snowshoveller

I feel really sorry for canadian residents, (myself included) we have to pay through the nose for almost anything compared to the yanks.

Someone on the "forgotten drugs" thread mentioned the cost of diabetic test strips, and thats just the start of it. things improved a little bit last year when the loonie was par with the greenback, as it became so blatantly obvious that suppliers were just adding a bit on to canadian price tags.

They will of course tell you that it's because Canada is so remote that it costs more to get stuff here, but 95% of us live within 100 miles of the border!

One of my canadian pals bought a plot of land in north dakota last year for a couple of grand and now has lots of stuff delivered to his PO box down there, even paying import duty he reckons its a worthwhile venture.

Oh and have you noticed that wal mart in the states is quite a nice shop, whereas in canada it's a dreadful place!

rant over!

MB-Realtor

You don't need a plot of land to have stuff delivered, there a little company in Neche, just over the MB border in ND, they charge $2 per package received.

Menkes Parcel & Handling

539 E 5th St
Neche, ND 58265
701-886-7519

snowshoveller

My pal is planning to build something down there eventually - he says his wife spends so much time shopping in grand forks that she might as well live there!

Thanks for the tip, though!

dbd33

I do wonder why car insurance here is ten times more expensive than in the US (based on the car we're driving on US plates). Canadians are litigious but surely not that much more so than Americans.

BristolUK

Yes. US websites have plenty of medical supplies (not just drugs) that are half what they are up here. But the moment you input a Canadian address, the price doubles...before mailing costs are added.

I noticed Amazon.com had the teststrips while Amazon.ca did not. But while Amazon.com happily delivers to Canada, these items were not available for cross border delivery. Identical in every way and no prescription needed.

ExKiwilass

We hear this a lot in retail.

Part of the reason is that the canadian minimum wage is higher. I know it differs provincially, but I believe it's quite a lot higher than the US. That's why sometimes clothes are more $$$ because the staff are paid more.

iaink

Chicken and egg situation, wages are higher becasue stuff costs more, stuff cost more because wages are higher.


As you cant do anything about it I suggest its easier just to stop comparing anyway.

Butch Cassidy

bodgerx

Yes, but how much do they crash? And how many have no insurance at all?

Ireland has high car insurance premiums, and they blame that on the uninsured.

BristolUK

Sort of true...but that doesn't explain why a US company will charge more for some identical items just because it's going to Canada.

Those extra costs are reflected in the shipping price but they actually charge more for the item before shipping costs come into it.

iaink

Landing costs, costs associated with the endless customs documentation that businesed have to complete, fluctutions in the exchange rate between setting the price and ordering the item, because they can....all sorts of reasons...

You still cant do much about it, its seldom cheaper to order from the states by the time you cover shipping and pay the sales tax to import it, and long run all thats doing is driving local costs higher and higher and shafting some of the people who live along side you out of a job.

BristolUK

But we're not talking about variations in import duties or wage costs or anything else.

AmazonUS will charge $10 for a book produced in the US at US costs to someone in the USA. They'll sell the same book to me for the same $10 providing I pay the extra bit for the shipping costs.

The test strips produced in the US at US costs, they will sell to someone in the US for $50. They won't let me buy them at all.

Another company will sell the same strips in the US for the same $50 plus the postal rate for the US.
They will sell the same strips to me but they'll charge $100 for them plus the additional cost to send them to me.

That's not about production costs or delivery costs or import duties. something.


Edited to add....sorry....in my example I'm not talking about cost variations.

ExKiwilass

Iain nailed it. I work in a small boutique and I know that the owner deals with a lot of paperwork/customs stuff to bring stuff in from the US. And then there's the exchange rate. Some US companies really dont like dealing with the paperwork - there is some associated with the NAFTA agreement that's supposed to mean that there is less duty on products from the US/MExico but not all companies are willing to do the paperwork/will charge for doing said paperwork.

iaink

Because it costs them hundred of thousands to complete the canada specific medical licensing requirements and testing

Same goes for car bumpers and electrical goods....there is a whole secondary layer of inspection and certification that canadian law requires...

Im not saying thats good, but it is what it is and its not going to change, so I choose not to lose sleep over it.

Soem items like books etc obviously dont run into the regulatory hurdles, but many others do. Free trade is not quite as advertised...the taxes may be a wash, but the paperwork necessary to track it all comes at a cost.

bodgerx

To send something out of the US, all you have to do is fill out a customs declaraction which all the major postal companies supply - takes seconds, state the declared value, what the item is, job done, not hard.