Canadian dollar woos ...

yamawho,

You just answered a question that's been going unanswered. When dealing with my select few northern sellers, they requested to be paid in US dollars. If it helps them, I'm for it.

Totally forgetting shipping out of the area, from up there which has gone

north in pricing, customs inspections, ( which they do) and retape with the 1 piece

of green tape.  Its Kinda of a wash.  and Yes I have purchased north of the line

for some things I WANTED.

I hadn't thought about it but it sounds as if this would be a good time to plan another Canadian vacation.  All of my visits to Canada have been wonderful.

Joe

I( just bought a US item today.   Bank rate is  EXCHANGE   1.2650% plus handling chg 2.50% equals 1.29 then add visa charges for US at 3% and our cost is now 132% of US Selling.  Plus freight or postage which in some cases is double and triple what you pay in US. Trainz is a good example  - an 022 switch to a US Address is about $ 9.00, to Canada $ 34.00.

So as of today, I'm not buying ANYTHING directly from the US, only SELLING some of my excess 022 switches.   I found an MTH dealer here who has some older MTH items at the older 2013 prices still.  

Larry,

Does he have a web site to order from?

Yep, no more Lionel for me for a while. Back to my American Flyer basket cases.......my back-up cheap project.

However, we must as Canadians remember two years ago when CDN $ was par if not better. It goes up and down. Open a US currency account.

is that why they call it the "Loonie",

because the two governments cant make up

their minds what its worth??

GO HABS!!!!!

Hey POPI,

I like this team and colors much better

I'm cutting back on my purchases until the dollar improves. Apart from selection my biggest concern with a dealer is shipping method.  I prefer USPS Priority Mail International shipping. No "brokerage fees" like UPS and I don't have to stay home and wait for the parcel to be delivered. 

Governments like to sock to international shippers.  No voter backlash. I have found Trainx shipping to always be excessive, so I don't buy from them.

The pendulum swings both ways. Keep that in mind.

Larry has his items listed on the OGR For Sale or Trade section.

I ordered about 160US from some US online stores last year. Basically I paid 90$ for taxes, handling and this was by USPS. After a few orders I stopped ...

For some reason there has been a complete absence of taxes on my orders. NAFTA?

No sometimes you actually don't pay anything on shipments from the US.

However every shipment from train stores I got taken to the cleaners ...GST, post office handling even PST.

My most recent US to Canada transaction was finalized on Wednesday with a delivery of $450US worth of trains from Joe ( forum member JC642 ).  The 200 mile trip took roughly one month because UPS stores can't process a shipment properly which results in a package being as good as lost or stolen.  Neither I nor Joe received any compensation for this inconvenience when magically the package appeared back on Joe's doorstep.  You must realize that Joe has had to do all the leg work repeatedly just to get satisfaction out of UPS and have my package delivered.  Thank You Joe!  You give one faith in human nature when little of it seems apparent.  I promise any future transactions with Joe will be face to face.

End result, I now have just short of $800 CDN invested in what was once a great deal.   Shipping charges, duty/ brokerage and the exchange rate are absolutely criminal.  I could have easily drove the distance and saved a lot of money and frustration.  Thanks for the related topic...just needed to vent.

Bruce

We often make a family or weekend trip south across the border. Get the stuff shipped to a us postal mailbox several along the border. Cheap us shipping only a couple of bucks to hold a package.

Most trips save on gas and groceries etc. 1/3 off of price at home and nearly every time they do not charge the taxes on the way back.

Incidentally if you are looking to save  and looking for a few extra cars for the layout. Check out eAutomobilia.com Due to high real-estate prices and taxes, and drop in $ making product more expensive for  local customers they are giving up on the long time store in Vancouver. 30% off most stuff in the store. Some really good deals.

If in US and you click on the US flag at the top you will see the discounted and in US $ price a lot cheaper.

For Cdn's it is best now with the tanking loonie to be looking at old stock at many many great stores across Canada. And watch clubs and shows for sales, people retiring collections.

Check out the Canadian Toy Trains Association they have monthly meetings west coast with auctions and table sales lots of great deals, estate sales etc.

Recently a vast collection of MTH locos went at $150-250 most new in box near never run.

Perhaps we will see a drop in the offerings of US road names for a while from manufacturers. I would think that some of the new Atlas Lionel MTH function detailed scale engines would be running near the price with exchange and taxes to that of a used car!

Could the O Scale and O gauge distributors find a way to ship from China to Vancouver, so that they can skip going through the U.S.A.?

Can some company in Canada made equal or better quality O Scale model railroad items, instead of importing them?

Andrew

Funny: the opposite situation seems to exist in the real RR world (I know it's not the

same...OK?), but everywhere I go here - 20 miles north of the Gulf of Mexico - I see

CN locos and cars...and speaking of Mexico, there's the KCS de Mexico (yes) locos,

plus Ferromex around...I'm going to have to practice my "Buenos Dias, eh?" a bit more.

Then there's Quebec...

======

I watch HGTV with some regularity, and I am constantly amused by the price of Canadian

real estate, at least in and around Toronto, where most of these Canadian shows seem to be done. Toronto is a big city, but it's no New York.

Real estate/home prices in and around Mobile pretty much track at middle-of-the-US-road levels. When I see these Canadian houses going for a million dollars (are these dog dollars?

 Like dog years?), and a similar, nice (nicer?) home around here can be had for $300K-400K, I have to chuckle. 

Of course, in the US, we don't have many of the things that Canadians enjoy. Many

of these things are from taxation, and that expense, naturally, finds its way into

market prices. Us? We just let people go bankrupt from illnesses, and sell the government to the highest corporate bidder.

A Side Bar Story • Michigan Enhanced Driver License

I only live about twenty miles from the Detroit, Windsor crossing to Canada.

The Detroit / Windsor Tunnel or the Ambassador Bridge

      A Michigan Enhanced Drivers License is my Pass Port to enter Canada, with this I can get through the express lanes. We have always enjoyed going to Canada. Starting going when I was a kid. We now take day trips for the Restaurants, Shopping & Casinos. 

http://www.michigan.gov/sos/0,...669_53333---,00.html

Enhanced Drivers Licenses: What Are They?

State-issued enhanced drivers licenses (EDLs) provide proof of  identity and U.S. citizenship, are issued in a secure process, and include technology that makes travel easier. They provide travelers with a low-cost, convenient alternative for entering the United States from Canada, Mexico or the Caribbean through a land or sea port of entry, in addition to serving as a permit to drive.

A sidebar story....... Money exchanges & construction.

History • Learn about how the Detroit & Windsor Tunnel was built for Vehicles.

Andrew,

I honestly feel that the idea has been explored by the major players. If there was money to be made they would have done so by now. Granted, the port at BC is huge, however, that's only the first piece of the puzzle. Secondly, the cost of setting up a central distributing hub for Western Canada would rapidly eat up any and all profits.

I do not think that there are enough people interested in O-Gauge in the entire country. The citizens need to start the fight against their government's restrictions. Surely there are enough people in local governmental agencies to help kick start a movement?

Well, the US dollar is worth more against the Euro. A little over a year ago, a Euro "cost" about $1.40. Now it "costs" $1.13.

Remember when the US dollar was worth $1.50 in Canada? It was still that good in 2000. By 2007 the two were just about equal in value. Canada used to refund the 7 per cent national sales or health care tax on many things tourists would spend their money on but that refund ended about 10 years ago. You would get the tax refund form at hotels and when you returned to your native county you would mail in your receipts for those expenses that were on the list of items that qualified for the refund. I did that many times but I was told that many people did not read what qualified for a refund of the tax and mailed in all of their receipts so the Canadian government discontinued the program. Can you imagine how many people they had to employ and the time it took for them to go though all those receipts? I don't blame them for ending this program.