Falling value of the dollar

I have not considered that (yet) Eric......    let's hope things stabalize soon

Food and fuel prices are rising, though the Feds don't include them in inflation calculations.....for some reason....

Metalworking consumables and some metalworking machines have increased in price even before the latest stock market crash.

The Chinese appear to have been holding export prices lower than they should considering the inflation they are encountering due to their economic growth.

As plastic kits are made from petroleum, and most kits are made overseas, I would presume prices would eventually rise.

With the dollar falling it doesn't make sense for us here in the US to purchase. But it does for those who are seeing better exchange rates abroad when purchasing from the US. I have seen just such a trend in sales.

Given the pervasive systemic inadequacies of our current domestic economic policies, the cost of model kits will end up being the least of our concerns.

Reasoned

Given the pervasive systemic inadequacies of our current domestic economic policies, the cost of model kits will end up being the least of our concerns.

 

No.........However, that has a lot to do with my current stash and being laid off. Prices didn't skyrocket last time because of the dollar, but more to do with the greater detailed kits, especially in larger scales coming out. One can also take advantage of another man's misery and pick something up off a trading site, or ebay. IMO, there is no rush to by kits.

Reasoned

Given the pervasive systemic inadequacies of our current domestic economic policies, the cost of model kits will end up being the least of our concerns.

I couldn't agree more.  If times really get tight in my household then you can bet my models will be the least of my cares or concerns.

Don't you ever wonder what is real in terms of this whole economic crisis?  Is what we're being told on the news the actual "reality" or is it the "perception of reality"?  I see how bad things are according to the news and I see my 401(k) take a hit but, aside from that, I'm still able to put food on the table and make my mortgage payments.  I'm the sole breadwinner in my house (wife and two little girls).  We don't go out to dinner, we don't take vacations and I buy maybe one kit a year but that's all okay because we're getting by and we have a roof over our heads.

Sorry for the blathering.  I was just wondering if others out there have the same thing on their minds.

Thanks for listening,

Eric

My biggest fear now is a second recession. Government is pretty much out of ideas and most of the first haven't done all they were supposed to do. They might have put off the inevitable for awhile.

I wonder if the Chinese will loan us more money so we can continue buying from them.....

HawkeyeHobbies

With the dollar falling it doesn't make sense for us here in the US to purchase. But it does for those who are seeing better exchange rates abroad when purchasing from the US. I have seen just such a trend in sales.

I do get a kick out of buying from Sprue Bros & seeing my Cdn price slightly lower than the US price... but my logical brain knows we're all better off if the reverse were true. (Or it would be an indicator that we were all better off, I suppose...)

I used to buy 1:72 Airfix kits for 49 CENTS, neat (no sales tax). One I recall was discounted to a quarter! Of course. there were fewer continents and fire was “hot, hot burny thing”.

TomZ2

I used to buy 1:72 Airfix kits for 49 CENTS, neat (no sales tax). Of course. there were fewer continents and fire was “hot, hot thing”.

Did you have to carry buckets of water to school? Firewood in the winter?? Up-hill both ways???

So what would say, a $229 model kit be worth.....I mean if the price does drop...for example...maybe I wont need permission to buy it...that a "win win" situation...

now if the price goes up....well.....Cancel Christmas....

carsanab

So what would say, a $229 model kit be worth.....I mean if the price does drop...for example...maybe I wont need permission to buy it...that a "win win" situation...

now if the price goes up....well.....Cancel Christmas....

For you, it's going up if it's an import. (Start washing dishes & vacuuming curtains...) For me up here in the great white north, the price is plummeting!

VanceCrozier

carsanab:

So what would say, a $229 model kit be worth.....I mean if the price does drop...for example...maybe I wont need permission to buy it...that a "win win" situation...

now if the price goes up....well.....Cancel Christmas....

 

For you, it's going up if it's an import. (Start washing dishes & vacuuming curtains...) For me up here in the great white north, the price is plummeting!

Lets be clear on one point......Radioactive Lizards DO NOT DO dishes....(our little arms are too stubby..)

VanceCrozier

TomZ2:

I used to buy 1:72 Airfix kits for 49 CENTS, neat (no sales tax). One I recall was discounted to a quarter! Of course. there were fewer continents and fire was “hot, hot burny thing”.

Did you have to carry buckets of water to school? Firewood in the winter?? Up-hill both ways???

No, but I DID have to assist my mother (now pushing 91, thank you for asking) to carry $20 of groceries (seriously!), and HER mother would’ve needed her SONS (plural!) to carry that $20 burden. (BTW, my grandmother wasn’t born under a covered wagon — her YOUNGER sister (my grandaunt Edith) WAS!). During the Greater-Than-This Depression, the boys (my uncles) would take their shotgun (singular!) and go after rabbits. To hear them tell it, they would regularly return with a brace of hares without expending a cartridge (rocks were cheaper).

TomZ2

 

VanceCrozier:

 

TomZ2:

I used to buy 1:72 Airfix kits for 49 CENTS, neat (no sales tax). One I recall was discounted to a quarter! Of course. there were fewer continents and fire was “hot, hot burny thing”.

Did you have to carry buckets of water to school? Firewood in the winter?? Up-hill both ways???

 

 

To hear them tell it, they would regularly return with a brace of hares without expending a cartridge (rocks were cheaper).

To TomZ2: and only to TomZ2:

You must have started building Airfix late in the 1960s

I paid 29 cents for the fighter aircraft kits such as the Fokker Dr-1.

BTW: I agree. Rocks are cheaper !

To anyone:

If I paid 29c for Airfix kits, what did Manny pay?

TomZ2

VanceCrozier:

TomZ2:

I used to buy 1:72 Airfix kits for 49 CENTS, neat (no sales tax). One I recall was discounted to a quarter! Of course. there were fewer continents and fire was “hot, hot burny thing”.

Did you have to carry buckets of water to school? Firewood in the winter?? Up-hill both ways???

 

No, but I DID have to assist my mother (now pushing 91, thank you for asking) to carry $20 of groceries (seriously!), and HER mother would’ve needed her SONS (plural!) to carry that $20 burden. (BTW, my grandmother wasn’t born under a covered wagon — her YOUNGER sister (my grandaunt Edith) WAS!). During the Greater-Than-This Depression, the boys (my uncles) would take their shotgun (singular!) and go after rabbits. To hear them tell it, they would regularly return with a brace of hares without expending a cartridge (rocks were cheaper).

SSHHHHHHHH...be vewy vewy quiet......we're huntin' wabbits......huuuuhuuuuu

carsanab

 

VanceCrozier:

 

 

carsanab:

So what would say, a $229 model kit be worth.....I mean if the price does drop...for example...maybe I wont need permission to buy it...that a "win win" situation...

now if the price goes up....well.....Cancel Christmas....

 

 

For you, it's going up if it's an import. (Start washing dishes & vacuuming curtains...) For me up here in the great white north, the price is plummeting!

 

 

Lets be clear on one point......Radioactive Lizards DO NOT DO dishes....(our little arms are too stubby..)

Aw...we know that.

You don't wash....

You dry.

Just to clarify a few points, the price of oil is actually the lowest it's been during the last year. Oil also denominated and traded in US dollars, so if anything, the raw material for plastic is going down. As for China, the Chinese yuan is pegged to the dollar so as the dollar falls, so does the Yuan.

There's a lot of international pressure to have the Chinese government change the current Yuan- Dollar peg or let the yuan float, as most people agree that it's artificially low so they can enjoy a price advantage for exporting goods to the rest of the world.

Invest in styrene...

waikong

Just to clarify a few points, the price of oil is actually the lowest it's been during the last year. Oil also denominated and traded in US dollars, so if anything, the raw material for plastic is going down. As for China, the Chinese yuan is pegged to the dollar so as the dollar falls, so does the Yuan.

There's a lot of international pressure to have the Chinese government change the current Yuan- Dollar peg or let the yuan float, as most people agree that it's artificially low so they can enjoy a price advantage for exporting goods to the rest of the world.

Quite true about the Yuan pegged to the dollar.

Per the economic reports I have read, China is still encountering inflation caused by their heated economy even though the rate of growth has decreased a bit.

Nonetheless, the price of fast turnaround metalworking items has risen quite a bit in the last few years.

Examples are the Chinese made Mini-Lathe and Mini-Mill.

I keep track of purchase cost  and current sale prices in the local Harbor Freight are now roughly equal to normal, everyday prices encountered in 2008.

As for oil, yes oil is currently down, that does not mean kits were manufactured only from plastic produced with cheap oil.

I call it the 100 dollar rule. I can get anything if I actually want it so long as it stays under 100 dollars.

There simply isn't much of anything I can't get all because it usually stays under 100 bucks. Granted, I prefer paying 40 dollars for a 40 dollar kit.

If the industry never produced another kit, it would still likely take me my entire lifetime to run out though.

I wonder if I should invest in gold.  If I had a nickel ever time I heard an ad telling me to buy gold, I wouldn't need to buy any gold!

Eric

echolmberg

I wonder if I should invest in gold.  If I had a nickel ever time I heard an ad telling me to buy gold, I wouldn't need to buy any gold!

Eric

Reminds me of a story about Manny visiting a dentist during his leave in Saltzburg

Hmmmmm...let's see...we noticed rising prices when the economy was not that bad.  Some claimed it was because of the greater investment companies are pumping into the technologies.  Now, the economy is bad, so will prices rise?  Probably. 

Most companies will do what they can to squeeze every penny out of the consumer.  I know this sounds a bit cynical, but I think that is in human nature.  Look what is happening in the airline industry.  The government imposed a tax on every ticket sold, so the airlines passed it on to the customer.  Then the govenment lifts the taxes, but the airlines did not pass along the savings to us.  Now the government is saying hold on their, we will now take additional revenue, since they didn't return the savings along.  In response, the airlines are saying that if the government taxes the tickets again, they will pass it along to the consumer.  Sigh

hutchdh

Hmmmmm...let's see...we noticed rising prices when the economy was not that bad.  Some claimed it was because of the greater investment companies are pumping into the technologies.  Now, the economy is bad, so will prices rise?  Probably. 

Most companies will do what they can to squeeze every penny out of the consumer.  I know this sounds a bit cynical, but I think that is in human nature.  Look what is happening in the airline industry.  The government imposed a tax on every ticket sold, so the airlines passed it on to the customer.  Then the govenment lifts the taxes, but the airlines did not pass along the savings to us.  Now the government is saying hold on their, we will now take additional revenue, since they didn't return the savings along.  In response, the airlines are saying that if the government taxes the tickets again, they will pass it along to the consumer.  Sigh

Looks like the Doog's cue....

Sprue-ce Goose

 

hutchdh:

 

Hmmmmm...let's see...we noticed rising prices when the economy was not that bad.  Some claimed it was because of the greater investment companies are pumping into the technologies.  Now, the economy is bad, so will prices rise?  Probably. 

Most companies will do what they can to squeeze every penny out of the consumer.  I know this sounds a bit cynical, but I think that is in human nature.  Look what is happening in the airline industry.  The government imposed a tax on every ticket sold, so the airlines passed it on to the customer.  Then the govenment lifts the taxes, but the airlines did not pass along the savings to us.  Now the government is saying hold on their, we will now take additional revenue, since they didn't return the savings along.  In response, the airlines are saying that if the government taxes the tickets again, they will pass it along to the consumer.  Sigh

 

 

Looks like the Doog's cue....

Time to call in "the closer"??

VanceCrozier

 

Sprue-ce Goose:

 

hutchdh:

Hmmmmm...let's see...we noticed rising prices when the economy was not that bad.  Some claimed it was because of the greater investment companies are pumping into the technologies.  Now, the economy is bad, so will prices rise?  Probably. 

Most companies will do what they can to squeeze every penny out of the consumer.  I know this sounds a bit cynical, but I think that is in human nature.  Look what is happening in the airline industry.  The government imposed a tax on every ticket sold, so the airlines passed it on to the customer.  Then the govenment lifts the taxes, but the airlines did not pass along the savings to us.  Now the government is saying hold on their, we will now take additional revenue, since they didn't return the savings along.  In response, the airlines are saying that if the government taxes the tickets again, they will pass it along to the consumer.  Sigh

Looks like the Doog's cue....

 

 

Time to call in "the closer"??

...maybe.......