I am just coming back here, with a supposedly high US$. I went to Walmart...... :evil: the prices are awful!!! The ceviche has increased from 99 to 128 pesos, the torta de papas de.... 40 to 90 (yes, ninety, no typo). And I wouldn't call that very sophisticated imported products. In my opinion, we can get much less! :cry: Moreover the exchange rate at Walmart is not what it used to be. Not interesting anymore.
This is normal...when the dollar stays high against the peso for a while retailers in Mexico raise their prices...my husband has been expecting this since the dollar went up...
Have to admit I'm loving it. I took 4,000 pesos out of the ATM on 26 August and it cost me $405.03 from my US debit card. Today if I took that same amount of pesos out it would cost me $304.38. Similar rate increase for my USD transfers going to my UK savings account in £'s.
Well, if I were able to get the same amount of stuff for my pesos that I could when it was 10 then it would be great, but sadly that is just not how it works. I have a number of friends who are drowning right now, as their businesses depend on importing things from the States or elsewhere which mean they HAVE to buy dollars, and they cant even think about raising their prices right now to compensate, for fear of losing the customers they still have in these slow times..... So if you are doing well right now, good for you, just remember that the majority are not, and I don't know of any locals who have gotten a raise to offset this inflation/weaker peso, so for the most part there are not more pesos in people pockets, just the same amount with a lower value. I still expect the pesos to get back around 11, I just don't know how fast it will happen and in the meantime it seems like all the stores are raising thei prices MORE than enough to offset any bonus in the exchange rate... and we all know that once the prices go up they almost never come back down, regardless of the money value.... so either way, its gotten more expenses to live....
Steve, can you tell me how you do your maths? Here are mine. Before, let's say I got 10 pesos for 1 US$, and I could buy an item at 10 pesos. it was 1 dollar. Now I get 12 or 13 pesos for 1 dollar... but that same item costs 15 pesos (or 20), thus MORE than 1 dollar. It seems to me that I can buy LESS for my dollar (or my peso, whatever). If you tell me how you get more, I will be very grateful. And yes, Life, how do the Mexicans afford the prices? Stealing? Murdering? At last, it is very urgent that I rent my studio, otherwise I have neither $$$ nor pesos. It will be back in mint condition in about 2 weeks. Anyone knows someone? But NO MORE contrato transaccional, only like in hotels (contrato de hospedaje).
It all depends on what your outgoings are. For us our biggest monthly expenditure is rent. It's always been 12,000 pesos, a few months ago that meant 1,200 USD now it's only 900 USD. Our second biggest expenditure is school fees, almost 4,000 pesos - used to work out at 400 USD, now it's only 300. That's 400 USD or 5,000+ pesos savings straight off. Our gas, water, internet, phone and electric haven't gone up that I've noticed and are payable in pesos. Petrol another appreciable expenditure we have I expect is cheaper than it was a few months ago. Even if it were the same, I'm getting 30% more gas for the same amount of US dollars. Groceries, I am told, have gone up but they comprise a relatively small percentage of our own monthly spend. If a bag of rice costs 5 pesos more than it was a month ago then that is absorbed many many times because we are paying lower prices for our major outgoings. Of course, everyone has different circumstances and mileage may vary, but we are finding ourselves better off overall at the moment.
I think it depends on how you get paid? Steve and I both earn a lot of our money in dollars, so things here seen cheaper, even with some increases. If you get paid in pesos then I expect you to complain about what's going on now.
I understand, Steve. Thanks for that explanation. I have no rent nor school fees to pay, so my biggest expense is food, which has raised a lot, and of course, like everyone else, internet, gas, maintenance fees etc... I have found petrol (gasolina) higher, and my biggest income should be :wink: the rent of my studio, I rent it in USD but not sure I can leave it at the same price now... and I will be MUCH MORE selective in the future.
This of'course is assuming that your rent doesn't increase or that the schools don't go up, which unfortunately, I think is almost a certainty if the pesos doesn't get back around where it was before your contracts/school years start again. Although you may still come out in the end with slightly lower bills, but if you start to see other things creeping up or less work, then your in the same boat as everyone else... just a bit more of a delayed start than everyone else. I was real optimistic until I started reading into the world currency market's problems, and now I'm kicking myself for not changing my pesos to dollars back when they were 10 earlier this year.
