# Cdn$ cruising below $0.90 US$ --- does it change your buying habits?



## bigbadwoolfe (Jan 1, 2013)

It's becoming more expensive to shop from the states every day. Before 1 in 10 purchases would get taxed. Now it's almost every one. The brokerage fees most charge are just insane (I paid $51) in brokerage fees to UPS for a $100 purchase just the other day (but figured out a way to get it refunded so hopefully I'll get my money back in a week). And now the dollar is another 10 to 15% loss. 

I may have to start calling local shops first... But not sure that'd be my only place to shop. If I need something and I need to wait for weeks / months to get it, price difference or not, I still may have to shop online (from the States / UK).


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## Ravenhunter (Dec 19, 2010)

It's good to sell to the USA but not buy. When ever you buy you always roll the dice on tax duty and exchange.


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## Ravenhunter (Dec 19, 2010)

I was ready to buy a bow from a USA dealer but with the change in exchange I ended up I ordering from an Archery shop out east. Felt good to buy off a Canadian dealer too. I always prefer to buy Canadian but when the price is $200 plus more its hard too.


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## Ravenhunter (Dec 19, 2010)

Always look online for Candian dealers. I paid the same amount for this bow as I was going to in us dollars. Plus shipping across Canada is cheaper. No brokerage fees or duty. Plus if what you want is at Cabelas, they ship from Alberta so again no duty and brokerage fees.


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## CLASSICHUNTER (May 20, 2005)

there are no duties coming into Canada of us made items.. free trade...


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## wheelie (Mar 2, 2009)

Yes it changes my spending habits. Nothing I desperately need and I usually wait till I find what I want used in Canada now anyways. I like EMT also. I cruise a lot of Canadian hunting forums clasifieds.


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## greygrouse (Mar 22, 2012)

If the cost of a US purchased item exceeds $20 CDN, you will pay HST plus a brokerage fee. UPS brokerage fees are higher than those charged by Canada Customs (if your item is shipped by mail). Parcels from some US archery businesses somehow escape the extra charges but most of the time be prepared to pay. If you use Paypal, tack on an additional 2.5% for the exchange. Items manufactured outside the US (Mexico?) are subject to duties. I paid 22% duty on an item last year. It's pretty easy to double the cost of something (duty, HST, brokerage, exchange, shipping and handling). Weigh these costs against what a local business charges then consider the convenience of dealing with someone (you know) in person.


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## Ravenhunter (Dec 19, 2010)

CLASSICHUNTER said:


> there are no duties coming into Canada of us made items.. free trade...


Thats true. But many things are not made in the states(clothing, accessories) and customs charges a handling fee just to look at a packadge.


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## roughneck1 (Feb 8, 2012)

It's starting to make me watch the AT Canadian Classifieds more then the AT Classifieds.


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## Xenomorph (Jun 18, 2012)

Whomever pays the UPS brokerage fees is wasting money. You can clear the package yourself. When you order the merchandise get the bill go to airport clearing customs and pay your HST on value and get the clearing papers. UPS will tell you it's not possible to clear packages yourself which in itself it's and illegal practice - of UPS - to deter average Joes from cutting into their profit. 

I'd be able to spend a night talking about this. Inform yourselves and don't be victims. 

Back to the OP yes. I'm done shopping with CA conversion. I'm usually doing work and getting paid sometimes in Euro or US so that just gets transferred into the US account for shopping.


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## bigHUN (Feb 5, 2006)

Common items may be easier or faster to get from CA retailers, 
but once you look for "specialties" in a higher game no other way around than shopping online. I want that xyz specific thingy and I am ready to pay for it.
So I know that I will need this season vanes, points, pins you name it, I stock myself and do shopping. 
Also airmail from Alternates seem to me faster lately than getting shipments from LA (these are my favorites and they really stock items they list online).
I remember I started playing with ebay at time the dollar ratio was 1:1.6 and still worth the deal, we just didn't had those things our side of the border or less middleman cost less in total.
I need H7 headlights bulbs for my TDi MK4, $23 a pack a little bit better one's down South and cheapest I found in CA was about $67 online and in store starts from 80ish...same brand same product...and I need 3 sets two in the headlights and the fog....I don't even wanna do a math, I will buy from South.


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## Pierre Couture (Oct 28, 2004)

cc46 said:


> Looks like the loonie won't buy as much in 2014, some say 85 cents soon.
> 
> I'll guess our credit cards are going to charge even more for the exchange to US$.
> 
> So, are you changing where or how you buy?



If you buy stuff from the US, that's bound to hurt. If you do business with the US, and get paid in US dollars, there's a beginning of a bonus.... Sadly, there's never a win-win solution when it comes to currencies and doing business...


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## peregrine82 (Aug 25, 2007)

As of today it is 15 cents on the dollar, 4 points being taken by the bank for transaction fees. The projection is for our dollar to go to 85 cents, that means 80 cents after conversion. Yes I agree that UPS and 

FEDX are charging exhorbitant brokerage fees that are not required. I will only ship via USPS when ordering from the US. Fortunately almost everyone I do business with is prepared to ship USPS. Those

that aren't I don't deal with. As for HST in Ontario, it's a crap shoot, sometimes it gets added on and sometimes it doesn't. I recently got a scope and lens from Alternative archery in the UK and paid no HST.


Great company to deal with BTW, they charge in US dollars but their shipping charges are very low compared to the US. I ordered the lens on a Monday and received it Saturday. Price was very

good.


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## cc46 (Jan 22, 2005)

Thanks guys for the discussion. 

I am thinking any parity in archery product pricing we've enjoyed in the past 3-4 years will disappear and it will go back to paying premiums to the US retailers for US goods. 
Any inventory that a Canadian retailer has now, bought at a lower exchange will be depleted and new pricing for new inventory will be higher going forward. 
It's too bad no manufacturing happens here in Canada anymore. 

I think lower Cdn$ means slower new sales locally and to the US, more used sales via eBay or the classified (s), and more online shopping to other nations, the UK for example. 

About 9 years ago I returned to archery and bought $1000 worth of gear, and noticed about 10-15% spread in pricing, which I think we are returning to now.
If you are making purchases this year, price it out.

Cheers, keep it in the gold.


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## NSSCOTT (Sep 6, 2009)

Here's the way i'm looking at it, for the last year or so or longer most of my item in my shop have been cheaper then buying them from the states anyhow but yet on a regular bases i have people coming into my shop with bows etc they just ordered in from the states while i have the same one hanging that would have cost them less, so maybe this will reset the thinking of our consumers to shop local or with in canada and stop sending our money to the state where no one see any return on it.
most consumers don't see the local support we offer( meaning most shops) the 6 or 7 archery clubs that get free prizes for there shoots,free stuff for a.a.n.s a young ladies local curling team i sponsor thats making a run for the canada games etc the list goes on.it's simple math with out the support none of this happens.


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## CLASSICHUNTER (May 20, 2005)

in Canada we are gouged on items spark plugs for my truck up here 16.95 each x8 in usa same gm delco plug 2.95 each .... go figure price your items out then decide....I get stuff sent to ups store in usa ....no duty no brokerage and receive in 3-5 days at the latest and that's from any where in usa.. lucky to have ups store close to border... on a Saturday at least 100 Canadians lined up to pick up parcels they hired 2 extra staff for Saturdays......save 50% on tires from tire rack with shipping and exchange...


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## Xenomorph (Jun 18, 2012)

CLASSICHUNTER said:


> in Canada we are gouged on items spark plugs for my truck up here 16.95 each x8 in usa same gm delco plug 2.95 each .... go figure price your items out then decide....I get stuff sent to ups store in usa ....no duty no brokerage and receive in 3-5 days at the latest and that's from any where in usa.. lucky to have ups store close to border... on a Saturday at least 100 Canadians lined up to pick up parcels they hired 2 extra staff for Saturdays......save 50% on tires from tire rack with shipping and exchange...


What he said.

Costco tires for example: free tire rotation and warranty upheld in Canada as well if bought from Costco. Tires for my CJ7 are ridiculous though, slightly less south of the border but no warranty/plus installment I just either hunt the Craigslist or will fork out 2k on 37" boggers next fall. 

Then there's the "spark plugs" for my Mercedes that they wanted 30$ x each x 12, found in the US for 5$ each and not knockoffs but best type Bosch Iridium ones; engine and tranny mounts combined price at dealership 400$, bought in states for 75 for all. Mind you no install on the above prices, I could go for days. Yes, it's a pain to drive and come back, and see the border guy sometimes giving you the brow, I had one once that wanted to school me "why I don't have the printed receipts" at which I replied "I am Canadian and we Canadians don't lie and want to save our forests, if you don't believe me please pull me aside and let me show you the transactions on my Paypal" ...that was the last time I wasn't "waved through".

I love our country and I'll be the first to spend money to our dealers, but sometimes you are just forced to look for a deal with bills, kids and wife ...I'll admit though, last year I was worse than her purses. But I am pretty much stocked up now for a long time.


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## Crunch (Nov 28, 2002)

Yes. Some of the Traditional archery supplies are only available South of the Border. I try to buy local, if possible. The exchange will now be a larger factor in any purchase.


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## cc46 (Jan 22, 2005)

On the cross-border shopping angle, I use to travel to Chicago for business couple times a month. Anyway on one trip I landed at O'Hare on time but my check in bag went to Pittsburgh and then Miami. So without clean clothes, I went to the nearest mall. Spent about $200 USD on 1 pair of pants, 1 pair of shoes, a belt and 2 dress shirts. When I got back to Pearson, I did not claim it. But had I bought the same items in Toronto I would have spent $500. I was shocked at US prices, not airport prices but regular pricing well inside the border. 

As for the spark plug examples, I'd bet there are tons of folks doing nearly the same. Buffalo is common destination for purchases like that.


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## CLASSICHUNTER (May 20, 2005)

cc46 u must be a well dressed man lol lol funny even walmart same stuff same brand their brand clothing 3 times as much here compared to us ...Seems the retailers know our economy is better and people make more here in Canada ..so items priced accordingly to income it seems...


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## bigHUN (Feb 5, 2006)

CLASSICHUNTER said:


> ...our economy is better and people make more here in Canada...


:***:
U'r kidding, right?

you have not seen the bottom of it yet..............


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## cc46 (Jan 22, 2005)

Classic, bigHun, I think you both have a point. 
I'll agree, a Cdn cop, fireman, teacher, electrician etc etc probably makes more in absolute dollars than a US peer. But I'd venture to say these Canucks keep less of it and have lower buying power. 
As for the future, it's a global world. More and more Cdn jobs have to compete with outsourcing to Asia and South America. Even the Toronto Star outsourced 300 editorial jobs to India. As for the car industry, $30/hr assembly jobs are disappearing, and popping up in the US for $10/hr in right to work states. 
These are monumental changes, and we are nearly helpless to prevent them. 

My point of this thread was about buying imported archery related goods from elsewhere with a 90 cent dollar. There are no options for us to buy an archery product made here. But we all know a local shop that will give us great service and they have to mark up the US or Korean product to make a living. If we do not support the local guys they will disappear. And the local shops need to factor in service to attain loyalty, and repeat business. 

An angle I don't see very much is a local shop selling used gear. By offering you 40 cents on the dollar for your old gears as a trade-in, cleaning it and re-selling for 60 cents on the dollar. Seems to me, from my youth, Tom Mack and Klaus Kleinschmidt did that very well in Hamilton years ago, maybe it could work now.

Got to go, stove is beeping frozen lasagna is ready.
Cheers


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## Jason Maure (Feb 17, 2014)

we are on the boarder of Detroit and Windsor we do all our grocery (well a majority) of it over in the states, with a family of 5 to feed and low to no jobs here anymore, we have to shop there just to survive. last grocery run over was Friday night 400$ can no duty and that will keep us going for 2 weeks


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## Xenomorph (Jun 18, 2012)

Jason Maure said:


> we are on the boarder of Detroit and Windsor we do all our grocery (well a majority) of it over in the states, with a family of 5 to feed and low to no jobs here anymore, we have to shop there just to survive. last grocery run over was Friday night 400$ can no duty and that will keep us going for 2 weeks


I keep telling my wife I want a couple goats, a dozen chicken and she is now convinced I've passed the point of no return on hunting. My only big expenditure to the "big man" will be buying a property, that's all. From hothouse to the above backyard livestock, to making my own cheese and sausages (yes, I was born and raised in a place where we used to do that) ...I'm just appalled that one trip to the grocery store costs you 600$ and that's mostly on vegetables. For **** sakes, we have more oil than Saudi Arabia yet we import our gas from the states, all plastic components and crude byproducts imported, export timber to import final product. It's ridiculous.

Canadian economy is not booming, well, not for the average person.

Remember how Conservatives and Alberta sold their pitch of the tar sands that they will create so many jobs and all that BS. Can you explain to me how is it that there are thousands of outside workers brought in on Harper's sponsored visas, yet your Canadian is being let go from a job they had to spend years to get their ticket, countless $$$$ on courses imposed by a federal regulation requirement...

People need to wake up and bang on their MPs doors and ask them for accountability. It's your children's and your children's children's future they're ****ing around with and lately your average Joe hasn't done or had anything to say about it.


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## 4 Fletch (Jan 25, 2014)

I always check prices carefully, so it won't affect me. 

FWIW if us kanuks ever learned WHY the purchasing power of our loonie is being deliberately tanked via monetary inflation -- yet another form of taxation -- we might get sufficiently pissed off to tell the bankers to stop. 

Then again, was long as the majority have their Dead Tim's, hockey, and beer, they don't mind handing half of everything we all make to the criminals running things.


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## Bigjono (Apr 21, 2009)

Tim's and beer yes, Hockey and getting screwed over by the taxman, well they both just pi** me off.


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