American money had a great exchange, and many a Canuck dipped across the border to shop at bargain prices.
When the gang over here started doing business online, it was natural to quote rates in U.S. dollars. The Internet knows no boundaries, but most websites, visitors and clients seem to come from… you got it, the States.
But now we have a problem. That wonderful U.S. dollar isn’t so wonderful anymore, at least where the exchange rate is concerned. That U.S. dollar is costing us.
Enter the question of what to do about which currency to charge. Should we charge in Canadian dollars? We’re a Canadian business after all.
But would that alienate our American friends? Would it confuse them? Cause problems? Harry thinks so. I think so too.
On the other hand, dealing with multiple currencies is easy. Exchange rates involved in buying online really poses no problem, thanks to technology that converts currencies with just a click. USD to CAD? Easy. CAD to GBP? A cinch. I’m sure we’ll all be able to exhange our pocket change into Krugerrands by year’s end.
But I digress.
What if we don’t switch our rates from USD to CAD, fearing the loss of American clients? What happens if the Canadian dollar rises further in value while the U.S. dollar continues to drops? We’d be shooting ourselves in the foot.
On the other hand (see our dilemma?), what if we do switch our rates to Canadian and our dollar drops faithfully back to its usual mediocre standing, somewhere below the value of the American dollar? We’d be stuck switching back to
One option is coming up with two sets of rates; one for American clients, one for Canadian, each factoring in exchange rates and applicable taxes. I can feel the accounting headache coming on already…
I said to Harry the other day that I need a crystal ball to see the economical future. Television news and financial websites aren’t helpful; they don’t know much more than I do, taking shots in the dark at predictions and coming up with conflicting opinions.
I admit that patriotic pride steps into the equation from time to time. Some moments, I’m proud of being Canadian, fully supportive of making the currency switch to our “loonies and toonies”. Other times, business sense slaps me upside the head, telling me to cater to my market, take the hit and roll with the punches.
But I can’t shake the feeling that doing nothing may cost me in the long run. In fact, it’s costing me now. My last two paychecks weren’t what I expected. I even gave Harry hell for screwing up… until I realized he hadn’t. The conversion from USD to CAD gouged a nice chunk from my pay … not fun, that.
I’m sure I’m not the only one dealing with this issue of international business and dealing with foreign currencies. Share your feelings, thoughts, and experiences, no matter where you’re from or how you’ve set up shop. Maybe together we’ll find an answer!
Tell me about it. A couple of months ago, I happily cashed my paycheck and then stood there staring at what was left. I hadn’t realized how much I depended on the exchange rate either.
Where I live (Quebec, you?), most industries are tourism-related. Everything is about snow sports, so both poor, mild winters and low traveling cuts into the local economy. For example, the ice isn’t solid enough to drive on this year yet (saw a pickup go through last week), and the local ice fisher outfitters are hurting bad. Ski resorts are riding high on the huge dumping of snow we received, but that only compensates for the crappy year we had last year. (The ice fishing outfitters were crying then, too.)
Out west, it’s boomtown with the construction and housing industries soaring high, and many people are moving out west to have a better life, because there isn’t much to do around here. A 10$/hr job is one you sit on and hold onto for dear life.
As for spelling, I try to apply American spelling. But I still have to ask Harry, “Is it color or colour for you guys? What about labor and labour?” I have definite problems getting the dollar sign to go where it belongs (00$ is the “right” way, in my mind.) Add to that the fact that Quebecers write dates differently (month/day/year) and English Canadians write the opposite (day/month/year), and I’m screwed.
Thunder Bay… No wonder you work in the virtual world. Still, good fishing up that way
We’ve had everything from -28C plus windchill to +12C (going from one to the other within days) this year. Plus mid-thigh high snow
I’ve always just quote dollars — if the client is in the US, then it is US dollars and if the client is in Canada, then it is Canadian dollars. So four years ago or so when I cashed a $1,000 USD cheque, it was actually $1,500. A nice little bonus.
A couple of months ago I cashed a $1,000 cheque and got $892 (or something). I just wanted to cry. I never realized how much I actually relied on that “bonus”.
I always tell my international clients that I will accept payment in any major currency: GBP, Euros, DM (back in the day), whatever. Because as you say, it’s not too difficult to convert your quote to anything. Mostly people prefer to pay in US dollars — even some of my Canadian clients who do business in the States.
The question I struggle with is what spellings to use on my websites, in my emails, etc. For my website, I tend to avoid words like “colour” and “enquiries” so that I don’t actually have to answer myself. In emails, I always write in the language of the receiver.
(And for blog comments, as you may have noticed, it’s Canadian all the way, baby!)
Once the war is over and the US mortgage “crisis” calms down, we’ll sink back to a more reasonable rate. Honestly, I think it is better at $0.65, besides my own selfish reasons. People don’t go shopping in the US as much, so their money stays here, driving the economy. You get more vacationers coming here, so it is a win/win. Books and CDs are the cheapest anywhere in the Western world. And our natural resources — which let’s face it, are still the backbone of our economy — actually have markets. Where I live, about 75% (ballparking) of the paper/wood products mills have shut down due to the double-whammy of high electricity prices and high CAD.
There is, of course, a part of me that feels a certain amount of pride in the high-flying loonie. The only problem is that it has left a lot of us behind, here stuck on the ground…
~Graham
I didn’t realize Quebec officially did dates the other way. Kind of ironic, since the metric system was essentially invented in France! It drives me nuts when I see the month/date system being used here. I almost wrote the producers of Transformers when they advertised on Canadian TV that the movie would be out April 7 — and then it wasn’t released until July 4…! (I hear I didn’t miss much anyway…)
I live in Thunder Bay, the “eye of the wolf” at the top of Lake Superior. It is pretty much an outdoor town too, though here it is usually snowmobiles that go through the ice. Lots of skiing, but yes, the changing climate is wrecking havoc on that industry too. We used to have at least five ski hills — I think there are just one or two left, and that is probably out of stubborness. Either there is no snow, or it is too warm or too cold. Not many -10 degree days here most years lately, though it hasn’t been too bad this year.
~Graham
Yeah, there is only one other full-time corporate copywriter in town that I know of, and she works at the largest marketing company in town. I wouldn’t be able to survive here without the Internet!
Lots of snow this year, but not very cold — today is about the coldest, and it’s officially -21 (feels like -25 though). Not bad, considering we usually get -40 once or twice a winter. But then winter’s not over yet…
~Graham
We’ve got the same sort of problem in the UK with the devalued pound – should we join the Euro or not? I’ll tell you what, though, Europe is pretty darn expensive now if you’re buying in pounds.
I think that sometime this can be a confusing process that we almost always can get wrong.