cacruden
Senior Member
There is free trade, the only thing you have to pay on most consumer items when you come back is the sales tax. Most items are duty-free.
As for the border guard numbers... I expect it costs a lot and takes a long time to hire and train new ones... if the only reason why we need more is to satisfy consumers heading south of the border to spend spend spend to no benefit to the Canadian economy, I say don't do it. The dollar is so volatile right now we have no idea where it's going to go... if it sinks back to the 95-cent range, as some have predicted, cross-border shopping will decrease... and then we'll have too many guards. Or suppliers and retailers will finally lower their prices, again, cross-border shopping will decrease, too many guards.
The cross-border phenomenon is a knee-jerk reaction after the dollar reached parity. I can understand people wanting to go over there to make their big ticket purchases... but a bunch of divas on a tour bus to go shopping? You're really not saving that much, honey. I think it's more likely it's their first time ever out of the country and they thought it'd be like driving to Yorkdale.
It is those cross-border shoppers that will get you a better price in Canada - until the retailers in Canada (and distributors) begin to hurt - the prices will NOT be adjusted.