Quote:
Originally Posted by Canada 02
Suppliers defend high prices
http://www.reportonbusiness.com/serv...l_gam_mostview
“We have extra costs – there should be a difference in price,” said Joelle [Joey] Adler, chief executive officer of Diesel Canada.
...
Diesel said freight charges are 10- to 15-per-cent higher in Canada because, with fewer flights and shipping choices, the company has less bargaining power here than south of the border. And duties on imported leather jackets, for example, are 13 per cent in Canada, more than twice the rate in the States, while duties on men's cotton jackets are 17 per cent, compared with 9 per cent in the U.S.
...
Others, such as those making DVD movies, have simply refused to budge on their pricing, he said. For example, Paramount charges Best Buy in the United States $18 (U.S.) for the recently released Transformers DVD, which the chain sells for $14.99; Paramount charges the Canadian chain $24 for the same DVD, which sells in its stores here for $19.99. |
I hope there is no one gullible enough to buy a load of crap like this. If I, as a customer, can drive down to the US, spend $1500 on clothing, drive back to Canada, pay the duty and still come out ahead after paying for my gas and hotel, there is no way that costs in Canada justify the prices. A company would have dramatically lower shipping costs and economies of scale must be more than $0, so simply put, margins are higher in Canada. Not that there is anything wrong with that, as gullible Canadian customers (or buoyant Cdn economy) combined with less retail competition are legitimate. I think the issue will sort itself out, especially if the gov't loosened restrictions on small imports rather than the prescriptive bs they seem to be moving towards.