As I mentioned recently, at work I've been spending time talking to customers and our suppliers about the delicate issue of bill paying and I have noticed a change in mood. Our suppliers are cutting us less slack, and our customers are not all paying as promptly as they were.
I don't think we are immune to the global financial crunch by any stretch of the imagination, but at this point in time anyway it hasn't really hit that hard in Oz. (Mind you, I'm not a home owner dealing with interest rates.) Money bores me as a topic (just one indicator that I am in the entirely wrong profession), but there is certainly a whiff of fear and trepidation in the air.
Oh, but I have put a hold on buying more books from the U.K. at present. The exchange rate changes of the past week has made them less of a bargain just at present.
What will happen next is anyone's guess. I think the world financial systems are kind of like organic systems, in that you can sort of predict how they are going to pan out and try and affect the outcomes, but there will always be unexpected results.
5 comments:
They use money down there?
@thombeau - it's not real money - but it's very colourful and shiny and plasticy and looks pretty. :)
Andrew if you want someone to go and say hello to your customers with a baseball bat to add gravitas to your phone calls, just say the word! ;)
Tom's right, shiny plasticy money! All colour coded and differently sized, to make recognition easier. It has a certain Monopoly-esque appeal. Every day is a game in Oz!
Tom, with your towering height I'm sure it'd be a sure fire way of colledting debts. Can you do 'menacing'?
Sounds like the SCARY really hit hard in Asia last night, though, huh?
It hit here too today, an 8% drop in the market apparently! The worst in over 20 years.
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