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Path: utzoo!utgpu!utcsri!utegc!utai!ubc-vision!watmath!looking!brad
From: brad@looking.UUCP
Newsgroups: can.general,news.misc,news.admin
Subject: Re: uunet access from Canada
Message-ID: <827@looking.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 4-Jul-87 21:35:24 EDT
Article-I.D.: looking.827
Posted: Sat Jul  4 21:35:24 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 5-Jul-87 07:46:45 EDT
References: <954@van-bc.UUCP> <824@looking.UUCP> <132@bby-bc.UUCP>
Reply-To: brad@looking.UUCP (Brad Templeton)
Distribution: can
Organization: Looking Glass Software Ltd. Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 49
Xref: utgpu can.general:636 news.misc:571 news.admin:535

In article <132@bby-bc.UUCP> john@bby-bc.UUCP (john) writes:
>I think you could more reasonably put this down to the desire to make
>what the traffic will bear than governmental interference.  If what
>you are saying was true I wouldn't have been able to send a 5kg package
>from Vancouver to Texas by UPS for $8, or a 24kg package from LA to
>Vancouver for $45 (by UPS), or get a return airfare from Vancouver
>to LAX for $285 on CP Air.

Can you do this with next day delivery?  Have you done it?  UPS tells
me that there will be a $25 to $30 customs brokerage charge to ship
a large package to the USA.  They have charged me each time I have done
it, so I don't know how you get away with it.  (By the way, the brokerage
fee of $30 is for stuff with a duty of 3 CENTS)

>
>It is not the Canadian government it is business that results in the
>higher prices.
>
>Why does a Sony CDP1302 list for $1900 at a time when the US list is
>approx. $1270 ($950 US) - they both have to come from Japan.
>
>Why does an Everex Qic02 tape unit cost $2500 here in Vancouver and
>only $1500 if bought in the US and shipped here ($1500 includes
>exchange, FST, and shipping)?
>
>Why does an HP LaserJet-II list for $3400 ($2500 US) in the US and $4700
>here in Canada?

I don't mean to be rude, but somebody sold you a bill of goods, and you
paid full duty, brokerage and 12% F.S.T. on it.

How on Earth do you think the Canadian dealer manages to make money
selling the LaserJet for $4700 when anybody can order one from the states
for $3400?   If there were free trade (real, free trade, not the stuff that
Mulroney is talking about) then there would be no discrepencies.

The Canadian dealer charges more because there is a hassle getting stuff
over the border.  It takes effort to get stuff over the border, so
dealers charge more for doing it.  If customers didn't think it was a
better deal to buy a LaserJet for $4700 than to import one themselves, the
dealers would go broke.

This is not to say that many businesses don't charge a lot for handling
the red tape for you.  They charge what the market will bear, like any
good business.   But there wouldn't be any price difference without the
government red tape.  I know.  I ship to and from the USA on a regular
basis, and it often makes me want to move south.
-- 
Brad Templeton, Looking Glass Software Ltd. - Waterloo, Ontario 519/884-7473