapy economy.... A big chain store here just closed and people line up to buy half priced electrical applicance.



Construction site here also closed down. Workers are layoff everyday

(Hands clasped)..from WA?...... I suppose not, but I have to ask. Welcome onboard middpa.


Come on down botbot... summers a startin.

Other side of the country ... ACT. Thanks germs!

Over the years I've noticed a growing trend in Japan of discount outlets, bargain hunting, and promotional offers (especially through point cards). I'm no expert, but it seems to me there are a whole lot of folks being as careful as they can with their money.

Now that the US economy is in the tank and the yen is dangerously strong (compounding the problems with their export driven economy), I just don't see how things can get better before they get worse. Possibly much worse?

A bit about the current Japan situation here:

http://money.cnn.com/2008/11/16/news/in ... 2008111620

So, it's not just the US, OZ, Urp. and others who are hurting from the exchange rate blues, but the sofubi mutterland itself...

Incidentally, if GM or one of the other Big 3 are allowed to go bankrupt (which might be for the best in the long-run), we could well be looking at a multi-year depression.

thanks for link Andy

warning, the below comments are me mearly thinking out loud i dont no jack..

I keep hearing this and Im not sold on it..... from the above link

Why do these "safe" currency surge and the safest of all (gold) flounders?
It makes me think of what happened to the price of oil recently. Could happen to these safe currencies. A massive spike then over a cliff. The only thing that would stop this would be massive market manipulation ala world wide bailouts to keep the status quo.
again, just thinking..

Well, in the case of the USD, many of the most important commodities (such as oil) are priced in USD, so I've noticed a strong interplay between that currency and the trillions of dollars spent on things like oil, corn, soybeans, etc. So that's one possibile factor.

Also, not long ago, a LOT of money was flowing into yen because the prime lending rate was so low. So investors were performing yen based deals. Now that the rate is close to zero, maybe we're seeing more of that? At the same time, the very low USD prime rate (recently cut yet again by the Fed) could also be attracting investors.

It's also possible that as Euroland is in recession, huge sums have flowed out of Euro into USD and yen as a reaction.

I guess the problem these days is every country is screwing the pooch, so there's no real safe move. Gold has been an option for a long time, but that's just one of many on the table. Maybe folks reckon that the world's #1 and #2 economies are still the safer bets, even though they're both entering what could be a long recession.

But 30%+ commodity rate swings in less than a year pretty much mean investors are freaked out across the board, so there's a lot of panicking, leader following, and manic pendulum swinging. I sometimes wonder if investors wouldn't be better off with a ouija board than a copy of the Journal.

The main reason the ozi is said to be floundering is because the said cheap money from Japan is going back into Japan because it ISNT cheap anymore due to the lowering of the RBA (royal bank of australia) interest rates therefore the a less of a profit made. Now if Japan has lowered again it may not help because there is little confidence (for now) in the Aust resource sector and economy in general. Though this is tied to the world in general.
Thats why I think it is just manipulation and a play on currency exchange rates. Coz in a market like this where all assets are being sold down. FX is a good way to make money.
.....but who's jack