A little more than a year ago, the American dollar and the Canadian dollar reached parity for the first time in more than three decades, leading to a call for U.S. comics publishers to revise their Canadian prices.
Several did. DC Comics, for instance, announced a single cover price in March. Marvel adjusted its prices to more closely resemble the exchange rate (e.g. $2.99 U.S./$3.05 Canadian).
But now, Publishers Weekly reports, the exchange rate again is in flux, with the Canadian dollar falling more than 70 percent. That means $1 Canadian is now worth about 78 cents U.S., a level not seen since mid-2005.
The decline has happened so fast that many publishing houses are unable to change prices on the wave of books keyed for holiday-season release.
However, it looks like at least one comics publisher was quick to respond.
Toronto-based comics blogger Ty Buttars noted nearly two weeks ago that the Canadian cover price for Marvel’s new releases jumped nearly 15 percent, to $3.50.
After looking at his retailer’s recent invoices from Diamond Comic Distributors, Buttars concludes:
Seems that they are keeping up quite nicely with the craziness. But has Marvel reacted to the recent sharp decline in the $CAD (down about 13-16% in the last three weeks vs the US greenback) too quickly? (Me bitching: They sure took their time reducing cover prices when the US dollar lost ground.) Or is this one of the first steps to prep the market for a gradual price increase in North America? We’ll see once the markets stabilize.
October 28th, 2008 at 9:50 am
Aren’t retailers free to charge whatever they want? The last time I purchased a stack of comics at one of my local comic book shops, I was charged $3.99 a comic even though they were all $2.99 issues. I didn’t realize it at the time and only noticed the price increase after I got home and dug the receipt out of the bag. I wont buy anything there ever again, but I don’t think there is anything prohibiting him from charging what he wants.
October 28th, 2008 at 10:41 am
I don’t know about the rest of the country but alot of shops in Toronto charge only the US cover price. I’ve always wondered how they do that but never asked, I’m sure somebody else reading this knows.
October 28th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
What you’ll be seeing more and more of is U.S. publishers going without a Canadian cover price. Most of the Canadian retailers I’ve talked to prefer it that way; they’re paying for the books in US dollars, and can then simply charge for the books based on the current exchange rate. (Even if the publishers became quicker at adjusting their cover prices, that still doesn’t fix long-warehouse-life items such as TPBs, where the publisher may be selling books that were printed years ago, with exchange rates to match.)
October 29th, 2008 at 3:39 am
Yeah, I’ve only ever really paid US cover on floppies and generally discounts on trades and hardcovers bring them down to the US price, too. Even with the dollar dropping, some prices on older trades and hardcovers are absurd. Like some of the thick Marvel books I have are $24.99 USD and $45.00 CAD.
Disparity in cover prices and the exchange rate only really affects me when I am actually in the States and paying US prices in US dollars and I’m getting kind of ripped off. Unless I’m digging in a half price trades bin, where it becomes a slightly better deal.
I’m more concerned about how much my hotel room for WonderCon is going to run me now if things don’t even back out some. D: