It used to worthwhile for me to fill-up in Blaine or Bellingham, but either the US gas prices haven't fallen as much as in Metro Vancouver or the low Canadian dollar is the main contributor. Before the pandemic I used to buy gas and a few groceries every few weeks but now it seems everything is more expensive in the US compared to Canada. Take for example Subway. It costs slightly more the last time I checked for a regular classic footlong in USD than the same sandwich in Canadian dollars.
Canadian dollar and shopping in the 🇺🇸
- Thread starter EnergizerBro
- Start date
Living in Winnipeg, it was pretty common that we would head down to either North Dakota or Minneapolis/St. Paul for weekend getaways. Covid put a stop to that for a few years, but this summer we ventured back down to Minneapolis and it was amazing how expensive things are down there now compared to 4-5 years ago. Restaurant and booze prices have gone way up, not to mention hotels which previously would have been around $150-$200 CAD are now closer to $300 CAD per night. When you're constantly having to tack an additional 30% onto everything the overall cost of a weekend is to the point where I don't see us going back down across the border anytime soon.
You think?
Profiteering on gas prices?
The powers that be can spin it any way they want, the GVRD gas prices are way fucking out of line.
Didn't Horgan say he was going to do something about the high prices? Just like he said he was going to stop changing our clocks. He and Doug Ford seem to be both useless.
Not defending any politician - ever - but just how is any provincial politician going to do anything about high prices and daylight time?
For starters, reduce the provincial tax on fuel, and remove or reduce the carbon tax. Pursue what was intended by going through the courts to force big oil to comply with provincial statutes/legislations surrounding transparency and more.
During his tenure, Horgan didn't do much. He gave a little fuel tax credit in the form of a one-time lump sum payment, even for those who drive EVs such as Teslas. All the while, BC recorded a nice budget surplus.
Horgan set this up https://www.gaspricesbc.ca/PriceFactors to shut people up. This news story describes things best about our gas prices but was later dismissed by big oil shills and other bullies: https://thetyee.ca/News/2019/06/28/Vancouver-High-Gas-Prices-Lack-Of-Competition-Gouging/. Interestingly, one of the biggest big oil shills, Dan McTeague (former Gasbuddy Dan) left his position at Gasbuddy a day before the final report was released.
As far as time change (changing our clocks)? It's done at the provincial level. We have more than one time zone in BC already, and that zone doesn't change their time based on the seasons.
When I lived in BC, Horgan spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on his survey asking BCers what they thought about the time change. Of course, the only option during the survey was to go with the non-science based summertime instead of the beneficial and science-backed wintertime. He brought up the time change several times and always made excuses and pointed fingers at others, which is the only thing the bully does best.
I have to give him credit for one thing though. He removed the tolls on the bridges in BC.
Anyway, I don't want this thread to become a political thread. It's really about shopping or gassing up in the US versus Canada in the post(?) covid era.
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Same experience. Used to head to North Dakota or Minnesota all the time and always noticed how much cheaper restaurant food was. Not any more, even a fast food burger is just as expensive as here now.
We went to a Burger King in Grand Forks, next to the old Scheel’s location. It was disgusting. Tables were sticky, floor was filthy, none of the staff had hairnets. Restaurants in general in the US seem to have way lower standards than here, but not much cheaper.
Walmart is okay with a much bigger selection than here in Winnipeg. Target sucks. TJ Maxx is fun to pick through. That’s about it.
Barnes and Noble in Fargo is nice but haven’t been in a long time.
I got really turned off shopping in the States after an experience at a Harley dealer. They had a very rare model I wanted. They wouldn’t sell it to me because I was from Canada, some corporate rule about territory.
Walmart is okay with a much bigger selection than here in Winnipeg. Target sucks. TJ Maxx is fun to pick through. That’s about it.
Barnes and Noble in Fargo is nice but haven’t been in a long time.
I got really turned off shopping in the States after an experience at a Harley dealer. They had a very rare model I wanted. They wouldn’t sell it to me because I was from Canada, some corporate rule about territory.
It's dealer protection from the manufacturer. This was popular in farm equipment sales at one time, with brand to brand new equipment sales, no out of territory sales. Used equipment is the wild, wild west. Having stated this, most brands to brand are tied up by a dealer that owns multiple dealership locations for that brand. Essentially a brand monopoly.
Your experience is similar to new snowmobile sales, no new sales out of country.
I didn't know that, and the dealer obviously didn't either, when I bought a pair of snowmobiles in Washington state.
Back on topic, I recently spent a month in Arizona, and while some things were cheaper there, many things cost more, even in American dollars, than they do here at home.
Especially if shopping for staple foods like eggs, milk, cheese, and bacon.
Working girls are significantly cheaper there though.
I also just recently came back from a trip to the States, and it definitely cost a lot more than pre-pandemic. For example: one of my must buys when I go is cans of Cherry Coke, which used to be fairly cheap. But now they actually cost more than here in Canada, and that's not even factoring in the conversion rate. Really the only thing they have now is the variety of stuff that's not available here in Canada.
Last time I went down our $ was worth $1.10 US. My brother and I each had one piece of fish and chips for $20 with the tip included. It felt surreal. Gas was dirt cheap and the hotel rooms were very reasonable. That was around 2010/11?
Unless, I absolutely have to go down south, I would prefer to use my dollars supporting businesses here in Canada. My opinion, of course.
The product with perhaps the greatest price increase from 5 years ago is rental cars. I am paying 2-3 times what I paid 4 years ago and double last year. I am in Phoenix area.
That has little or nothing to do with inflation... and while I'm sure that you experienced that, there was some randomness involved in your report.
Rental Car companies got socked by Covid, and they were stuck with huge fleets of cars and almost nobody traveling... so in time they cut WAY back on their fleets, so as to not have so many "assets" tied to huge machines that weren't moving or making any money for them. Then when things rebounded for travel, the fleets weren't large enough to be adequate for demand, so the prices soared. You in Arizona at/near Spring Break time cannot be considered a fair measure of price change over the long term.
As to some of the rest of this thread... the price of a barrel of oil is tethered to U.S. dollars, and thus the price of gas has unique fluctuations compared to the costs of other goods when contemplating the question of whether to buy in Canada, or go to the U.S.
Sorry Seeksteady, but prices going up is the very definition of inflation. There has been tremendous inflation in rental car prices. The fact that is due to reduced supply as a result of Covid doesn't really mater. It's inflation. The length of the term is also not particularly relevant. One can look at inflation over a variety of time horizons. Relevant to this thread, the point being that going to the US to shop is even less worthwhile if you are planning to rent a car.
It's not a spring break phenomenon.
Rental Car Pricing Statistics: 2023
Rental car prices have experienced a massive spike during the COVID-19 pandemic, and they’re generally still high.
By Sally French  and Sam Kemmis 
Updated Mar 8, 2023 12:57PM PST
Edited by Meg Lee 
It's not a spring break phenomenon.
Rental Car Pricing Statistics: 2023
Rental car prices have experienced a massive spike during the COVID-19 pandemic, and they’re generally still high.
By Sally French  and Sam Kemmis 
Updated Mar 8, 2023 12:57PM PST
Edited by Meg Lee 
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Very true, this is the kind of thing that creates inflation. The real nuts and bolts of why prices rise and fall, not just some academic exercise, or an easy fix. There are massive amounts of moving pieces all having effects on inflation.Sorry Seeksteady, but prices going up is the very definition of inflation. There has been tremendous inflation in rental car prices. The fact that is due to reduced supply as a result of Covid doesn't really mater. It's inflation. The length of the term is also not particularly relevant. One can look at inflation over a variety of time horizons. Relevant to this thread, the point being that going to the US to shop is even less worthwhile if you are planning to rent a car.
It's not a spring break phenomenon.
Rental Car Pricing Statistics: 2023
Rental car prices have experienced a massive spike during the COVID-19 pandemic, and they’re generally still high.
By Sally French  and Sam Kemmis 
Updated Mar 8, 2023 12:57PM PST
Edited by Meg Lee 
You're also seeing cars kept for way longer by the rental companies because they couldn't replace them with new models due to lack of new car availability. (in both Us and Canada) In days past they just sold a car, made quick cash and replaced it before it needed any real maintenance. That's why we always got a shiny new, low milage model. Now the car you get might be several years old, have higher milage, and the rental company has had to actually spend some $$ on it to keep it safe and maintained. New territory for them, and new costs that their business model did not anticipate.
Hence higher cost, and another piece of the inflation equation.
gas is still much cheaper in the US, especially 92 octane. and it will keep getting cheaper as trudope keeps adding carbon tax. much larger grocery selection as well. just spent 195USD on food there yesterday, most of which is not available in this country.
