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Crashing silver prices

Pierre_Henri replied to jwither's topic in Coins and Notes (for the Numismatist)

All true, but many South Africans do not have the ability (or know-how) to invest overseas, so the safest short-term way to protect their money (not growing it) is gold. My financial advisor has always stated that he does not believe in gold as an investment, because "it is just there, all on its lonesome, stored in your safe, it does not actually do anything" Well yes, but for the average citizen who does not have the know-how or ability to invest overseas, gold simply protects what you already have. It certainly does not make you poorer in times of angst and uncertainty..

TradeRouteAuctions started following Open letter to the Minister of Trade and Industry Yesterday at 09:17 AM

Open letter to the Minister of Trade and Industry

TradeRouteAuctions posted a topic in Selling on bidorbuy

DearEbrahimPatel.co.za The Minister of Trade and Industry The Honorable Ebrahim Patel 7th April 2020 Dear Honorable Minister, Re: Request to allow the domestic transport of all goods with no human contact. We write as concerned South African businesses operating in the local logistics sector. We are proud of the proactive response the South African government has taken to address the Covid-19 crisis, especially when compared to many other so-called first world countries. We understand we are living in extraordinary times and saving lives can and must be our priority. We however also believe the “cure” cannot be more detrimental to society than the virus itself and a balance needs to be obtained between extreme lockdown measures and protecting human well-being as well as the economy - a deterioration of which can also ultimately lead to the loss of lives. We understand the most effective tool we have right now to fight the virus is to eliminate human contact as far as possible. We hope in time, ubiquitous testing with contact tracing, effective treatments and ultimately a vaccine are additional tools that will be instrumental in fighting the virus. Right now the vast majority of South Africans remain free of the virus and are adhering to the regulations imposed by the government by staying at home. Families across the country are attempting to go on with their everyday lives, within the constraints of being home-bound. Those that can, have set up home offices. Many children are likely to be schooled from home and will be requiring school supplies. With the onset of cooler weather, warm clothes and bedding is also needed. Access to non-essential home supplies will assist South Africans to continue with their activities at home for any period of lockdown. Furthermore, the mental well-being of people can be improved by having access to certain non-essential goods such as devices for home entertainment and other items to remain occupied and healthy at home. The logistics sector supports many micro businesses that would be able to continue to operate through the lockdown without human contact including: All forms of eCommerce. Online retailers - tens of thousands of online merchants are able to operate remotely. Offline retailers - physical stores will be able to make use of courier services for home deliveries thereby preventing people from making unnecessary trips and reducing their risk of exposure. For the most part, these micro businesses are not eligible for UIF or other government programmes available to support small businesses with many of these businesses currently on the brink of collapse. As an essential service, the logistics industry’s workforce is already deployed - fortunately most drivers own their own delivery vehicles and do not need to make use of public transport to get to work. Unfortunately, with essential goods exclusively permitted to be transported, the costs to support this infrastructure are similar to a fully operational scenario but with income for these drivers significantly lower and currently unsustainable. Extending a lockdown with the current restrictions will ultimately result in job losses for many of these drivers. The logistics industry has already taken proactive measures to prevent transmission of the virus: Drivers are tested daily for any symptoms. Drivers have been supplied with face masks. Hand sanitiser is used before and after every collection / delivery. Parcels are sanitised. All interactions are contactless with sufficient separation between the driver and the sender/recipient. We would argue that by allowing all goods - including those deemed to be non-essential - to be transported domestically by professional courier companies, will allow many businesses to continue to operate and provide a valuable service to society while not adding undue risk to the further spread of the virus. We hereby request that you seriously consider allowing approved courier companies adhering to stringent preventative measures to transport all goods domestically. We can play a vital part in not only preventing the spread of the virus, but ensuring the well-being of South Africans - please allow us to do this. Yours sincerely, Concerned Business (Contact Us) https://dearebrahimpatel.co.za/

Yesterday at 09:17 AM

CoronaVirus

TradeRouteAuctions replied to TradeRouteAuctions's topic in Buying on bidorbuy

https://mybroadband.co.za/news/business/346827-the-cure-should-not-be-worse-than-the-virus-sa-businesses.html South African logistics and ecommerce businesses are asking Trade and Industry Minister Ebrahim Patel to allow the transport and delivery of goods with no human contact. These businesses argue that allowing all goods to be transported domestically by professional courier companies will allow many businesses to continue operating. They add that these sectors provide a valuable service to society while not adding undue risk to the further spread of COVID-19. “We hereby request that you seriously consider allowing approved courier companies adhering to stringent preventative measures to transport all goods domestically,” the letter reads. “We can play a vital part in not only preventing the spread of the virus, but ensuring the well-being of South Africans – please allow us to do this.” The open letter to Patel has already been signed by over 1,000 logistics and ecommerce businesses and executives in South Africa. Prominent signatories include uAfrica’s Andy Higgins, Bidorbuy’s Craig Lubbe, The Courier Guy’s Stephen Gleisner, and Courierit SA’s Marnie Dreyer Shaik. Open letter The full open letter to Patel is published below. The letter and signatures can be seen here: DearEbrahimPatel.co.za

The Most Horrible Feature of the New Layout

Jacques Kuun replied to Pierre_Henri's topic in Feedback to the bidorbuy team

Hello Pierre-Henri. I could not agree with you more. I have been listing about 150 items using the old format and thus pre-viewing them all in the old format. After reading your post, I went into the new format to see the difference in the appearance. What a shock! Empty and useless spaces that should have been used for the product information. As you have said: keep the buyers’ focus on the actual item that is listed. Regards, Jacques

Crashing silver prices

jwither replied to jwither's topic in Coins and Notes (for the Numismatist)

I'd phrase it a little differently. Those who use the Rand as the currency of reference have been able to preserve their purchasing power. They haven't really made much of an economic profit. I have said this before but for those who can afford it, get some of your assets out of the country. The rating agencies are another lagging indicator. If you want to get an idea of what the financial markets really think about an entity's credit worthiness, take a look at the yield to maturity (interest rate relative to the publicly traded price of the debt), credit spreads and Credit Default Swap premiums.

Crashing silver prices

Pierre_Henri replied to jwither's topic in Coins and Notes (for the Numismatist)

With the gold price creeping upwards and the rand/dollar rate spiraling downwards, those SA citizens that invested in gold as a hedge against difficult times, must be smiling. And with the international rating agencies standing in line to award junk-status to SA, gold is shining brighter than ever in sunny South Africa. A Krugerrand today is worth R31 000+– is that an all-time record? If so, those lucky ones that bought theirs a few weeks ago must also show an all-time record on any investment they have ever made in such a short time.