Gotta hate that weak dollar/strong Yen combo!

October 28, 2008

Well...it's like this. Back in the olde dayes when I was at Bstone, the "break-even" point was reached when a dollar bought 150 Yen (that's "option-Y"  on your keyboard). By the time Bstone closed us down, the dollar was buying 110 Yen. The choices were to raise prices and lose sales, to maintain prices and cut costs by cheapening the bikes, or for the parent company (Bridgestone Cycles in Japan) to sell Bridgestone Cycle (USA), Inc. bikes at below cost, which....well, aside from not being fun, you aren't supposed to do that.
As dollar-to-Yen exchange rates go, Rivendell's Happy Point is when a dollar buys 120.
Then we can also sell a few bikes to dealers not at a loss, and the dealer can sell them for what we sell them for.

Our Point of Contentment but not Happiness is 115 Yen to a buck. This rate allows us to maintain our retail prices, and we're OK otherwise as long as we don't wholesale many bikes.

 105 Yen to a dollar is Nervous Time, edgy time, bad mood, grumpy silence time. Why's daddy so sad? time. Oh,  it's because we have a big shipment due today and our money's worth so little that we have to spend it all and more to pay for the shipment.

Today a dollar buys 99 Yen, which is like the devil cackling as he jabs us with hot vile knives. And today, wouldn't you know it, a big order of Atlantis frames is arriving.

The one good thing about it: It's unlikely Trek will start importing lugged Japanese frames anytime soon.

We'll get by, just thought you should have this glimpse.

Grant