UK Pound has crashed dived

sinikettu · Post by **sinikettu** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 9:45 am

Anyone else noticed this in the last week the pound has almost reached 1:1 with the Euro.
One used to get 120 Euro for a 100 pounds now you will be lucky to get 105.
http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/currency/co ... GBP&to=EUR

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Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 1:01 pm

Er... yes. The rates are published every day on the TV, radio, in the newspapers and on the internet. Kind of difficult to avoid them

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/matt/?c ... cc=3540329

and

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/matt/?c ... cc=3540329

Probably a good time to buy sterling, or stuff in sterling. But even at 1:1 I still can't really be @rsed to fly over and shop

otyikondo · Post by **otyikondo** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 4:37 pm

I'm eagerly looking forward to seeing how many turncoats there are who now say "We should go into the Euro" - before it's too late. Winding my brother up is going to be such fun.

What with handling charges and so on, if you aren't careful where you change sterling into euros, you can already end up below 1:1 parity. It will certainly make staying in hotels and renting cars over there feel less of a stomach-churning exercise.

Anyone see the YLE documentary on Poles in the UK last night, BTW? Fascinating stuff.

smoo · Post by **smoo** » Sun Dec 21, 2008 5:11 pm

Probably a good time to buy sterling, or stuff in sterling. But even at 1:1 I still can't really be @rsed to fly over and shop

Even before the recent changes in the exchange rate I was doing most of my shopping from the UK over the internet anyway, and it was cheaper, even including shipping costs. Now it's just ridiculously cheaper; I just don't understand how the department stores in Helsinki manage to sell anything! I mean, it sort of comes naturally to me as I'm from the UK, but it must be just as easy for most Finns to order from a UK website. I recently bought a new wristwatch (and yes, it is genuine

) from a reputable online UK retailer for less than half of the high street price in Helsinki (although it was nice to be able to try it on first in Stockmann...).

Pursuivant · Post by **Pursuivant** » Sun Dec 21, 2008 6:19 pm

yeah well apart from watches - which are pretty good deal in the UK - some stuff is then again cheaper in Germany, paying through the bank possible and postal charges a fraction... from the USA it depends what you buy, but even with the customs charges its still cheaper than going to Stockmanns

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Sun Dec 21, 2008 8:32 pm

smoo wrote:
Probably a good time to buy sterling, or stuff in sterling. But even at 1:1 I still can't really be @rsed to fly over and shop
Even before the recent changes in the exchange rate I was doing most of my shopping from the UK over the internet anyway, and it was cheaper, even including shipping costs. Now it's just ridiculously cheaper.

But there are so many UK sites which do not ship outside the UK. Amazon won't ship (except books and CD/DVDs), the stores like M&S and John Lewis won't ship outside the UK...

I get nearly ALL my books from the UK and also DVDs and CDs, and I have bought stuff like Rock and Roll T shirts, calendars, posters etc for my kids from the UK, but nothing of any BIG value. As for clothes and shoes.... I'd rather wait for the sales because I hate buying anything without trying it on. I already have a watch....
So what kind of stuff do you buy on-line from the UK and which sites are you using?

smoo · Post by **smoo** » Sun Dec 21, 2008 10:41 pm

But there are so many UK sites which do not ship outside the UK. Amazon won't ship (except books and CD/DVDs), the stores like M&S and John Lewis won't ship outside the UK...

I get nearly ALL my books from the UK and also DVDs and CDs, and I have bought stuff like Rock and Roll T shirts, calendars, posters etc for my kids from the UK, but nothing of any BIG value. As for clothes and shoes.... I'd rather wait for the sales because I hate buying anything without trying it on. I already have a watch....
So what kind of stuff do you buy on-line from the UK and which sites are you using?

Actually, now I think about it, apart from books a lot of it is related to road cycling, which is a big hobby of mine. New bits for the bike, tools, clothes such as lycra shorts that are duplicates of things I already have and I know fit me. Camera stuff of course; I got a digi SLR last year which was cheaper from the UK. Jeans - I always buy the same brand and size. Also various odd things that are expensive in Finland or just difficult to find, e.g. nice Sabatier kitchen knives. Oh, and contact lenses!

I always use a UK credit card registered to a UK address, I don't know if that makes a difference. I pay a tiny bit extra through the bank's exchange rates when I transfer Euros from mu Finnish account to my UK current account to pay off the credit card, but it's really minimal. Of course a lot of companies just won't ship outside the UK however you pay; I don't know how many require payment from a UK card but will ship to Finland as I rarely try to pay any other way.

Pursuivant · Post by **Pursuivant** » Sun Dec 21, 2008 11:38 pm

hmm...
books & DVD's: UK
clothing: Germany, USA, Ireland, UK
shoes: UK
camera stuff: Germany, UK, Russia, Ukraine
fodstuffs: Germany
electronics: Germany
car parts: Germany
mc parts: UK

I do my buying mostly off ebay... but used a few shops. UK has weird clothes sizing... but I'bve bought razor blade fills from Estonia and got a watch repaired in portugal so...

sinikala · Post by **sinikala** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 12:13 am

I buy several CDs, DVDs per month and occasionally travel books ... all from http://www.play.com. However, if your address is outside the UK they force you to select Euros and are still using 1.4 to the £. In spite of which it´s still cheap as chips compared to Finnish prices.

Buying clothes over the web strikes me as a bit odd.

Pursuivant wrote:hmm...
books & DVD's: UK
clothing: Germany, USA, Ireland, UK
shoes: UK
camera stuff: Germany, UK, Russia, Ukraine
fodstuffs: Germany
electronics: Germany
car parts: Germany
mc parts: UK

I do my buying mostly off ebay... but used a few shops. UK has weird clothes sizing... but I'bve bought razor blade fills from Estonia and got a watch repaired in portugal so...

Is there anything you buy here in Finland?

I´ll take this opportunity to remind you of your thread of less than 2 months ago...

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=33979&

Pursuivant · Post by **Pursuivant** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 12:57 am

yes well which of these products are *made* in Finland? the production is in China and its f* all I pay extra for Stockmann for the same product. what have we I need to buy here... groceries, gas, tools, paints, seeds/plants... domesticity varies... I don't *buy* that much stuff as I'm not a rich foreigner with a tax-free car living in a mansion to be able to afford the prices at Stockmann's. and Tarjoustalo sells crap. need to look into energy saving bulbs at wholesale next.

patgeorge · Post by **patgeorge** » Sun Dec 28, 2008 2:03 pm

Last year there were apparently 681 people in Finland getting a UK OA pension, including me and my Finnish born wife. We have seen our pensions drop by nearly 40% since we moved here two and a half years ago.

Karhunkoski · Post by **Karhunkoski** » Sun Dec 28, 2008 3:16 pm

I blame the "me grandads fought two world wars for King and Country and to keep Britain from bein' ruled by Europe, we shouldn't adopt their funny money, the pound is British and we shad be prawd" crew.

DMC · Post by **DMC** » Tue Dec 30, 2008 1:07 pm

patgeorge wrote:We have seen our pensions drop by nearly 40% since we moved here two and a half years ago.

Ouch! That must hurt.
I made a deal to do some work for an American company. Their EU admin HQ is in the UK so we agreed a price in sterling; I was basically trying to make things as easy as possible for my customer. Anyway, I am now doing the work and will complete it, and invoice for it, in January. The exchange rate has knocked about 30% off the euro value I expected to get for the job.
I am wondering what to do about getting the money over here. A friend in Fance in a similar position is buying stuff in the UK to resell in France rather than move money directly, to try and offset the devaluation of the pound. I am wondering if I should do the same, and what to buy if I do that. Anyone got any bright ideas?

sinikala · Post by **sinikala** » Tue Dec 30, 2008 2:16 pm

DMC wrote:
patgeorge wrote:We have seen our pensions drop by nearly 40% since we moved here two and a half years ago.
Ouch! That must hurt.
I made a deal to do some work for an American company. Their EU admin HQ is in the UK so we agreed a price in sterling; I was basically trying to make things as easy as possible for my customer. Anyway, I am now doing the work and will complete it, and invoice for it, in January. The exchange rate has knocked about 30% off the euro value I expected to get for the job.
I am wondering what to do about getting the money over here. A friend in Fance in a similar position is buying stuff in the UK to resell in France rather than move money directly, to try and offset the devaluation of the pound. I am wondering if I should do the same, and what to buy if I do that. Anyone got any bright ideas?

Nothing I can recommend for resale, but if you are buying for yourself...

We picked up 4 bottles of Faustino V at £4.99 each at the start of the month. Alko price €15,49

Consumer electronics are a rip off in Finland but are being priced to sell in the UK e.g. an iPod nano 8G is €169 or more here vs £107-£109 on the UK highstreet.

Netbooks is another... Acer one Aspire A150 £200 in England vs. €350 in Finland. Though it will have a UK keyboard, so no ÖÄÅ.

Karhunkoski · Post by **Karhunkoski** » Tue Dec 30, 2008 3:13 pm

sinikala wrote:We picked up 4 bottles of Faustino V at £4.99 each at the start of the month. Alko price €15,49

A fiver a bottle, that must surely have been on (very) special offer?

The V was priced around a tenner a bottle, or at least it was (my ex was the importer for the UK)

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