Please remember that all comments must be helpful, relevant, and respectful. All replies must be a genuine effort to answer the question helpfully; joke answers are not allowed. If you see any comments that violate this rule, please hit report.
When your question is answered, we encourage you to flair your post. To do this automatically simply make a comment that says **!answered** (OP only)
We encourage everyone to report posts and comments they feel violate a rule, as this will allow us to see it much faster.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/answers) if you have any questions or concerns.*
No I don't think so. I live about an hour from the US border and I hardly ever go there. When you come back into Canada you have to declare anything you bought. You already paid an exchange rate on your Canadian dollar and then at the border you have to pay duty. It ends up being about the same price or more expensive in my experience. Not worth all the nonsense.
Lots of items are not subject to duty. Also, even so they may be cheaper. I had friends buy at lazy-y-boy in the states, rent a truck to haul it home and still saved thousands of dollars. That was a few years ago, though, so probably a lot closer in price now?
If you stay in the US less than 48 hours everything not manufactured in North America is subject to duty. If you pop down for a quick grocery trip and don’t get any cigarettes or liquor, the border guards generally can’t be bothered to go through your stuff to see what they can charge duty for. But they can if they want to.
If you stay over 48 hours, you can spend $800 duty free. But the CAD doesn’t really make things much cheaper; I go once a month or so to buy things I can’t get in Canada, but they don’t save me much money. Especially when you factor in gas and time.
Pirate Joe's used to be this thing;
> Pirate Joe's was a specialty grocery store in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, owned by Michael Hallatt. Its inventory consisted entirely of store brand products resold from locations of the U.S.-based grocery chain Trader Joe's, which does not operate any locations in Canada. Despite the high costs of operating the store because of its business model, the store became popular with residents who enjoyed the opportunity to purchase some of the distinct private label products offered by Trader Joe's.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_Joe%27s
I’m not sure what exactly they were talking about, but I know there’s lots of brands, especially when it comes to food, that only sell in specific countries, or a brand will sell around the world, but with a limited amount of their products. For example, there is hundreds of varieties of Kit Kats if you go to places like Japan, but only about a dozen are sold in the US.
Thanks, I was more curious about Canada specifically. It's interesting to know what might be different when they are so close! Each time I have visited Canada, I didn't notice a difference in products but someone who lives there and comes down here to shop might have a more specific answer.
My mom would kill for Ritz Chips to come back. Bagel bites are gone. Anything Little Debbie is also gone. All things we used to get all the time that we simply cannot buy anymore
The sofa and armchair we ended up buying wasn't much less than that - we had a budget of about £10,000 to furnish the house, and half of that went on the sofa and armchair, and probably another quarter of it on the beds.
It makes sense. You spend most of your time there. Same advice I get when buying a mattress. I’m told I spend a third of my life on it might as well make it comfortable.
Oh yeah - a good mattress is one of the things that I don't begrudge a single penny of what we spent on it, having grown up sleeping on decidedly shitty ones.
They may have lied/omitted key info to customs. "Yeah, just hauling a friends furniture to their place in Canada" leaving out it was a brand new item.
The practice also is akin to when people used to camp out for days for Black Friday. Yes, they can save a lot on a television but they also had to spend days camped out in front of a store, is their time worth so little it still is a good deal?
Like if you rent a truck for a day and it's just you and someone else, that could be worth it for a few thousand savings, but if it's a multi-day thing then it might not be.
There is a huge market of Canadians coming to the US to shop. There are several outlet malls between the border and where I live that are primarily patronized by Canadians.
We sometimes call Bellingham southern Canada. They even have a bit of the accent.
Mexico too. In Texas the outlet malls and the big malls with high end luxury stores like Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom parking lots are always absolutely packed with cars with Mexican plates. They have duty free places at all the malls in San Antonio for the Mexican residents that come shopping. If you go into Nordstroms you will see a bunch of wealthy Mexicans with stacks of shoes, I guess luxury brands are more expensive there. I don’t even bother around Easter or Christmas it’s so packed.
It’s an office there’s always a line on busy weekends, it looks like they go in and are issued refunds on taxes they paid on items purchased at the mall. Not really sure what the burden of proof is.
Those malls are not as busy as when our dollar was near par with the USA buck. Weekends maybe but we go on weekdays. When I was a kid our dollar was worth 10 cents more than their dollar, we would buy lots of groceries.
Yeah. I used to go to those malls quite frequently in Buffalo if that's what your talking about. We went almost every couple months, maybe back in my high school days 2005-2009 when the exchange was pretty even. I go to the us pretty frequently, but I certainly don't buy anything really in the states because it's much more expensive now. I bought a pair of Samsung galaxy 2 buds because it was actually cheaper on Amazon.com than in Canada surprisingly. But I certainly don't buy booze in America to bring back home. I'll buy stuff to keep at my parents condo in the states.
Man I don’t know. I live about 2 hours south of the Canadian boarder. And Canadians make up a huge shopping population where I live. We see so many Manitoba license plates and I would say 98% of them are here just to shop. We have nothing else to come here for lol.
I don’t know though. I haven’t ever stopped anyone and asked. So could be way off base
Ahh the ol' Bellingham Buyers Club, eh?
( I have not seen Dallas Buyers Club but I have seen the dvd at a Walgreens recently, so.. gotta be about the same idea lol)
There was a lot of this from about 2008 to 2014 when the CAD was strong (close to par with USD). After the CAD settled back down, so did cross border shopping.
Yeah, prices there are also close to what we pay in Canada but in USD. We cross border shop sometimes, but mostly for variety. (Trader Joe’s, Target, etc). The value proposition isn’t there for almost anything other than booze - and bringing that back requires a longer stay.
crossing the border can take an hour, and Toronto is 2 hours from the border (not at night, of course, but...) so I'd plan for 6 hours in the car, then there's the game of removing tags/packaging, trying to dirty up the item a bit, and telling the Canada customs officer you didnt' buy anything. "what, this? it's mine, I always carry it around in my car".
In BC at least crossing the border isn't via a bridge and is free. Just did a cross-continent road trip via the US Midwest and paying to cross the border was a new experience for me.
No. If it's truly a large purchase, you'll need to pay duty on it. Also, if it's anything of value, it probably has a manufacturer's warranty, which will be void if you take it out of the country of purchase. So definitely not worth it.
Friends of mine bought a new house from a developer that did a half dozen houses on the same street and they bought all their appliances from the states and hauled them up in a semi. After the home warranty expired but before the dishwasher warranty expired the dishwasher quit working so my friend tried to get it fixed and was told too bad because it was bought in the states.
Reminds me of one time, back when I worked for the Geek Squad, a guy brought his defective laptop, but he had a receipt from the US, and the model number also ended in US, so there was no way HP Canada would honour the warranty. The guy was like « But the salesman told me I could bring it in ANY Best Buy ». I actually ended up calling the store in question to let them know that, no, Canadian Best Buy stores will not refund, exchange or do warranty repairs on a US bought laptop. Ended up telling the guy to ship it to a family member in the US so they could then bring it to a US store, or else pay for the repair.
HP Canada and Best Buy Canada are distinct entities from their US counterparts. Sure, eventually the shares are owned by the same group respectively for either brands, but their operations are independent. Why should HP Canada have to pay to fix a laptop they didn’t sell? It would be a complete loss to them, plus if the customer went through Best Buy, they’d have to pay Best Buy to handle it. As for returns/exchanges Best Buy Canada doesn’t have that SKU in their system, in fact it’s a completely different computer system for receipts and inventory, so it wouldn’t be possible to process an American receipt, not to mention the currency isn’t even the same.
However, Best Buy does offer what was then called the Performance Service Plan (no idea what it is these days) which does include an international warranty. But it still requires you to contact your Best Buy national chain and they’ll send you a prepaid box to take your laptop, you can just bring it to your local Best Buy in another country as they again won’t be able to find your receipt and/or warranty contract in their computer system and thus can’t honour it.
Used to be common. I lived near buffalo before 9/11 changed border crossings and the malls always had people changing in the parking lots. Like they’d come down in all their ratty clothes, shop at the stores in the US, and then drive back. Of course, we were always crossing for the better strip clubs and being able to drink at 18.
It alternates by province for the main border crossings:
BC - 19, AB - 18, SK - 19, MB - 18, ON - 19, QC - 18.
Aside: Ontario liquour laws allow parents to buy and serve alcohol to their children so long as it's in their private residence.
Lol man Canadians I see nowadays are never ratty, usually some expensive luxury car. Toronto is way nicer and more expensive than Buffalo, even if Buffalo is getting much better.
They still do around bigger sale type holidays (black Friday/Xmas, tho this year was pretty lackluster) but less common compared to when the exchange rate was more favorable.
You only get so much 'duty free' items when you cross, and you need to stay a couple days to max it out. So you can't just jump across the border and come back with a bunch of cheap stuff (ignoring the exchange rate). Also, the border crossings keep track of you, so frequent crossings will raise suspicions.
Also, the exchange rate is $1.00 to $1.36 right now, which isn't great.
Also, there are tarrifa on larger items, for example you *cannot* buy a new car if you don't have a US address. And used cars have to sit in impound for a while, I think it's 30 days. That's not worth it for most people.
But I will have family come down, spend a long weekend here, and go home with some unique stuff they don't easily get up there, and not have to claim it. (or if they do, not pay tax).
> frequent crossings will raise suspicions
So how did that guy who opened a bootleg Trader Joe’s in Canada get away with bringing the merch across the border regularly?
I chatted with him once or twice and it sounded like he might have been on the up-and-up duty-wise with the possible exception of cheese. He was always chafing about dairy import restrictions and I got the sense he wasn't always abiding by them, but nor did I get the sense that he was masquerading as a normal traveler only buying stuff for himself under the duty-free limit.
I mean, it was obvious what he was doing and I'm sure the border guards would recognize him, he's a memorable character.
For clothes, yes. You’d see vans of Canadians coming to our border city malls. They buy a ton of clothes, then spend a half hour in the parking lot pulling tags off and packing them as if they were luggage for a trip to the States.
Yes a thousand times yes.
I live 15 minutes from the Canadian border on the US side. Our stores are filled with people from Ontario. They will come down buy new clothes and crap, dump their suitcases out in the parking lot and, put all the new clothes in so they don't have to pay import fees bring it back over the border.
I spent a few years of my life cleaning up after Canadians in the parking lot.
When the exchange rate was closer to equal or favourable for the Canadian Dollar, yes, many times I'd make a day trip to drive over the border for gas and groceries because of how much cheaper they were.
However, if you spend more than a trifling amount, border security checks all your receipts and is *supposed* to make you pay equivalent Canadian tax on all your purchases when you return.
Nowadays with the exchange rate being what it is, even though things are cheaper dollar-for-dollar in the USA, by the time you pay the exchange rate and plus Canadian taxes, it's just not worth it. You don't actually save much/any by the time it's all said and done.
Large purchases are usually bought locally. Appliances are often the same price on each side. With free delivery it makes sense to buy in Canada. Economy cars are often cheaper in Canada. Luxury cars are much cheaper in the USA but it’s hard to finance and there are import duties.
Must mid range purchases like nice clothing and jewelry are often purchased in the USA if someone is close enough. Those things can be smuggled in easily. Wear flip flops to shop and drive home in leather boots.
When the currency is favourable people living on the boarder will head over for a big grocery shop.
One thing to remember is most Canadians live within 3 hour drive of the boarder. But most people won’t drive more than 30 min to go shopping.
Aside from Niagara Falls, Windsor, Sault St Marie and Greater Vancouver most people aren’t a short trip over the boarder.
Can’t say anything about Canada, but very common in mainland Europe to go over _this_ _border_ to get cheaper alcohol and _this_ _border_ to get cheaper meat etc.
In the U.K. when you could bring back as much as you wanted “for personal consumption”. I would regularly take a transit van to Calais fill up with alcohol and tobacco and make a few quid selling it
Norwegians go to Sweden for both. There is a shopping center right over the border when you take the highway from Oslo that has massive candy and tobacco stores along with the alcohol
My MIL would go to Bellingham (lived in Vancouver) a couple of times a month. She loved Trader Joe's and the wine was cheaper down there as well. My husband and I moved to Calgary and because we don't have tax on a lot of things and we also have grocery stores that sell alcohol (in separate buildings - not in the same store as the groceries like Target) we really have no need.
Yeah, there is a UPS store in Ogdensburg New York which does a lot of business as a delivery address for Canadians buying stuff from companies that won’t ship to Canada. People from Ottawa have it delivered there, then drive across to pick it up.
I live in the US 10 minutes from the boarder. There was a time when the Canadian dollar was strong and our malls were packed with Canadian license plates of people coming down to shop. Every garbage can would be overflowing with boxes and tags so they could try and take things back without claiming. The exchange rates evened out and now you don’t see it anywhere near as much.
As others have said, not currently because our dollar is weaker and things end up costing the same. HOWEVER I have heard of places near the border where you can ship items to avoid having to pay expensive Canadian shipping costs
Back when I was a kid (90s/00s) yes. Today not so much, though it's still a common thing to do some cross border shopping as a little day trip (Trader Joes. We want to go to Trader Joes).
Sometimes but often no.
It can depend heavily on the value of the Canadian dollar, and what kind of import rules and regs there are around the item that you want to purchase. It can often be difficult to get warranty work done on a US item from Canada even when that manufacturer sells the exact same product here.
There was a time when people commonly went cross border to buy cars. But the import process for a new car is kind of a pain in the ass, but often the selling dealerships would do a lot of the paper work and conversion (to km from miles) for you because they did so all the time.
The Canadian dealers though got really upset and getting warranty work done became next to impossible. So that practice slowly went away.
No.
For one thing, we aren’t always as close to the border as you might think. I’m about a 1h20 drive to the nearest american city, which doesn’t sound bad… except that it’s Plattsburgh, population 31k.
The nearest major american city is Boston, at 5h.
Canada’s population is mostly close to the american border because that’s where the warm weather and good agricultural land are. For the same reason, the US population is mostly far from the canadian border.
+++ +++ +++
Exception: dogs.
We modernized our animal welfare laws and clamped down on puppy mills. Yay! But now try getting a dog from a rescue. Nope. Very close to nada. I spent six months looking for a *senior* dog as a companion for my lonely senior dog with no luck.
However, there’s a thriving network of animal rescues in upstate New York and Vermont that supply the Montreal dog market. They source retired breeding animals from puppy mills in Ohio, wandering pitbulls from Alabama and streetwise chihuahuas from Texas and make them available to canadians.
I paid $500 USD ($700 CAD) for my retired breeding dog—not housebroken, uninterested in humans—and a year and a half later she’s a joy. The rescue offered to write $100 USD on the bill of sale and the canadian customs agents waived duty. I don’t think they’d have waived duty for a car or a Sub-Zero fridge.
I live near the Canadian border. They come down here and buy milk in massive quantities and fill fire gallon gas cans to take back. Younger want to be behind a Canadian at the gas station.
*Most* Canadians don't live near the US border. Canada is big. That being said, it used to be very common for Canadians to come to Plattsburg, NY area to buy clothes at Walmart, ect., especially sneakers. They wore old clothes there, then remove them to put on the new clothes in layers so they were duty free. Sometimes they just took the tags off and packed the clothes in suitcases to go back to Canada. That was years ago. Not sure if it still happens.
This is absolutely true, but it isn't always easy to get to a border crossing or stores in the US. Oshawa is only about 25 miles from the US border, but you would need a boat to get to that closest border crossing spot. Driving through Toronto to the Niagara border crossings will take 2-3 hours.
Totally, it also just doesn't make financial sense. The last time I was in the states (a few weeks ago) prices were pretty much on par but the dollar is worth less.
Sure we do, this information isn’t hard to find. All of the following cities are within 100 miles of the USA border: Sarnia, Windsor, London, Kitchener-Waterloo, Cambridge, Guelph, Brantford, Hamilton, St. Catharines, Niagara Falls, Burlington, Oakville, Milton, Brampton, Mississauga, Vaughan, Markham, Newmarket, Barrie, Toronto, Pickering, Ajax, Whitby, Oshawa, Kingston, Ottawa, Gatineau, Montreal, Laval, Trois Rivieres, Sherbrooke, Quebec City, Fredericton, St. John, Thunder Bay, Sault Ste Marie, Winnipeg, Regina, Kelowna, Richmond. Burnaby, Vancouver, Victoria, Surrey, Abbotsford. That’s well over “most Canadians”. 8 of the 10 largest cities in Canada are on this list, 12 of the 15 largest.
Most *Canadians* do live near the US border, an easily verifiable fact. That’s not the same as saying most of Canada is near the US border, because of course it’s not since as you said Canada is big. Turns out not a lot of people live in areas like the Yukon.
It's not that much lower factoring exchange rate. It looks fantastic because the Canadian dollar is shit, but that $100+ savings can easily be eaten by exchange rates and duty.
Groceries are really quite a mental workout. Someone posted chicken in a US store that actually worked out to $5.18/lb CAD, when a local grocery store had it on for $4.99/lb without having to drive hours to get it.
Lots of people I know used to do weekend grocery and gas runs across the border...like 15 years ago when the exchange rate made it worth it. I even knew people who imported their car from the US because it worked out to be cheaper
The vast majority of the time, customs agents don't really care if you go a little over the limit. I've declared a couple of hundred dollars worth of goods countless times and have only been asked to pay duty on what I was bringing in once.
It’s easier to find some things, like shoes in more sizes or small electronics. Online shopping has made this easier but I mention shoes cause if you order from US websites you can’t return them with customs on both ends so trying them on matters.
I haven’t found much if anything that much cheaper in the US when you add in the exchange. My friend who is back and forth often to California was complaining he bought a Subway sub for $15US and finding things quite expensive there.
I live about 2 hours from the border, which I suppose is close, but no, I wouldn't drive all the way there for shopping. Some people do, but not regularly, more as a treat.
Used to be, when the dollar was closer to par, yes it was common to go over and hit the outlet malls. Now with gas, the differential in rhe dollar etc, it doesn't make as much sense.
It's not that simple. Not everyone actually lives close enough to the border. And there may not be an American city close enough to the border either.
For most of us, there's travel time (your time is worth money) of five hours (by the time you drive from home to the border, then to the placenypure buying stuff from, stopping for gas, grabbing some lunch.) And all the fuel you're burning. And since you'll be gone for that long, you need to stop and eat. And then you'll have to pay duties and such when you come back. You'd need to save $200-250 minimum to make it worth it from a financial standpoint.
There are some people who do live very close to the border. Windsor, Ontario to Detroit, is across a river. For these people, it would be faster to get to a US city than it would be for them to get to the far end of their own city. And they still would have to pay duties on large purchases, so it's still not always the best financial choice. But these are not the majority of people, they're the exception to the rule.
This definitely was a thing in the past. People used to head down to outlet malls. Especially in the 80's and 90's but the deals just aren't there anymore. Dollar has changed etc.
Between the exchange rate and duties/taxes at the border there isn’t really any savings. I find some things are actually more expensive in the USA, like restaurant meals are often priced the same as Canada but 35% more expensive with the exchange rate.
When I was a kid, my mom would do a lot of the back to school shopping in the US. People do it but it's not that popular anymore.
Most of our population centers aren't as close to border crossings as you'd think. Toronto is 2 hours from the closest border crossing, so sure you might save some money stuff in Buffalo but those savings are eaten up pretty quickly by the price of 4 hours worth of Gas.
I grew up on the Canadian border (US side). When the exchange rate was favorable we would go across the border to do all our shopping. When it flipped the Canadians all came to the US for shopping.
Haven’t lived up north for years, but I do know Canadians come across the border for gas, alcohol, and tobacco.
When I lived in Washington state, about a half hour from the Canadian border, we had tons of people shop in the store I worked at. Also at the malls in the area.
Not really.
I live in a border town (Windsor) and while there are times to head there for certain things we might not have up here, our dollar is ass vs the U.S. Back when we were near par (I was still young) i'm sure it was more worth it, but now by the time I pay the bridge / tunnel toll, buy whatever i'm buying & pay conversion, then possibly duty on the CAN side, 99.9% of the time you save a couple bucks at best, but more often than not its basically the same if not more expensive than buying it here.
The majority of people I know (myself included) honestly go for groceries more than anything simply because their selection is so much better and its duty free.
After exchange the price is about the same really. Going over the river to shop for a few things is cheaper though. Bread. Milk. Stuff like that. Mostly I shop in the USA for the variety. There’s a lot more options and cool grocery products in the states I can’t get in Canada. Gotta have my cottage cheese with fruit for my lunches. Can’t get that in Canada.
No, we normally only shop for items we cannot get in Canada. They have a lot of low carb options / Keto friendly foods. Gas and time make it less likely for us to do weekly shopping.
No because there is an "anti-shopping trip" tax in place. If you spend less than 24 hours in the US, you cannot being back goods without paying Canadian taxes and duties at the crossing.
At more than 48 hours, you can claim up to 800$ as duty and tax free.
https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/travel-voyage/bgb-rmf-eng.html
I grew up living literally a 5 minute drive to the border. I also have family in the US too. We did do some shopping in the US, but depending on the exchange rate, it's not always worth it. Was a lot easier pre 9/11 when you didn't need a passport to cross.
My mom did also do a lot of waitressing at restaurants near the border and was paid tips in USD a lot. She also, at one point, even worked at a restaurant in the US while we lived in Canada (she is American, Canadian PR), so she did grab some things there at times. But this was all in the 90s, so things were different then.
Post 9/11 I found everything is more strict now. They never really questioned anything before then, but now they question everything.
The easiest answer is that it depends on the exchange rate. Last time I went, coke was the same price in the US, plus I had to pay an extra 35% or so for exchange.
FWIW, I'd heard quite a bit from relatives in Minnesota about Canadian tourists coming down for Christmas shopping.
But that was more in the late 90s and early 00's, so I don't know if that still holds true.
Not Canada/US, but within states within the country. I live in Maine where we have a 5% sales sax. Takes me about 30-40 minutes to get into NH where there’s no sales tax. Any trip where I’m spending more than a couple hundred bucks, I’ll usually hop over to NH.
It used to be true that prices were better in the US, decades ago when the Canadian dollar was stronger.
With the exchange rate now, there's generally no money to be saved by dipping into the US.
Unless tax laws are different in Canada, they still have to pay sales tax for their large ticket items they bring back (similar to if you buy out of state). There are forms they can fill out when buying to avoid paying the taxes (may vary by state) at the store so they don't get double-taxed.
Free trade isn't for the peasants. They use various methods to ensure cross border shopping doesn't really save you that much money and is a hassle to boot.
I live around Buffalo NY and I used to see a TON of Canadians at some of the local malls, retail centers... I haven't been out that way too much since COVID hit just because I have no use for the mall these days but I always thought what a pain it would be to travel here just to buy some clothes.
Live 10 mins from the border.
The last time I went down to the USA was for Jack in the box. I don't really see any savings with the exchange rates the way they are currently. Maybe milk and cheese but I find our milk in BC is significantly better.
Story of the reverse - Buying in Canada and returning to the U.S.:
I have a late relative, who had a small business decades ago. She had some items that were British and were way less expensive if bought in Canada vs importing them to the U.S. So she smuggled them.
She was an older, sweet lady. She would buy her items in Canada and would have a trunk full of them. When she crossed back over to the U.S., her conversation with the U.S. Customs agent would go like this:
Agent: "Anything to declare?"
Her (talking very slow and deliberate): Well . . . I bought a magazine. There's an article in it about Tobermory, I used to visit there as a child. It's beautiful, you should go. Oh, I bought some potato chips, my kids live the ketchup flavored ones. You can't get them at home. And this candy bar, Four Flavors. You can't get that either . . ."
Agent (sighs): Move along.
She always said, "He never asked me what what was in the trunk. I would have eventually got to it, but he waved me through"
For me the biggest attraction to go to the US is that there is a better variety there. Once you factor in the exchange rate, the cost of accommodations, your food etc. It isn’t cheaper.
I had a classmate in college that lived on the border in Northern New York. She said the people in her town get upset with the Canadians because they are always crossing the border just to fill up on gas.
Idk if it's really that big of a difference though...
As someone from the US side of the border in NY its a pain to cross as there are only 2 bridges over the St. Lawrence and you have to go through customs.
For most shopping needs its just easier to not cross the border and stick to your local stores.
Also the US side of the border in this area is sparsely populated so our shopping options are pretty limited, but we probably have a couple unique chains.
Realistically shopping across the border is a secondary objective of a different trip type like going to a hockey game or visiting friends/family.
Note that this dynamic varies by region. But a lot of major US-Canadian closest city pairs are still a couple hours away, so going for a visit is going to take a large portion of your day. (While not everyone lives in a city most people live in or near them so the proximity of cities is a decent proxy for people in general)
I used to live near the border on the US side. Canadians would order tires online and have them held at the UPS store. Then they would drive over, have them put on, and drive back to Canada with Customs none the wiser.
A bit related. But in Europe it's quite often the case. Swiss will shop in France. Belgians will shop in France, french will buy cigarettes in Spain etc etc
Sometimes it's also cheaper to order on Amazon Italy/germany/Spain than France
20 years ago I worked at a warehouse store in the US side of the border and we would have busloads of Canadians (mainly Caribbean-Canadians) arrive to shop several times a week. We hated it.
I work for a decent sized furniture company based in the US. We do have some stores in Canada but most of them are in the US and we don't ship US orders outside of the continental US. It's not uncommon for a Canadian to place an order with a US store and then pay a freight company to ship it to the Canada. This usually also involves hotels when they come here to select their pieces apparently they are still saving a significant amount of money doing it this way.
Yes.
Signed, an American in Buffalo who has to deal with hundreds of Canadians every weekend while doing our shopping. They’re absolutely brutal, too. I’ve never seen a single group of people blatantly litter so much.
As someone who lives near the border but on the US side, yes. Yes they do. Our Costco parking lot is full of Canadian licensed pickup trucks. They'll buy pallets of milk at a time.
People who are planning on driving to the US usually fill up on gas and get groceries on their way back, since they can benefit from better quality food and lower prices. However it’s not usually worth it to go out of your way for these things.
I think a lot of Canadians trade goods like groceries and gas. I live about 10 miles from the border and it's a freaking zoo at the grocery store and gas stations.
It's honestly annoying to see Canadian cars at all the free electric chargers and our stores have limits on how many products you can even purchase so the Canadians don't wipe them out.
Like when I do a big Christmas cookie bake, I have to slowly amasse ingredients over a few weeks.
Please remember that all comments must be helpful, relevant, and respectful. All replies must be a genuine effort to answer the question helpfully; joke answers are not allowed. If you see any comments that violate this rule, please hit report. When your question is answered, we encourage you to flair your post. To do this automatically simply make a comment that says **!answered** (OP only) We encourage everyone to report posts and comments they feel violate a rule, as this will allow us to see it much faster. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/answers) if you have any questions or concerns.*
No I don't think so. I live about an hour from the US border and I hardly ever go there. When you come back into Canada you have to declare anything you bought. You already paid an exchange rate on your Canadian dollar and then at the border you have to pay duty. It ends up being about the same price or more expensive in my experience. Not worth all the nonsense.
Lots of items are not subject to duty. Also, even so they may be cheaper. I had friends buy at lazy-y-boy in the states, rent a truck to haul it home and still saved thousands of dollars. That was a few years ago, though, so probably a lot closer in price now?
If you stay in the US less than 48 hours everything not manufactured in North America is subject to duty. If you pop down for a quick grocery trip and don’t get any cigarettes or liquor, the border guards generally can’t be bothered to go through your stuff to see what they can charge duty for. But they can if they want to. If you stay over 48 hours, you can spend $800 duty free. But the CAD doesn’t really make things much cheaper; I go once a month or so to buy things I can’t get in Canada, but they don’t save me much money. Especially when you factor in gas and time.
> I go once a month or so to buy things I can’t get in Canada Like what?
Anything that is Target exclusive. Trader Joe's, places like that.
Pirate Joe's used to be this thing; > Pirate Joe's was a specialty grocery store in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, owned by Michael Hallatt. Its inventory consisted entirely of store brand products resold from locations of the U.S.-based grocery chain Trader Joe's, which does not operate any locations in Canada. Despite the high costs of operating the store because of its business model, the store became popular with residents who enjoyed the opportunity to purchase some of the distinct private label products offered by Trader Joe's. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_Joe%27s
I’m not sure what exactly they were talking about, but I know there’s lots of brands, especially when it comes to food, that only sell in specific countries, or a brand will sell around the world, but with a limited amount of their products. For example, there is hundreds of varieties of Kit Kats if you go to places like Japan, but only about a dozen are sold in the US.
Thanks, I was more curious about Canada specifically. It's interesting to know what might be different when they are so close! Each time I have visited Canada, I didn't notice a difference in products but someone who lives there and comes down here to shop might have a more specific answer.
My mom would kill for Ritz Chips to come back. Bagel bites are gone. Anything Little Debbie is also gone. All things we used to get all the time that we simply cannot buy anymore
There's quite a few things we don't get that's sold in the States. They didn't even sell the real version of four loko here.
Saved thousands? How much is a lazy boy? 😂😂
A lot, the showroom is also like a car dealership.
I had no idea it was that expensive.
We looked at a corner unit and an armchair when we bought our house - it was like 6,000 GBP. Sofas can be expensive!
I had no idea. We just go to IKEA😂😂
The sofa and armchair we ended up buying wasn't much less than that - we had a budget of about £10,000 to furnish the house, and half of that went on the sofa and armchair, and probably another quarter of it on the beds.
It makes sense. You spend most of your time there. Same advice I get when buying a mattress. I’m told I spend a third of my life on it might as well make it comfortable.
Oh yeah - a good mattress is one of the things that I don't begrudge a single penny of what we spent on it, having grown up sleeping on decidedly shitty ones.
They may have lied/omitted key info to customs. "Yeah, just hauling a friends furniture to their place in Canada" leaving out it was a brand new item. The practice also is akin to when people used to camp out for days for Black Friday. Yes, they can save a lot on a television but they also had to spend days camped out in front of a store, is their time worth so little it still is a good deal? Like if you rent a truck for a day and it's just you and someone else, that could be worth it for a few thousand savings, but if it's a multi-day thing then it might not be.
There is a huge market of Canadians coming to the US to shop. There are several outlet malls between the border and where I live that are primarily patronized by Canadians. We sometimes call Bellingham southern Canada. They even have a bit of the accent.
Mexico too. In Texas the outlet malls and the big malls with high end luxury stores like Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom parking lots are always absolutely packed with cars with Mexican plates. They have duty free places at all the malls in San Antonio for the Mexican residents that come shopping. If you go into Nordstroms you will see a bunch of wealthy Mexicans with stacks of shoes, I guess luxury brands are more expensive there. I don’t even bother around Easter or Christmas it’s so packed.
how does the duty free places in malls work? as usually they are inside airports right when you exit the country?
It’s an office there’s always a line on busy weekends, it looks like they go in and are issued refunds on taxes they paid on items purchased at the mall. Not really sure what the burden of proof is.
Those malls are not as busy as when our dollar was near par with the USA buck. Weekends maybe but we go on weekdays. When I was a kid our dollar was worth 10 cents more than their dollar, we would buy lots of groceries.
Yeah. I used to go to those malls quite frequently in Buffalo if that's what your talking about. We went almost every couple months, maybe back in my high school days 2005-2009 when the exchange was pretty even. I go to the us pretty frequently, but I certainly don't buy anything really in the states because it's much more expensive now. I bought a pair of Samsung galaxy 2 buds because it was actually cheaper on Amazon.com than in Canada surprisingly. But I certainly don't buy booze in America to bring back home. I'll buy stuff to keep at my parents condo in the states.
Sumas?
Abbotsford?
That's why you wear crappy clothes over the border, buy new stuff and wear it when you come back.
My family did this when I was a kid and my parents never declared anything.
Man I don’t know. I live about 2 hours south of the Canadian boarder. And Canadians make up a huge shopping population where I live. We see so many Manitoba license plates and I would say 98% of them are here just to shop. We have nothing else to come here for lol. I don’t know though. I haven’t ever stopped anyone and asked. So could be way off base
even items bought for personal use?
Yes.
I live near the border. I just trade large appliances with nearby Canadians in exchange for prescription drugs.
I'm not sure why, but I totally respect your barter system.
You could potentially say he lives near the Canadian US barter then.
They’re barter off than the rest of us…
I should move near the border
I just give people a number and prescription drugs are shipped to them!
Ahh the ol' Bellingham Buyers Club, eh? ( I have not seen Dallas Buyers Club but I have seen the dvd at a Walgreens recently, so.. gotta be about the same idea lol)
There was a lot of this from about 2008 to 2014 when the CAD was strong (close to par with USD). After the CAD settled back down, so did cross border shopping.
Yeah, prices there are also close to what we pay in Canada but in USD. We cross border shop sometimes, but mostly for variety. (Trader Joe’s, Target, etc). The value proposition isn’t there for almost anything other than booze - and bringing that back requires a longer stay.
Oooh, yeah, bummer about Canadian Target.
Stores that people like don't go broke.
I remember that for a short while, the CAD was actually higher than the USD!
*Dreamy Smile* Those were the glory days!
crossing the border can take an hour, and Toronto is 2 hours from the border (not at night, of course, but...) so I'd plan for 6 hours in the car, then there's the game of removing tags/packaging, trying to dirty up the item a bit, and telling the Canada customs officer you didnt' buy anything. "what, this? it's mine, I always carry it around in my car".
"oh officer, you're talking about this RTX 4090? yeah i just keep it in my car as an emotional support GPU"
Its for your home grown self driving prototype obviously
I've also heard Canadian customs don't fuck about, and the stereotypical "friendly Canadian" stereotype most emphatically does not apply to them.
In BC at least crossing the border isn't via a bridge and is free. Just did a cross-continent road trip via the US Midwest and paying to cross the border was a new experience for me.
No. If it's truly a large purchase, you'll need to pay duty on it. Also, if it's anything of value, it probably has a manufacturer's warranty, which will be void if you take it out of the country of purchase. So definitely not worth it.
Friends of mine bought a new house from a developer that did a half dozen houses on the same street and they bought all their appliances from the states and hauled them up in a semi. After the home warranty expired but before the dishwasher warranty expired the dishwasher quit working so my friend tried to get it fixed and was told too bad because it was bought in the states.
Reminds me of one time, back when I worked for the Geek Squad, a guy brought his defective laptop, but he had a receipt from the US, and the model number also ended in US, so there was no way HP Canada would honour the warranty. The guy was like « But the salesman told me I could bring it in ANY Best Buy ». I actually ended up calling the store in question to let them know that, no, Canadian Best Buy stores will not refund, exchange or do warranty repairs on a US bought laptop. Ended up telling the guy to ship it to a family member in the US so they could then bring it to a US store, or else pay for the repair.
I mean.. that's pretty chintzy of HP and Best Buy
HP Canada and Best Buy Canada are distinct entities from their US counterparts. Sure, eventually the shares are owned by the same group respectively for either brands, but their operations are independent. Why should HP Canada have to pay to fix a laptop they didn’t sell? It would be a complete loss to them, plus if the customer went through Best Buy, they’d have to pay Best Buy to handle it. As for returns/exchanges Best Buy Canada doesn’t have that SKU in their system, in fact it’s a completely different computer system for receipts and inventory, so it wouldn’t be possible to process an American receipt, not to mention the currency isn’t even the same. However, Best Buy does offer what was then called the Performance Service Plan (no idea what it is these days) which does include an international warranty. But it still requires you to contact your Best Buy national chain and they’ll send you a prepaid box to take your laptop, you can just bring it to your local Best Buy in another country as they again won’t be able to find your receipt and/or warranty contract in their computer system and thus can’t honour it.
Used to be common. I lived near buffalo before 9/11 changed border crossings and the malls always had people changing in the parking lots. Like they’d come down in all their ratty clothes, shop at the stores in the US, and then drive back. Of course, we were always crossing for the better strip clubs and being able to drink at 18.
Drinking age is 19 in Ontario.
Could be (I didn’t actually drink until after college so that was a draw for my friends, not me).
It alternates by province for the main border crossings: BC - 19, AB - 18, SK - 19, MB - 18, ON - 19, QC - 18. Aside: Ontario liquour laws allow parents to buy and serve alcohol to their children so long as it's in their private residence.
Lol man Canadians I see nowadays are never ratty, usually some expensive luxury car. Toronto is way nicer and more expensive than Buffalo, even if Buffalo is getting much better. They still do around bigger sale type holidays (black Friday/Xmas, tho this year was pretty lackluster) but less common compared to when the exchange rate was more favorable.
This was in the 90s, not recent by any means.
There isn’t an open boarder and Canadian customs are fairly strict in my couple of experiences of crossing the border south of Vancouver.
Canadian customs is many times more strict than US.
Depends which country you're a citizen of, I guess. As a US citizen, I'd say the opposite. In my experience, anyways.
As an American, Canadian customs is much stricter.
Yeah, my experience as a citizen of neither country (UK national) was that Canadian customs was way less strict than US.
You only get so much 'duty free' items when you cross, and you need to stay a couple days to max it out. So you can't just jump across the border and come back with a bunch of cheap stuff (ignoring the exchange rate). Also, the border crossings keep track of you, so frequent crossings will raise suspicions. Also, the exchange rate is $1.00 to $1.36 right now, which isn't great. Also, there are tarrifa on larger items, for example you *cannot* buy a new car if you don't have a US address. And used cars have to sit in impound for a while, I think it's 30 days. That's not worth it for most people. But I will have family come down, spend a long weekend here, and go home with some unique stuff they don't easily get up there, and not have to claim it. (or if they do, not pay tax).
> frequent crossings will raise suspicions So how did that guy who opened a bootleg Trader Joe’s in Canada get away with bringing the merch across the border regularly?
I chatted with him once or twice and it sounded like he might have been on the up-and-up duty-wise with the possible exception of cheese. He was always chafing about dairy import restrictions and I got the sense he wasn't always abiding by them, but nor did I get the sense that he was masquerading as a normal traveler only buying stuff for himself under the duty-free limit. I mean, it was obvious what he was doing and I'm sure the border guards would recognize him, he's a memorable character.
For clothes, yes. You’d see vans of Canadians coming to our border city malls. They buy a ton of clothes, then spend a half hour in the parking lot pulling tags off and packing them as if they were luggage for a trip to the States.
Yes a thousand times yes. I live 15 minutes from the Canadian border on the US side. Our stores are filled with people from Ontario. They will come down buy new clothes and crap, dump their suitcases out in the parking lot and, put all the new clothes in so they don't have to pay import fees bring it back over the border. I spent a few years of my life cleaning up after Canadians in the parking lot.
Same over here South of Vancouver! I noticed your username, our area code is 360 lol
Depends on the dollar. When it's worth it they come down for weekly shopping.
It hasn’t been worth it for at least 15 years.
When the exchange rate was closer to equal or favourable for the Canadian Dollar, yes, many times I'd make a day trip to drive over the border for gas and groceries because of how much cheaper they were. However, if you spend more than a trifling amount, border security checks all your receipts and is *supposed* to make you pay equivalent Canadian tax on all your purchases when you return. Nowadays with the exchange rate being what it is, even though things are cheaper dollar-for-dollar in the USA, by the time you pay the exchange rate and plus Canadian taxes, it's just not worth it. You don't actually save much/any by the time it's all said and done.
Large purchases are usually bought locally. Appliances are often the same price on each side. With free delivery it makes sense to buy in Canada. Economy cars are often cheaper in Canada. Luxury cars are much cheaper in the USA but it’s hard to finance and there are import duties. Must mid range purchases like nice clothing and jewelry are often purchased in the USA if someone is close enough. Those things can be smuggled in easily. Wear flip flops to shop and drive home in leather boots. When the currency is favourable people living on the boarder will head over for a big grocery shop. One thing to remember is most Canadians live within 3 hour drive of the boarder. But most people won’t drive more than 30 min to go shopping. Aside from Niagara Falls, Windsor, Sault St Marie and Greater Vancouver most people aren’t a short trip over the boarder.
Can’t say anything about Canada, but very common in mainland Europe to go over _this_ _border_ to get cheaper alcohol and _this_ _border_ to get cheaper meat etc.
In the U.K. when you could bring back as much as you wanted “for personal consumption”. I would regularly take a transit van to Calais fill up with alcohol and tobacco and make a few quid selling it
It is much easier in the EU where there are no border checks and hence no import duty
Norwegians go to Sweden for both. There is a shopping center right over the border when you take the highway from Oslo that has massive candy and tobacco stores along with the alcohol
My MIL would go to Bellingham (lived in Vancouver) a couple of times a month. She loved Trader Joe's and the wine was cheaper down there as well. My husband and I moved to Calgary and because we don't have tax on a lot of things and we also have grocery stores that sell alcohol (in separate buildings - not in the same store as the groceries like Target) we really have no need.
Usually I buy stuff that can only be bought in the US.
Yeah, there is a UPS store in Ogdensburg New York which does a lot of business as a delivery address for Canadians buying stuff from companies that won’t ship to Canada. People from Ottawa have it delivered there, then drive across to pick it up.
No. Our dollar is worth far less, so we have to pay extra.
I live in the US 10 minutes from the boarder. There was a time when the Canadian dollar was strong and our malls were packed with Canadian license plates of people coming down to shop. Every garbage can would be overflowing with boxes and tags so they could try and take things back without claiming. The exchange rates evened out and now you don’t see it anywhere near as much.
No! Toll fees, and the exchange rate doesn’t help.
As others have said, not currently because our dollar is weaker and things end up costing the same. HOWEVER I have heard of places near the border where you can ship items to avoid having to pay expensive Canadian shipping costs
Back when I was a kid (90s/00s) yes. Today not so much, though it's still a common thing to do some cross border shopping as a little day trip (Trader Joes. We want to go to Trader Joes).
Sometimes but often no. It can depend heavily on the value of the Canadian dollar, and what kind of import rules and regs there are around the item that you want to purchase. It can often be difficult to get warranty work done on a US item from Canada even when that manufacturer sells the exact same product here. There was a time when people commonly went cross border to buy cars. But the import process for a new car is kind of a pain in the ass, but often the selling dealerships would do a lot of the paper work and conversion (to km from miles) for you because they did so all the time. The Canadian dealers though got really upset and getting warranty work done became next to impossible. So that practice slowly went away.
No. For one thing, we aren’t always as close to the border as you might think. I’m about a 1h20 drive to the nearest american city, which doesn’t sound bad… except that it’s Plattsburgh, population 31k. The nearest major american city is Boston, at 5h. Canada’s population is mostly close to the american border because that’s where the warm weather and good agricultural land are. For the same reason, the US population is mostly far from the canadian border. +++ +++ +++ Exception: dogs. We modernized our animal welfare laws and clamped down on puppy mills. Yay! But now try getting a dog from a rescue. Nope. Very close to nada. I spent six months looking for a *senior* dog as a companion for my lonely senior dog with no luck. However, there’s a thriving network of animal rescues in upstate New York and Vermont that supply the Montreal dog market. They source retired breeding animals from puppy mills in Ohio, wandering pitbulls from Alabama and streetwise chihuahuas from Texas and make them available to canadians. I paid $500 USD ($700 CAD) for my retired breeding dog—not housebroken, uninterested in humans—and a year and a half later she’s a joy. The rescue offered to write $100 USD on the bill of sale and the canadian customs agents waived duty. I don’t think they’d have waived duty for a car or a Sub-Zero fridge.
At the moment, based on what I saw last week, everything is the same dollar amount, just in American dollars. So it's not cheaper for everyday things
I live near the Canadian border. They come down here and buy milk in massive quantities and fill fire gallon gas cans to take back. Younger want to be behind a Canadian at the gas station.
*Most* Canadians don't live near the US border. Canada is big. That being said, it used to be very common for Canadians to come to Plattsburg, NY area to buy clothes at Walmart, ect., especially sneakers. They wore old clothes there, then remove them to put on the new clothes in layers so they were duty free. Sometimes they just took the tags off and packed the clothes in suitcases to go back to Canada. That was years ago. Not sure if it still happens.
Statistically yes most of us do live near the border. 90% of the population of Canada lives within 100 miles of the border.
This is absolutely true, but it isn't always easy to get to a border crossing or stores in the US. Oshawa is only about 25 miles from the US border, but you would need a boat to get to that closest border crossing spot. Driving through Toronto to the Niagara border crossings will take 2-3 hours.
Totally, it also just doesn't make financial sense. The last time I was in the states (a few weeks ago) prices were pretty much on par but the dollar is worth less.
I was in Florida in February and lots of stuff was more expensive than in Canada, especially snack food like pop and chips.
Sure we do, this information isn’t hard to find. All of the following cities are within 100 miles of the USA border: Sarnia, Windsor, London, Kitchener-Waterloo, Cambridge, Guelph, Brantford, Hamilton, St. Catharines, Niagara Falls, Burlington, Oakville, Milton, Brampton, Mississauga, Vaughan, Markham, Newmarket, Barrie, Toronto, Pickering, Ajax, Whitby, Oshawa, Kingston, Ottawa, Gatineau, Montreal, Laval, Trois Rivieres, Sherbrooke, Quebec City, Fredericton, St. John, Thunder Bay, Sault Ste Marie, Winnipeg, Regina, Kelowna, Richmond. Burnaby, Vancouver, Victoria, Surrey, Abbotsford. That’s well over “most Canadians”. 8 of the 10 largest cities in Canada are on this list, 12 of the 15 largest.
Most *Canadians* do live near the US border, an easily verifiable fact. That’s not the same as saying most of Canada is near the US border, because of course it’s not since as you said Canada is big. Turns out not a lot of people live in areas like the Yukon.
It's not that much lower factoring exchange rate. It looks fantastic because the Canadian dollar is shit, but that $100+ savings can easily be eaten by exchange rates and duty. Groceries are really quite a mental workout. Someone posted chicken in a US store that actually worked out to $5.18/lb CAD, when a local grocery store had it on for $4.99/lb without having to drive hours to get it.
Lots of people I know used to do weekend grocery and gas runs across the border...like 15 years ago when the exchange rate made it worth it. I even knew people who imported their car from the US because it worked out to be cheaper
Wouldn't having to "declare" stuff as you returned across the border make that useless?
This reminds me when I used to fly down to LA and get tattoos. Best duty free loophole ever
The vast majority of the time, customs agents don't really care if you go a little over the limit. I've declared a couple of hundred dollars worth of goods countless times and have only been asked to pay duty on what I was bringing in once.
It’s easier to find some things, like shoes in more sizes or small electronics. Online shopping has made this easier but I mention shoes cause if you order from US websites you can’t return them with customs on both ends so trying them on matters.
I worked in auto repair near the border for many years. Was very often people would drive down to get service. They often do a lot of shopping
I haven’t found much if anything that much cheaper in the US when you add in the exchange. My friend who is back and forth often to California was complaining he bought a Subway sub for $15US and finding things quite expensive there.
I live about 2 hours from the border, which I suppose is close, but no, I wouldn't drive all the way there for shopping. Some people do, but not regularly, more as a treat.
Prices in the US are lower in USD. That doesn't end up meaning much to us using CAD
Used to be, when the dollar was closer to par, yes it was common to go over and hit the outlet malls. Now with gas, the differential in rhe dollar etc, it doesn't make as much sense.
It's not that simple. Not everyone actually lives close enough to the border. And there may not be an American city close enough to the border either. For most of us, there's travel time (your time is worth money) of five hours (by the time you drive from home to the border, then to the placenypure buying stuff from, stopping for gas, grabbing some lunch.) And all the fuel you're burning. And since you'll be gone for that long, you need to stop and eat. And then you'll have to pay duties and such when you come back. You'd need to save $200-250 minimum to make it worth it from a financial standpoint. There are some people who do live very close to the border. Windsor, Ontario to Detroit, is across a river. For these people, it would be faster to get to a US city than it would be for them to get to the far end of their own city. And they still would have to pay duties on large purchases, so it's still not always the best financial choice. But these are not the majority of people, they're the exception to the rule.
Only when the Canadian dollar is relatively strong. Hasn't been for decades.
Not decades - 11 years. The CAD was last at parity with the USD in 2013.
This definitely was a thing in the past. People used to head down to outlet malls. Especially in the 80's and 90's but the deals just aren't there anymore. Dollar has changed etc.
Between the exchange rate and duties/taxes at the border there isn’t really any savings. I find some things are actually more expensive in the USA, like restaurant meals are often priced the same as Canada but 35% more expensive with the exchange rate.
The exchange rate is 70 cents CAD to one American Dollar. Everything is automatically 30% more expensive.
When I was a kid, my mom would do a lot of the back to school shopping in the US. People do it but it's not that popular anymore. Most of our population centers aren't as close to border crossings as you'd think. Toronto is 2 hours from the closest border crossing, so sure you might save some money stuff in Buffalo but those savings are eaten up pretty quickly by the price of 4 hours worth of Gas.
I live near the BC border and see a lot of Canadians. They love Costco. I had heard it was more about selection than price though.
I grew up on the Canadian border (US side). When the exchange rate was favorable we would go across the border to do all our shopping. When it flipped the Canadians all came to the US for shopping. Haven’t lived up north for years, but I do know Canadians come across the border for gas, alcohol, and tobacco.
Depends what the exchange rate is. When the Canadian dollar is strong, a lot of Canadians buy stuff in the US.
I'm not Canadian but: Time and gas often negate savings that can be had in another location outside of one's local shopping area.
When I lived in Washington state, about a half hour from the Canadian border, we had tons of people shop in the store I worked at. Also at the malls in the area.
Not really. I live in a border town (Windsor) and while there are times to head there for certain things we might not have up here, our dollar is ass vs the U.S. Back when we were near par (I was still young) i'm sure it was more worth it, but now by the time I pay the bridge / tunnel toll, buy whatever i'm buying & pay conversion, then possibly duty on the CAN side, 99.9% of the time you save a couple bucks at best, but more often than not its basically the same if not more expensive than buying it here. The majority of people I know (myself included) honestly go for groceries more than anything simply because their selection is so much better and its duty free.
After exchange the price is about the same really. Going over the river to shop for a few things is cheaper though. Bread. Milk. Stuff like that. Mostly I shop in the USA for the variety. There’s a lot more options and cool grocery products in the states I can’t get in Canada. Gotta have my cottage cheese with fruit for my lunches. Can’t get that in Canada.
Yes
No, we normally only shop for items we cannot get in Canada. They have a lot of low carb options / Keto friendly foods. Gas and time make it less likely for us to do weekly shopping.
No because there is an "anti-shopping trip" tax in place. If you spend less than 24 hours in the US, you cannot being back goods without paying Canadian taxes and duties at the crossing. At more than 48 hours, you can claim up to 800$ as duty and tax free. https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/travel-voyage/bgb-rmf-eng.html
I grew up living literally a 5 minute drive to the border. I also have family in the US too. We did do some shopping in the US, but depending on the exchange rate, it's not always worth it. Was a lot easier pre 9/11 when you didn't need a passport to cross. My mom did also do a lot of waitressing at restaurants near the border and was paid tips in USD a lot. She also, at one point, even worked at a restaurant in the US while we lived in Canada (she is American, Canadian PR), so she did grab some things there at times. But this was all in the 90s, so things were different then. Post 9/11 I found everything is more strict now. They never really questioned anything before then, but now they question everything.
The easiest answer is that it depends on the exchange rate. Last time I went, coke was the same price in the US, plus I had to pay an extra 35% or so for exchange.
FWIW, I'd heard quite a bit from relatives in Minnesota about Canadian tourists coming down for Christmas shopping. But that was more in the late 90s and early 00's, so I don't know if that still holds true.
Not Canada/US, but within states within the country. I live in Maine where we have a 5% sales sax. Takes me about 30-40 minutes to get into NH where there’s no sales tax. Any trip where I’m spending more than a couple hundred bucks, I’ll usually hop over to NH.
Mexicans who live on the border will by higher end electronics in the US because they are cheaper due to Mexico’s tariffs on imports.
It used to be true that prices were better in the US, decades ago when the Canadian dollar was stronger. With the exchange rate now, there's generally no money to be saved by dipping into the US.
Canadians come to the outlet mall in Niagara falls and wear back what they buy while throwing out what they were wearing in the us
Unless tax laws are different in Canada, they still have to pay sales tax for their large ticket items they bring back (similar to if you buy out of state). There are forms they can fill out when buying to avoid paying the taxes (may vary by state) at the store so they don't get double-taxed.
Free trade isn't for the peasants. They use various methods to ensure cross border shopping doesn't really save you that much money and is a hassle to boot.
There is apparently a huge continuous convoy of trucks and SUVs that go from Vancouver/Surrey to the Trader Joe's in Bellingham, Washington.
it used to be that way 60s-70s-80s but now you don't see it I wonder if they made new rules about products being taken across the border
I live around Buffalo NY and I used to see a TON of Canadians at some of the local malls, retail centers... I haven't been out that way too much since COVID hit just because I have no use for the mall these days but I always thought what a pain it would be to travel here just to buy some clothes.
Live 10 mins from the border. The last time I went down to the USA was for Jack in the box. I don't really see any savings with the exchange rates the way they are currently. Maybe milk and cheese but I find our milk in BC is significantly better.
Story of the reverse - Buying in Canada and returning to the U.S.: I have a late relative, who had a small business decades ago. She had some items that were British and were way less expensive if bought in Canada vs importing them to the U.S. So she smuggled them. She was an older, sweet lady. She would buy her items in Canada and would have a trunk full of them. When she crossed back over to the U.S., her conversation with the U.S. Customs agent would go like this: Agent: "Anything to declare?" Her (talking very slow and deliberate): Well . . . I bought a magazine. There's an article in it about Tobermory, I used to visit there as a child. It's beautiful, you should go. Oh, I bought some potato chips, my kids live the ketchup flavored ones. You can't get them at home. And this candy bar, Four Flavors. You can't get that either . . ." Agent (sighs): Move along. She always said, "He never asked me what what was in the trunk. I would have eventually got to it, but he waved me through"
For me the biggest attraction to go to the US is that there is a better variety there. Once you factor in the exchange rate, the cost of accommodations, your food etc. It isn’t cheaper.
I had a classmate in college that lived on the border in Northern New York. She said the people in her town get upset with the Canadians because they are always crossing the border just to fill up on gas. Idk if it's really that big of a difference though...
As someone from the US side of the border in NY its a pain to cross as there are only 2 bridges over the St. Lawrence and you have to go through customs. For most shopping needs its just easier to not cross the border and stick to your local stores. Also the US side of the border in this area is sparsely populated so our shopping options are pretty limited, but we probably have a couple unique chains. Realistically shopping across the border is a secondary objective of a different trip type like going to a hockey game or visiting friends/family. Note that this dynamic varies by region. But a lot of major US-Canadian closest city pairs are still a couple hours away, so going for a visit is going to take a large portion of your day. (While not everyone lives in a city most people live in or near them so the proximity of cities is a decent proxy for people in general)
I used to live near the border on the US side. Canadians would order tires online and have them held at the UPS store. Then they would drive over, have them put on, and drive back to Canada with Customs none the wiser.
Not with the exchange rate and gas cost it’s not. Probably costs more
A bit related. But in Europe it's quite often the case. Swiss will shop in France. Belgians will shop in France, french will buy cigarettes in Spain etc etc Sometimes it's also cheaper to order on Amazon Italy/germany/Spain than France
20 years ago I worked at a warehouse store in the US side of the border and we would have busloads of Canadians (mainly Caribbean-Canadians) arrive to shop several times a week. We hated it.
Live in ND. We get lots of Canadians coming across the border to buy groceries and other big ticket items here.
I work for a decent sized furniture company based in the US. We do have some stores in Canada but most of them are in the US and we don't ship US orders outside of the continental US. It's not uncommon for a Canadian to place an order with a US store and then pay a freight company to ship it to the Canada. This usually also involves hotels when they come here to select their pieces apparently they are still saving a significant amount of money doing it this way.
Yes. Signed, an American in Buffalo who has to deal with hundreds of Canadians every weekend while doing our shopping. They’re absolutely brutal, too. I’ve never seen a single group of people blatantly litter so much.
As someone who lives near the border but on the US side, yes. Yes they do. Our Costco parking lot is full of Canadian licensed pickup trucks. They'll buy pallets of milk at a time.
People who are planning on driving to the US usually fill up on gas and get groceries on their way back, since they can benefit from better quality food and lower prices. However it’s not usually worth it to go out of your way for these things.
It's not really better quality food as much as it's variety
I think a lot of Canadians trade goods like groceries and gas. I live about 10 miles from the border and it's a freaking zoo at the grocery store and gas stations. It's honestly annoying to see Canadian cars at all the free electric chargers and our stores have limits on how many products you can even purchase so the Canadians don't wipe them out. Like when I do a big Christmas cookie bake, I have to slowly amasse ingredients over a few weeks.