Re: [Harp-L] The price of Harmonicas

[Frank Evers <frank@xxxxxxxxx>]

Am Samstag, 30. August 2008 schrieb David Payne:
> And, in the 1940s, the exchange rate was three marks to one dollar.
> When I was going to school in Europe in 1997, the exchange rate was
> was 1.7 marks to one dollar. That's a lot of price increase before
> inflation is factored in.

There's not even need to to go back that far. When the Euro was 
introduced in 1999 you got 88 Euro Cents per USD. Then the Euro was 
going down and for a while you'd get 1.11 Euro per USD. Then earlier 
this year it was like 62 Cent per USD and now it's around 70 Cent.

This is obviously a problem if you sell harmonicas for dollars while 
you pay your employees for euros.
So manufacturers have to make contracts with banks or insurances to 
minimize the risks from these mechanisms. However when these 
contracts run out after a while they have to be renewed, and if (like 
now) the USD is weak and isn't expected to raise soon, then the 
manufacturer has to calculate with a lower excange value and is 
forced to raise the product prices to be able to pay it's employees.

I think this is the main reason while harmonicas have become that 
expensive in America recently...

-- 
Gruß,Frank