One doesn't have to live in the far flung North to feel the impact of distribution costs on food pricing. It's a factor here in the Far flung East as well.

Milk here is $4.10 or so for 2 litres!

Hi guys
reading everyones post comparing the cost of living from Canada to the UK, I find it quite surprising and think it depends on circumstances also... for example my husband has been offered work in Edmonton start pay is alot more than uk wages ... in £'s he earns £8.20 per hour here (skilled trade) been offered £20.10 per hour in edmonton... the cost of living for us in uk (RIGHT NOW) is ridiculos we have 2 children.. my son is 12 his school uniform alone... will cost me £200 just for him to go back to school in september!! fuel (diesel) £1.43 a litre (cant afford to travel very far) Food shopping costs me £100 + a week just for basics.. Bills over £100 a month... to rent our house and council tax £900 a month and thats before we can do anything ... which believe me isnt very often... life is very hard, and will only get worse... if we stay in uk... Unless your well off.... for us Edmonton is a chance to live... better quality of life all round.. so arguing over the price of milk? cheese? really? for us its the bigger package ... all in... so much out door living... a chance for a better quality of life... yes im sure things can cost more... same here.. cherries for example ... I cant afford to buy them full stop! because after all the everyday things are paid there is nothing much left... We are excited and scared about the future but overall its a FUTURE something we dont have much of here....

Cherries at $1.99 a pack at Safeway at the moment so may be you can afford them too. But you gotta be quick cuz the deal is only until this weekend.

Fair enough. But my argument is that distribution costs and internal trade barriers do in fact impact prices of many things. Each province has its own legislation, its own trade agreements, its own taxes, its own education, its own health care, its own car insurance rules/system. Climates vary widely as well as do things like liquor laws and cuisine.

As for the economy. Canada appears to be one big unified country, but is in fact quite fragmented. This has been a hot topic issue lately as it's costing the country billions of dollars a year and means higher prices for consumers.

Yep lots of us felt the same way...Until we moved here

Was it made in China? Try returning it or claiming on the warranty.

The only thing worth risking buying from The Brick imo are beds, and buying from The Brick is just more hassle and you can buy beds elsewhere.

The problem with The Brick is their customer service. And the stuff they sell. Well if you're not an idiot you're going to be smart enough not to buy crap from them, but that's the case with anyone. But if you have a problem, OMG.

As pointed out they also target customers, e.g. if you're an immigrant who has just walked into the store (and by "immigrant" I mean someone who has just moved to wherever it is) they guide you to the most expensive stuff.

I've been to three different stores over the years in the hope it was just the one store, but no, they're all the same and also try dealing with their Head Office, I ordered something, said it would take six weeks max., put down a deposit, after months they decided they couldn't get it and returned the deposit.

I've got a couple of other stories but I'm sure I've mentioned them before.

I don't agree on that point, the Canadian national pastime seems to me to be getting your family member who lives in the US to send you something to save a couple of dollars. Or buying a tank of gas to drive to the US, stay overnight in a hotel so you can save a few dollars on shopping in the US.

The real reason why stuff is "more expensive" (because it's not always) generally (i.e. not just dairy and other things that are protected) is because of the Canadian dollar. The US dollar is an international medium of exchange, the Chinese, etc. will accept it. Anyone doing business in Canada first has to exchange their Canadian dollars for US dollars to import anything, which means you have to buy more than you need as a hedge against exchange rate changes. So if you compare to the US you immediately see price differences.

The higher cost of shipping in Canada is also a big reason but the awkwardness of using a different currency is the main one.

If the Chinese ever figure out a different international medium of exchange, inflation in the US is going to go up like a missile.

Not so, we import all the time and pay in the suppliers local currency, using CAD through a currency brokerage.

Where the FX problem arises, is where a supplier bills in USD, not their home currency, they hedge the FX, the customer converts CAD to USD to pay the bill.

Some Canadian firms will use USD and buy currency when the FX suits them, others prefer CAD billing, again the supplier hedges the rate.

This may in some part account for higher prices, but is by no means the main culprit. Often items produced in the US have a higher CAD price than US for no apparent reason, when the US/CAD is on par.

Made in Canada actually. Was part of the reason we decided to buy the particular set we did.

Most of our other stuff is from Ikea though. I know our dining room table was made in Lithuania but I don't recall the origin of the other stuff.

Yes, I know. I was illustrating the alternatives to Loblaws owned to show my experience differed.

I suppose it could be a geographical thing.

You're right. Bath has it's areas where I wouldn't want to live and Moncton doesn't.

And while that's a joke, it does have a serious point.

I actually picked Bath AND Bristol though, because Moncton is in between size-wise and because I know them both quite well.

Bath is a million miles more attractive than Moncton. Better architecture, nicer parks, the countryside etc

It also has some of the negatives that Bristol has and Moncton doesn't have to anything like the same extent. But now I'm risking the wrath of the usual suspects.

Life's not all about aesthetics. Practicalities come into it too.

I don't know Grimsby or Lincoln. The economy, unemployment etc for NB is well known.

Less well known, apparently, is that Moncton bucks the trend for NB.

6.7% was the rate of unemployment I saw recently. Retail is expanding, new properties going up everywhere, population growing.

Of course it might mean the boom is followed by a bust.

But for the moment the picture is massively different to NB in general.

But that's basically my point, you have to convert, that's an additional cost. And an additional complexity that is much less common in the US.

We're talking about companies like Wal-Mart for example, really big retailers with huge buying power and economies of scale. Buy crap from China, you get charged USD. The Canadian operation has to convert into CAD.

The apparent reason is the brokerage as you point out. There's no way is good X bought from supplier Y who accepted USD for it going to be the same price in CAD even when the currencies are at parity. Just the logistics of changing the currency and hedging increase the price. Especially when it's a US company that only has foreign retail operations in Canada because they're not very good at it.

There are other reasons for it (shipping costs being a big one) but usually things are cheaper in the US and the principal reason is the USD. People don't want to hold onto CAD but they're okay holding onto USD, you don't have to hedge it because foreign suppliers will accept it.

I've actually got to the point of wondering whether I shouldn't just convert everything into USD and just use a USD credit card to buy everything here, I spoke to someone who lives in Windsor who does that. Fixes the exchange rate (because you pay off the credit card using USD).

It's also one of the reasons the Canadian operation of a US company has thin inventory, the most recent example being Target. Once it's in Canada it's pretty much valueless except in Canada. Moving it back to the US is just too complex because of the money and shipping issues. Plus they move it through the US to Canada, it doesn't come in to Canada directly from China.

This is why I always think it makes more sense to go to Canadian stores, Canadian Tire, Home Hardware, etc. Cut out the middleman, i.e. the United States. Some of the big US chains that have been around awhile such as Home Depot do import directly into Canada though.

The other reason being they've heard of metric. Have you heard the Home Depot radio ad for floor tiles and they give the area in sq. ft. and the thickness in millimetres?

Sobey's (aka Empire Company) has stupidly high prices. Way more expensive than Loblaw's. It's bad enough in Calgary but in Vancouver they charge even more.

And now they've taken over Safeway as well so it's only going to get worse.