The dollar has reached a 23-year record, hitting an intraday high of 90.22 US cents it hit the mark at 10.46 (AEST) this morning, its highest level since June 4, 1984 when the Australian dollar closed at 90.5 US cents.
Maybe the time will come when a dollar is worth a dollar.
No doubt you have a list of things you can buy all in the interest of saving money.
So go for it...
alex
Unfortunately Al, the Canadian dollar is also rising strongly against the US dollar - its reached parity for the first time in many years. Because the CAD has climbed faster against the USD recently it means the A$ has actually dropped against the CAD in the past few months and is not particularly high against it right now.
Of course, if you can do your spending in the US you will get the benefit of the high A$/USD.
Unfortunately Al, the Canadian dollar is also rising strongly against the US dollar - its reached parity for the first time in many years. Because the CAD has climbed faster against the USD recently it means the A$ has actually dropped against the CAD in the past few months and is not particularly high against it right now.
Of course, if you can do your spending in the US you will get the benefit of the high A$/USD.
WOOOHOOOO!!! time for me to hit amazon for even more rare CD's/DVD's woot woot - especially before CD's dissappear altogether - bah to only having lossy d/l formats - were going backwards folks!.
I think the aussie dollar reached parity and beyond in the 60's once?
wish that stupid pound sterling moved around occasionaly - whats with that? - protected species? bloody poms grrrr who do think they are? grumble bow down before the mighty resources aussie dollar you swine!
thanks Karl! must of been the last time we had a resources boom I 'spose! 'cept this one is going to be a 50-100 yr long one (apparently!) and in some area's, till the earth ends, i believe woohoo for dirt!
If I remember rightly - it was Keating who devalued our dollar back then - on the premise that we did so in order to compete on the world stage. Good for exports for a time - bad for travellers/buyers of o/seas goods.
I hope it stays high (or goes higher) next week. I ordered nearly $600 worth of stuff from ProtoStar for the Dob.
A couple of weeks ago I ordered $500 worth of Feather Touch focuser and parts from Starlight Instruments when the dollar hit the 88-cent peak, but PayPal seems to be a day behind in exchange rate calculation, so I missed out and paid at the 82-cent rate.
Hi Steve, i believe paypal cream off the exchange rate, that's how they make their money off non-merchants, so you never get the going rate, its always a few cents diff/lower.
Kearn's got that right. It's a bit of surprise when you don't know about it and you calculate using a currency converter and then you check your account after paypal has deducted their amount. Mind you it's a bit safer than paying directly with a credit card. Might be worth the bit you lose out on
Hi Paul, (been a while mate) yeah they should be a bit more upfront about the deal eh!
I have only made small purchase's with paypal, I was thinking what it amounts too when its a large transaction say 10k+ - thats a substantial amount via skim I would guess!! I want my own paypal company now
but i did hear once that aussie dollar being a currency speculators favourite (for some strange reason!?) and hence moves around a lot and quickly sometimes, we are treated more harshly? as they use some caution more than with other currencies mebbe? is this true?
and i agree its worth it still for average to small buys, peace of mind wise.
Just a tip about paypal...you don't have to accept their currency exchange rate, if you are paying using a credit card via Paypal there is the option to instead elect to have your card be charged by Paypal in the merchant's currency. This means that instead of say, Paypal charging you A$125 for something selling for US$100, instead US$100 will be charged to your card and your bank will apply its own exchange rate to the conversion.
On the "Review your Payment" page for a Paypal payment there will be a link called "Other Conversion Options". If you click on this you get the option of choosing to be charged by Paypal in the foreign currency.
Whether this works out as a better deal than having Paypal do it depends on your bank's rate and whether it charges a fee for a forex transaction.