The Loonie vs the Green Back

[gothique11]

So, the Loonie (Canadian Dollar) is now worth 1.07 US, and is expected to be 1.10 US and be there for a while.

Yet, I keep going into stores and everything still costs more. I know that they can't just change prices with the market day to day, but it is frustrating to see that I'm still paying a lot more for the same things up here than in the US. It would be nice if prices came down here, especially for Christmas.

And I don't see why Canadian companies aren't dropping there prices down a bit, especially since so many of us are going across the boarder or buying our stuff online. 

So, what do you think about this?

[Keira]

I think Canadian company are doing a BIG mistake,
once the client goes online and gets stuff from there,
there's a chance they'll never come black.

Because of the tax structure and US productitvity being higher,
prices in Canada should be slightly higher, probably 10-15% even at par, but
the current differences is on average about 25-30%!!

So, the companies are gouging the Canadian customers for about 20%!!
And that's a dangerous game.

[Suzy]

When I lived on the Canadian border a store in town would have "par day" every so often when the loonies were accepted at par with the greenbacks.  It was always a madhouse and that guy really made a killing.  Seems to be we will see more of this stuff if Canadian merchants don't wise up a little bit.

Kristi

[Wing Walker]

Every day I read several newspapers on-line, including the Toronto Star, the Vancouver Sun, and several American newspapers.

I can't recall if it was in the Vancouver Sun or the national edition of the Globe and Mail, but someone ventured some ideas as to why buying anything in Canada is still expensive.

They cited the lack of economies of scale in manufacturing and production.  The U.S. has around 300,000,000 residents and Canada about 33,000,000.  That might be a part of it but not the entire reason for higher prices.

Bi-lingual labeling and other packaging requirements add to the costs.

Importation of anything from the States has a customs duty to be paid.  I once received something in the mail valued at USD16 on the customs invoice and the fools at customs wanted me to pay a $21 brokerage fee!

Many merchants still have inventory for which they paid with the weaker loonie and they won't lower prices until they recover every single cent---if ever.

Even groceries defy the laws of economic gravity and recovery.  Every store has several turnovers of inventory of milk every day so why does the price stay high?  2 liters of 3.25% milk costs over CAD3.00  The same item in the States goes for USD 1.99 to 2.19

Concerning Christmas shopping, the only thing likely to go down in Canada is the consumer's pants while the merchants stick it to 'em.

Can anyone explain the price of gasoline here?

Thanks for hearing me out.

Wing Walker
Flying on Biofuel Someday