Originally Posted by Favorite Fabrics
Originally Posted by ecmoore
People in Canada tend to be surprised at the amount of duty we pay in general, and Americans are doubly so. I mean, we live in a country where gas is about $5.50 US/Gal, and milk in my area is about $5/gal. It's a real shock for my husband, that's for sure. (Granted, it's bizarre - it's cheaper for us in Toronto to eat strawberries imported from Mexico than it is for people in Texas.)
Add to the fact that when we purchase in Canada, the duties are hidden to a certain degree - wrapped up in the sticker price, because we have so little manufacturing and so much has historically been imported. And finally, we've traditionally had a very high exchange rate in the US, and Canadians are used to paying a LOT of money for certain products. (Some non-quilting examples: Shoes at payless, the exact same shoes, are usually 20-30% higher priced between Canada and the US. Books are starting to even up in price, but many are still 20% higher at least. A bernina foot I need is $60 in Canada, and $25 in the US.) This also serves to keep the prices artificially high, even though the dollar has been floating within 5% of par for the last five years, and has been over par for most of the last 6 months.
This is interesting.... and explains why so many Canadians cross the border to shop in the outlet malls here in the US.
Do you think that having duty built into the prices of goods in Canada has helped to protect the businesses that are manufacturing goods in Canada? We often have debates here in the US over whether tariffs should be higher than what they are.
And thanks to some Canadians who do a lot of cross-border/internet shopping, we feel the effects, when businesses/manufacturers close down and move their operations to the USA (and elsewhere. And then we see the prices go even higher .... And oft times the same people are be-moaning the loss of jobs and overall economic effects.
Yes, this thread has me proposing a cross-border/internet purchase for myself, though as said before, it is not my practice. My decision to do so in this case is because I cannot get the item in any other way.