• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Cross Boarder Shopping

Lord Tammerlain

Lord Tammerlain

DP Veteran
Joined
Jan 25, 2010
Messages
30,737
Reaction score
15,055
Gender
Undisclosed
Political Leaning
Undisclosed
I have a feeling boarder communities in Canada will see a reverse flow of shoppers in the coming months. With low Can dollar to the US, I expect that fewer Canadians have been shopping in the US. Now with the tariffs on Chinese products in the US, I would not be surprised to see many consumer products being significantly cheaper in Canada once the tariff effects hit store shelf's causing Americans to shop in Canada for those products
 
Last edited:
Lord Tammerlain said:
I have a feeling boarder communities in Canada will see a reverse flow of shoppers in the coming months. With low Can dollar to the US, I expect that fewer Canadians have been shopping in the US. Now with the tariffs on Chinese products in the US, I would not be surprised to see many consumer products being significantly cheaper in Canada once the tariff effects hit store shelf's causing Americans to shop in Canada for those products
Click to expand...

It must be nice to live near the border, where you can decide to shop in whichever country has the cheapest goods. If you don't, you're stuck with the results of that trade war that is so good and easy to win.
 
Dittohead not! said:
It must be nice to live near the border, where you can decide to shop in whichever country has the cheapest goods. If you don't, you're stuck with the results of that trade war that is so good and easy to win.
Click to expand...

There's a small American community just south of Vancouver called Point Roberts. It's actually the tip of a peninsula with the 49th parallel running across it, making all the citizens there isolated from the rest of the US. I don't know what the population is but I bet there's nearly a gas pump for every person, due to the proximity to the Vancouver area.
 
Grand Mal said:
There's a small American community just south of Vancouver called Point Roberts. It's actually the tip of a peninsula with the 49th parallel running across it, making all the citizens there isolated from the rest of the US. I don't know what the population is but I bet there's nearly a gas pump for every person, due to the proximity to the Vancouver area.
Click to expand...

I don't doubt it. Gas in Canada is outrageous!
 
Dittohead not! said:
I don't doubt it. Gas in Canada is outrageous!
Click to expand...

And Vancouver's the worst.
We just need 'way more refinery capacity up here. We've got more oil reserves than anyone except Venezuela and Saudi Arabia and we pay through the nose at the pumps. A litre of gas that costs like 35 cents in Venezuela is over a buck and a half in Vancouver. Some of it is taxes and transit levy but even in this rural place where I live it's about $1.40.
 
Grand Mal said:
And Vancouver's the worst.
We just need 'way more refinery capacity up here. We've got more oil reserves than anyone except Venezuela and Saudi Arabia and we pay through the nose at the pumps. A litre of gas that costs like 35 cents in Venezuela is over a buck and a half in Vancouver. Some of it is taxes and transit levy but even in this rural place where I live it's about $1.40.
Click to expand...

The current exchange rate (I just looked it up) is 76 cents US = $1 Canadian. Since four liters is roughly a gallon, that makes it about $5.60 a gallon, or $4.26 US a gallon. Here in California, its not quite a dollar less than that.

That's a pretty good difference, but not as much as I'd been led to believe.
 
Lord Tammerlain said:
I have a feeling boarder communities in Canada will see a reverse flow of shoppers in the coming months. With low Can dollar to the US, I expect that fewer Canadians have been shopping in the US. Now with the tariffs on Chinese products in the US, I would not be surprised to see many consumer products being significantly cheaper in Canada once the tariff effects hit store shelf's causing Americans to shop in Canada for those products
Click to expand...

Same with Mexico border. I stop at Los Algodones all the time on the way to San Diego, good pharmaceuticals, cheap!
 
Dittohead not! said:
The current exchange rate (I just looked it up) is 76 cents US = $1 Canadian. Since four liters is roughly a gallon, that makes it about $5.60 a gallon, or $4.26 US a gallon. Here in California, its not quite a dollar less than that.

That's a pretty good difference, but not as much as I'd been led to believe.
Click to expand...

I just checked on a page called GasBuddy- $1.50 to $1.53. It was higher a couple months ago due to a maintenance shutdown at a refinery in Washington State. In the Vancouver area there's a transit levy on gas to help pay for the public transit system- I forget how much, probably 5 or 10 cents.
It's ridiculous. You'd have to go to Norway or somewhere to pay more. Between the gas price and the cost of housing Vancouver is about the most expensive place to live in North America.

76 cents US now? That's a bit low. I've read that it's best for us, international trade-wise, when it's about 80 cents. That formula might be changing soon, though. We might want to have a higher dollar if our trade patterns change.
 
Grand Mal said:
I just checked on a page called GasBuddy- $1.50 to $1.53. It was higher a couple months ago due to a maintenance shutdown at a refinery in Washington State. In the Vancouver area there's a transit levy on gas to help pay for the public transit system- I forget how much, probably 5 or 10 cents.
It's ridiculous. You'd have to go to Norway or somewhere to pay more. Between the gas price and the cost of housing Vancouver is about the most expensive place to live in North America.

76 cents US now? That's a bit low. I've read that it's best for us, international trade-wise, when it's about 80 cents. That formula might be changing soon, though. We might want to have a higher dollar if our trade patterns change.
Click to expand...

Is Vancouver more expensive than San Francisco? Gas may be cheaper in the City by the Bay, but real estate is totally outrageous.
 
Dittohead not! said:
Is Vancouver more expensive than San Francisco? Gas may be cheaper in the City by the Bay, but real estate is totally outrageous.
Click to expand...

I just checked- it's down slightly. Average price in Vancouver is $1.3M.

https://www.zolo.ca/vancouver-real-estate/trends

Looks like the numbers are about the same in San Fran, so given the exchange rate Frisco is definitely more expensive.
It's a tough situation. You need two good incomes to get anything, and some elderly people can't afford their taxes anymore.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom