Shrinking Canadian dollar
Wondering how the state of the Canadian dollar will effect other Canadians travel plans. It has made our site rental jump from $3,200 American to a payment of $4,022.60 Canadian. ouch!
Forum Discussion
almcc wrote:We also survived the $0.67 era but my fixed income value has eroded considerably since.her&I wrote:almcc wrote:These comparisons do more to reinforce having second thoughts than to alleviate them. Last spring the dollar was at or around ninety cents. Last night it was at $0.78 before what the bank charges. Our annual lot rent goes from $3,200 U.S to $4,160 Cdn. Every $1.00 worth of groceries goes to $1.30. The basic lower price is not in the 30% range to offset this.
Yes, the exchange rate is a bit of a pain, but at the current exchange rate there are still some offsets. On our return from the US last spring, I filled up with diesel at home and did the cost comparison factoring in the exchange rate, diesel in the US was still cheaper.
We also find that lower food prices in the US generally offset the exchange loss.
Yes, other stuff is more expensive, but even RV campsite costs are more favourable, I'm sitting in an RV park here in Canada at $40CDN/night, that would be $28US for a comparable US park with full services if I looked around
Yes, the conversion this morning is $0.77 but at my bank that's the rate (no extra bank charges).
If you are concerned about the C$ going lower you may want to buy US$ now and park them in a US$ account for next winter then use the money to pay CC charges, it works well with a US$ CC. We find that our stay in the US isn't a financial burden at current exchange rates, and we did survive the $0.67 C$ a few years ago! I'll bet that fuel will still be a bargain down there this winter.
