Strong Canadian Dollar hits Canadian Scientists

I was shocked recently to find that simple gloves have gone up by more than 25% from my preferred supplier of gloves (ie from $6.95 per box to $8.95 per box). This supplier (who won't be named here) used to be the least expensive ones I could find. I prefer the powder free nitrile or powder free latex. Apparently the Canadian dollar's dive from over 1.10 USD in November 2007 to about $0.83 cents today has meant those companies who are used to margins of 25% are now under water. I used to be at a large multinational who enjoyed gross margins nearing 60% in Canada on products like protein gels, DNA markers, Taq....all high turnover products. I can see my lab bills going up by 25% this year, and I can't say I'm enjoying it. I only wish I had taken advantage of those year-end sales...my loss