39Vaugirard

Wow! This is like post-war inflation, just when the European economy can least afford it. When I see 10-!%% increases in gas and electric, i wonder how this will get passed on to the consumer. Already, these charges looked more like the utilities bill of a 6000 square foot house in the United States.

Pre-buying stamps in Europe is always a good investment.

POSTAGE

Buy your stamps today at a bargain — the ones with no monetary amount printed on them, because tomorrow, the postal rates go up (information thanks to Eric Tolbert):

Letters within France increase from 56 centimes to 58.

Letters/postcards to US increase from 85 centimes to 87.

Letters to other European countries increase to 75 centimes.

Pre-stamped envelopes (prêt-a-poster) will be good for whatever rates are in effect when they are used…so stock up on these today, too.

GAS

“Residential gas goes up 4.7% in July following a 10% increase in April. If gas is used only for cooking, the July increase will be just 2.1%. In 2008 GDF cut-off 10,000 customers for non-payment but expects to cut-off 300,000 this year because of the increases.” (Information thanks to Eric Tolbert.)

ELECTRICITY

EDF has received regulatory permission to increase electricity prices this year by 11.4% followed by a 3.5% increase in 2011. There is hope for the future in that EDF is going to increase investment in nuclear energy from 500 million euros per year to 2 billion euros per year.” (Information thanks to Eric Tolbert.)

From Adrian Leed’s very good blog and newsletter Parier Paris.

Funny. I can’t imagine the fact that stores are closed on Sunday to be a reason not to stay an extra day in Paris, but I guess some people must be shopping all the time. As a student, I resented the Sunday closings because it just meant so much more to pack into a Saturday, but now I treasure the idea of one day where everyone is forced to really take the day off. No “Honey-do” lists, no grocery shopping, and less stuff to fill the void in our souls, but rather a long day of family meals and walks in the park. TV, of course has ruined some of that nothing-to-do feeling already, but it’s more than a bit sad to see the French put one more nail in the coffin of true leisure, which many of us has felt was at the very core of spending time in Europe.

Paris is counting on American tourists — and a new law allowing more stores to open on Sundays — to boost tourism revenues pinched by the global financial downturn.

The French capital registered an 11.1-percent drop in foreign visitors in the first half of this year compared with the first half of 2008, according to figures released Wednesday by the Paris Tourism Office.

The number of Americans in Paris — long the largest contingent of foreigners here — dived last year because of U.S. economic woes and the expensive euro. But it started to pick up again, by 1.1 percent, in the second quarter of this year, the tourism office said.

[From The Associated Press: Paris hopes Americans boost flagging tourism]

Alas, again, it’s the Americans’ fault and hopes that we’ll come here in greater numbers for the shopping.

We were very concerned going into 2009 that tourism would be down dramatically and that Paris would suffer. The data below is for 2008, which showed a basically flat situation versus 2007, despite a recession that started midway through the year. In 2009, while we hear a lot more of the economic issues affecting Paris, so far, rentals of our apartment have been stronger than ever. This may be due to a flight to value, with people looking to spend less than they would on a hotel, or perhaps just because we’ve marketed our apartment for a few years now and are starting to get good word-of-mouth exposure for it.

Eighty million people can’t be wrong. That’s how many visited France last year. France must be doing something right. According to the French Ministry of the Economy, the country leads in attracting foreigners. Some people may simply be passing through on the way to final destinations because of France’s central European location and airlines’ use of Paris as a hub. But many people stay.

In spite of the global economic downturn, there was only a .3 percent decrease in the number of people who came to France in 2008 than in 2007.

[From tripso.com | France, the world’s #1 tourist destination]

French executive held hostage by staff.

Luc Rousselet, the French director of the US company 3M, had been held captive since arriving at the plant in Poithievers south of Paris for a visit on Tuesday. Staff took turns to guard him over 24 hours while demanding better severance packages for laid-off staff and better conditions for those remaining. The company, an industrial conglomerate best known for known for Post-It notes and Scotch tape, confirmed Rousselet had experienced no violence. Journalists saw him through the blinds of his office eating a lunch tray of a plate of meat and mashed potato, an apple and mineral water. Last night staff said he would be served mussels and chips for dinner if he was kept the whole night.

[From French executive held hostage by staff | World news | The Guardian ]

He wasn’t exactly stuffed in the back of car and kept in a cave, yet it’s hard to feel too much respect for the kidnappers in this case, no matter what the demands. While the kidnappers say there has been “no aggression,” they won’t release him until he gives in on something. It’s hard to imagine that fear and terror isn’t some part of this equation.

“Boss-napping” is not new in France:

Taking a boss hostage is becoming an increasingly common protest gesture in France. Last year, the English boss of a car-parts factory in eastern France was held for 48 hours in his office, sleeping on a massage table and being provided with blankets and sandwiches. He said he felt like “a prisoner in Alcatraz”.

In another incident last year, police stormed an ice-cream factory in Saint-Dizier to free a manager who had been held hostage by workers over job cuts.

The “soldes” are here!

Starting Jan. 7, storming the barricades will take on a whole new meaning in Paris.

That marks opening day of this year’s winter “soldes” (sales), five weeks of frenzied bargain-hunting for the perfect Azzaro cocktail dress or the normally unaffordable monogrammed Noël bed linen — at between 30 and 70 percent off.

[From Globespotters - Paris Goes on Sale - NYTimes.com]

It’s been a long, long time since anyone told an American that “it’s like Paris is on sale,” as they did in the eighties. Even with the recent temporary drop in the Euro, no one said sale. They just said less “pénible.”

Sales occur in Paris, of course, year around, but under French law, retail stores can only run public sales with big “SOLDES” banners only for several weeks in January and July.

The New York Times offers this added advice for the Paris sales:

• arrive early; don’t shop with a parent, spouse or child; eat a hearty breakfast; wear loose clothing and sensible shoes.
• Negotiate the hotel rate. Even discounted prices can come down.
• Think French. The lowest price isn’t always the best deal. Buy one glorious luxury item that will last forever.
• Pre-shop the sales. Do a dry run and check out the layout of the stores and the merchandise before sales day.
• Sweet talk the clerks. With charm and some good luck, you may be able to persuade the sales person to extend you the discount on the eve of the sales, or at least to set the longed-for item aside.

Happy shopping (as if as an American, you actually have any cash left to spend)!

With all the turmoil in the markets, there are so many surprises. Oil is down in the $70s risking to lull us again into energy complacency, and now the dollar is rising against the Euro. Or maybe we should say the Euro is falling. My economist friends tell me this is due to one currency/many governments model they have to deal with. While Europeans have jumped in to address their financial markets issues more aggressively than the US, they have no central authority to target shoot the trouble areas. And any one country not stabilizing its own banks runs the risk of unwittingly being the weak link for the Euro as a whole.

As an American, do I want the Euro a lot weaker? Good question and I’m not smart enough to know the answer. I certainly know how I feel as a tourist with tickets to Paris on November 20.

[From Exchange Rates Graph (American Dollar, Euro)]