Inflation in Mexico

[moisheh]

Lately El Imparcial has had many articles about the excessive inflation. Sonora is the hot dog capital of Mexico. A steamed bun with one or 2 weibies is stuffed full of onions, tomatoes, chilis, mayo and much more. It takes parctice to eat one standing up. Downtown in HMO there are dozens of vendors. they are usually 20 pesos . But thge cost of the ingredients has gone up. A case of tomatoes used to be around 150 pesos. Now they are 500. Onions up about 15%. Even the wienies are up. Now the price is 25 pesos but will have to go up even more. Other food products are also going up. In Canada or the USA this might be an inconvenience but in a country with a huge % of people living below the poverty line it means going hungry. Wages have really not risen much. However I have not noticed a lot of shortages. Last week red onions were hard to find. Most meets are available. Peso dropped the other day but has recovered some. Today I received 21.8 pesos per dollar including the ATM fee.

[moisheh]

timetoroll. There is no comparison of poverty levels between Mexico and either Canada or the USA. Plus the social safety nets in Mexico do not provide much help.Big cities in Mexico do provide some help buy all along the coast with fishing villages it is another world.Poverty is when a Mother and her 2 small children live in a casa de carton. No front door just a barrel to keep the dogs out. There is no running water inside. Just a faucet outside. Dirt floor. A kitchen table with a broken leg and a plastic fisherman's plastic box for support. No food in the house. It is December and cold. The one bed has no blankets. Just a bunch of stuffed animals with the children underneath. No income. The mother has little education and no work skills. Her husband went away and never returned. She survives with some help from DIF ( social services) But it is not enough. Some neighbors help but they too are poor. I saw this my first year in Kino. We were delivering Xmas hampers. Brought on tears. This is poverty.

[playaboy]

Silver Libertads are easy to buy and to sell. Just go to Banco Azteca. They post their buy/sell price on their website.

[charlestonsouth]

Playaboy, you have made an important point! AND it is so easy to do, but doing that is very volatile; you have to keep your eye on the precious metal markets all the time. When you trade in nothing but those markets, it is very high risk, and you have opted out of investment in your local economy. The economists call it "hoarding." However, buying a small amount of gold on the market during bad times is a good thing to do; an example, during the "Great Recession" of 2008, owning a little gold "hedged" against losses incurred in the market then for about 10-12 years. Slowly, you sell the gold (as price of gold going down) as the economy and its markets start making a come back. Use gold as a "tool;" not to make a lot of money because too many well-heeled people across the world like to try to control the price of it.

[playaboy]

Or just use gold and silver to protect yourself from inflation. Centenarios and Libertads have held their value against the peso.

[valhalla360]

charlestonsouthern wrote:
Talleyho69, when I was speaking earlier of inflation for Mexican citizens, the following is what I meant:

1 Mexican peso in 2002 for the same goods and services will require 2.17 pesos in 2021 for the same goods and services.

1 Canadian dollar in 2002 for the same goods and services will require $1.41 Canadian dollars in 2021 for the same goods and services.

1 US dollar in 2002 for the same goods and services will require $1.54 US dollars in 2021 for the same goods and services.

So, the winner (which currency holds its value better than their neighboring countries) is Canada.

If we keep just printing currency to keep up with inflation (with no value to back it up), we might as well use it to wallpaper our bathrooms!!

Yes, makes a wild difference between citizens who are presumed to have their wealth and income in the local currency vs a foreigner who presumably has most of the wealth in their home currency.

Currently in Istanbul and inflation is running 20%+ this year but it's dirt cheap for us because the Dollar is up over the Lira by around 75% over the same time period.

[charlestonsouth]

Talleyho69, when I was speaking earlier of inflation for Mexican citizens, the following is what I meant:

1 Mexican peso in 2002 for the same goods and services will require 2.17 pesos in 2021 for the same goods and services.

1 Canadian dollar in 2002 for the same goods and services will require $1.41 Canadian dollars in 2021 for the same goods and services.

1 US dollar in 2002 for the same goods and services will require $1.54 US dollars in 2021 for the same goods and services.

So, the winner (which currency holds its value better than their neighboring countries) is Canada.

If we keep just printing currency to keep up with inflation (with no value to back it up), we might as well use it to wallpaper our bathrooms!!

[qtla9111]

Contracted employees, self-employed, are not eligible for aguinaldos by law. The years I worked as an independent consultant, via honorarios, was never included. When a person, such as a maid works for more than one person, they aren't eligible either as you have to be fully employed by one employer. Similar to a person who works less than 40 hour weeks in the U.S. is generally not eligible for any company benefits.

BTW, an employee of OXXO (where I worked in corporate for a year) posted the truth about his pay at the store he worked at. His salary was so good, and his benefits, that many people posted, "I have a degree and work in a large corporation. I would be better off working in an OXXO". Of course, the guy who posted on TikTok is a store leader.

His salary is 20,000 pesos a month, IMSS, INFONAVIT, aguinaldo, and 750 pesos additional in despensa or food coupons.

The years I worked in the U.S., employees received a turkey. Big deal.

[moisheh]

Unfortunately law and reality are often different. Even some Government agencies cheat the employees out of the Aguinaldo In rural areas of Sonora contractors often cheat the system! Some also do not offer Seguro Social. Or they pay the employees minimum wage on the books and the rest in cash. Thus the benefits of Seguro are almost worthless. Small Mexican employers often treat their employees like slaves. This is wrong but the above happens. Yet we know people that had decent jobs at the Ford plant. However Ford does not put up with nonsense. If your Aunt in Sinaloa is ill you cannot take time off to vist her. So the employee quits or is fired and ends up as a clerk in Oxxo. There is more than one Mexico. Rural areas are much different than big cities. Of course there is also more than one USA or Canada.

[qtla9111]

It became a mandatory monetary benefit in 1970, with an amendment to the Federal Labor Law, which stipulated that the bonus should be equivalent to at least 15 days of salary and must be delivered before December 20. In the constitutional article, it is referred to as a bonus although mandatory.

Full-time teachers in the state of Nuevo Leon receive an average of 50,000 pesos, current and retired. Keep in mind the 2 weeks is a minimum and many company employees receive much more.

If you read the link below the history goes back hundreds of years and for different reasons including the influence of the church.

https://www.milenio.com/negocios/breve-historia-de-cual-es-el-origen-del-aguinaldo

[playaboy]

Tally is correct, aguinaldo is not a xmas bonus. It is part of their regular pay. Consider that when you do want to give your employee their xmas bonus along with their aguinaldo.

[Talleyho69]

The aguinaldo is the equivalent of 2 weeks pay for an employee who has worked all 12 months for you and it is to be paid before December 20. It is not a bonus.

If an employee is terminated, laid off, whatever, they are to be paid the aguinaldo for the time that they worked. We just did this for a maid who moved to Tijuana, and the new one will receive hers for the time she has worked this year.

When an employee is terminated, laid off, whatever, they almost always have to be paid off. https://mexlaw.com/considerations-regarding-hiring-and-firing-employees-in-mexico/

This is not to say that people are doing what they are legally required to do, but that is true in any country. In our area, it seems as though people are paying what they are supposed to pay.

[moisheh]

Not to worry-minimum wage is rising to 172.87 pesos. Of course almost no on ever works for that wage. However it is not unusual to be paid 1500 pesos for 5.5 days of work. A worker also gets social security that includes, health care(which sometimes has no value), pension and workers comp. Workers also get Aguinaldo(sp). This is a hefty xmas bonus based on your wages. Some Mexican employers lay off all their workers in December to avoid the bonus. Welcome to the real Mexico.


https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/minimum-wage/

[qtla9111]

Talleyho69 wrote:
You are likely correct. We remember some of our very first trips to Mexico in the early 1980s when we changed money and became millionaires.

How times have changed! We now live here permanently, in our dream home in Zihuatanejo, and as a bonus find the living expenses to be less than they were in our former Southern California beach enclave.

Agreed, for those that earn dollars. Those of us who earned pesos feel the sting every day when we buy gasoline, gas LP, and groceries that continue to go up in price.

[Talleyho69]

You are likely correct. We remember some of our very first trips to Mexico in the early 1980's when we changed money and became millionaires.

How times have changed! We now live here permanently, in our dream home in Zihuatanejo, and as a bonus find the living expenses to be less than they were in our former Southern California beach enclave.