just another day of fun on the asx, page-12

Swannie,
I wasn't a Diver.... I was a Processor.... bought the Abalone from the Divers, washed it, packed it, froze it and shipped it off.... all to Dept. Primary Industry standards.

Dozens of interesting stories from that era.... one you will enjoy, I had a shipment of blacklip Abalone on the Shinkawa Maru, headed for Japan.... and a shipment of Greenlip Abalone on the Emma Bakke, headed for Hong Kong. Both ships in Fremantle Harbour ready to sail. I had two letters of credit in my hands ready to walk across the road to the Bank having satisfied all the conditions for the bank to pay the funds into my account.
I felt knackered.... so decided that since it was Friday afternoon.... I would wait until Monday morning.... same difference.
The Japanese letter of credit was written in US Dollars, whilst the Hong Kong one was written in Australian Dollars.

On the Sunday, Malcolm Fraser devalued the Aussie dollar a whopping 17.5%.
My head went into a spin.... what does this mean?.... what have I lost?.... what have I gained?

I calmly collected my thoughts and ultimately reasoned that the Aussie Dollar L/C would be unchanged.... but the US Dollar L/C was dramatically affected..... I was $11,000 richer..... 11,000 1979 dollars.

Ahhh.... what a glorious Monday morning it was.

Had I negotiated them on the Friday, I would have gained nothing.