yep, that's what I said. Do you get many cats cross border shopping?

Prince's store in Oroville Wa. used to mail flyers all the way up to Vernon advertising sales and they'd include a list of foods and dry-goods that didn't require duty to be paid, and the amounts you could bring back. Obviously what you want to buy and your proximity to the border determines how much you can save. Princes even built a huge paved lot for people to park RVs on so they could stay over 48 hrs and bring some duty free booze back, but it fell into disuse when the Cdn dollar was high. My neighbour in Oliver told me that if I wanted an electric trolling motor for fishing I could get one like his in Omak Wa when they go on sale for $90 vs $300 in Canada. Plan purchases around a trip to the US so you stay long enough to use your personal exemption, research ahead of time, and savings can be tangible.

What am I on about, it's Canada that has this stupid rule. I know while you're sitting in line at Peace Arch POE, get your dog out of the car and have it shit all over the Canadian side. When CBSA complain, point out this stupid rule as the reason you have to do it.

Personally I think this is a bit of a fantasy a lot of Canadians tell themselves because once you add on the price of a hotel there are no savings, it's only a $200 limit for an overnight stay. I suppose if you have relatives you're visiting or something like that it might make more sense.

But shopping in the US using the NAFTA exemption for day-to-day stuff you buy in the supermarket is a different matter, I know loads of people in BC who do this.

And that's why I said 'Plan your purchases around a trip to the US so you can use your personal exemption.' I didn't say plan a trip around your shopping.

We buy a lot of things in the US by mail, but don't bother shopping day to day in the US anymore. Not a big enough difference to go to the effort.

BC residents will pay WA state tax, plus CAN tax on items that this applies to, including Amazon.com purchases, as they have a presence in WA, total of 20%, plus any duties.

What I meant was a lot of people tell themselves that's what they're doing but really they are just letting their bargain hunting instinct overpower their logic.

We make shopping trips to Buffalo or Detroit, renting a van and staying two nights, and find that there's a substantial saving even if the border agent insists that tax be paid on the goods over the exemption. It depends, of course, on doing a lot of shopping at once and on wanting items where there's a substantial difference in price and no punitive duty. A van full of wine, for example, would represent a massive saving while it was outside the wine merchants but not once it crossed the border. A desire for the glamour of Bright Lights and Big City helps, of course.

Assuming your charged any Canadian taxes when coming back across. They seem pretty uninterested these days when it comes to taxes and duty.

10 years ago they were a lot stricter, now you have a good chance at paying nothing when coming back across.

I don't go to the US much for savings, but for selection, we just don't have the same sort of products here, I go to the US especially for shoes, nothing fancy, but I can get better quality brands at Famous Footwear for the same price Pay Less charges here for some off brand uncomfortable cheaply made shoe.

Hotel doesn't come into play for me, its a day trip, leave home at 7am, in Bellingham by 9am or so, leave around 2, and home by 5pm.

There are some items that aren't good candidates for purchase (IMO) because of difficulty in getting warranty repair or replacement. If you have to go back to the US to exchange something that inconvenience can quickly nullify any saving. There are always several factors to consider.

We prefer not to be known as the Grocery Police or Grocery Tax Collectors.
On duty free items (made in USA/Mexico) then with taxes PST/GST or HST a general rule of thumb is $13 on every hundred spent for a same day shopper.
Personally Id pay the taxes on a same day shop rather than spending 2 nights in a hotel and getting the $800 personal exemption.
What will 2 x nights in a hotel plus meals cost you?
Its when you buy all the clothing, fabrics and shoes made in China, Indonesia, Bangladesh where you get whacked with 15 to 18% in duties plus the other taxes.
Alcohol and smokes will also set you back if no personal exemptions unless buying a 12 pack which they won't usually collect on.
You also have to take into consideration that the officers can legally collect these taxes and in some places management monitors these collections as its part of our job to collect and you could be disciplined for not collecting.

We eat in Canada so that's not a cost specific to the trip. We assume $600 for a couple of nights in a motel and renting a van.

Pretty much always charged taxes coming back, high value items seem to attract interest. In BC they only used to collect GST, then the province got greedy and wanted them to collect PST as well. It made going down less worthwhile for small purchases. If I am not saving at least a couple of hundred, it is not worth gong over now.

The line ups are so bad now, 30-60 minutes often, used to be you drove up, flashed your drivers license and over you went. We used to go over just to fill up with gas and get dairy stuff. Now I walk over and pick my stuff up and carry it back, much quicker.

I find it the opposite and find taxes and controls stricter now than 15-20 years ago.

Suppose it all boils down to the officers mood and time of day and pure randomness.

Only time duty comes into play is when I order from Amazon since they include it in the purchase, other then that never had customs ever add any, even on mail order, they have opened items for inspection, but never charged.

It was always mostly aquarium related stuff, just could not get it in Canada, and never super high value.

I go as I said to get items I can't find or get in Canada more then anything else.

Fruit and veg prices in the supermarkets south of the border are generally much greater higher than the prices in produce stores in the Vancouver area. Dairy products and meat are noticeably lower in the USA.

Immediately south of the border, the small town of Blaine once hosted a large number of gasoline stations catering almost entirely to Canadian visitors, many of which closed when the C$ lost ground a few years back. For a while US shoppers were even looking at buying automobiles in Canada to save money. Now that the C$ has regained value and taxes on Canadian gas have increased, the trend has reversed, and the volume of visitors going to buy gasoline in the USA has gone up again. And while you are there you might as well check out the supermarket and the outlet stores and maybe the mall ..

I have the impression that cross-border price differences for many things have decreased over the years as big box stores like Home Depot Lowe's, Walmart and Target have proliferated in Canada. After the cost of travel, exchange, and taxes you may have to pay, the list of things it's worth going to the US to buy is not as long as you might think. Things still on the list include vehicle tires.

As someone who doesn't like shopping or waiting at the border, I will only go down if I can't find a specific item in Canada, or its C$ price is excessive, and the US supplier won't ship to Canada at all or shipping to Canada is very pricy.

Obviously there are many other people who do think it's worth the hassle.

borderbuying