The dollar IS strong. The stats are clear on that. As an anecdote to go along with the systematic evidence, when I was in the UK in 2004, it took about $1.75 to buy one £. Last week, a quid was only worth about $1.28.Shouldn't that make the dollar more valuable and a better exchange rate? I am not an economist.
I would imagine retailers are getting the best of suppliers and consumers. They can buy pipes at a favorable rate of exchange, then sell them here for the outsized markup the market clearly will bear (for now).
Here is one example of more systematic evidence.
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