Maybe someone can explain me something.
How can a place with a population of roughly 1500 like Rehoboth Beach have a vastly superiour selection of wines and beer to a city like Montreal with a met. pop. of about 3 million?
And I mean it's not even close. Oh wait. I know why. The state runs the alcohol racket here. There is absolutely no excuse or reason one can employ to defend this bull. None.
I just bought three bottles of Lambrusco at $5.99. No. It's not a misprint. I didn't mean to write $15. You read it right the first time: $6 bucks. Rounded out.
Did I mention it cost $5.99? NO TAX to boot. When was the last time you found a great quality wine for $6 at the SAQ? They even have bins of decent wines at $3.99. The wines I tend to buy at the SAQ are usually in the $12-14 price range. For the same wine of similar quality, I pay about $4-8 less here.
Even if we average cost the difference, the U.S. still likely comes out on top.
Explain me the economic birds and the bees on this one.
On the other hand, American pharmacies don't have nearly the same quality as Canadian ones have. I find our pharmacists, on average, to be more informed and helpful. I have no idea how this happened given pretty much 90% (my arbitrary figure but I doubt I'm that far off) of pharma products are produced and patented in the U.S.. Go figure.
Quick word on beer. Here in Canada we obsess over claiming to have better beer than the U.S. Of course, we conveniently always measure it against Miller, Budweiser and Coors. We ignore the endless micro-breweries available in the U.S. like Sam Adams and Brooklyn.
I think both sides have their strengths but, again, simply more to choose from in the States. And some of them do pack a heavy punch.
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Speaking of no tax. I don't know, where means are available, how anyone would shop in Canada once they get a taste of shopping at discount outlets in places where there are no taxes like New Hampshire and Delaware. Based on the total we've spent and factoring a 15% tax rate back home, we've saved hundreds.
It's a powerful psychological incentive and people can argue against not having taxes all they want but they may as well talk to a tornado. I ain't listening.
We humans are usually sharp rational economic entities and we know a good deal when we see it and in Canada, there are no deals like we see here. And when you do find good deals you get zinged into another nationality with the tax.
I won't even get into how many books at bargain prices I've bought.
It will all come back to haunt you at the border: excise tax.
ReplyDeletePaul, I've been at this for over 25years. The border is the least of my concerns let me tell you. I think you needed to consider a couple of things.
ReplyDeleteFirst, those who stay for a day in the States need to be more concerned - but even then on certain grocery items it's fully worth paying the excise duty - which is rare anyway if you know what you're doing.
Excise duty is pure garbage. Our market artificially inflates prices and refuses to keep them in-line when prices drop. Hence, people buy online or across the border. I NEVER buy shoes as Sports Experts.
For people who stay over a day; like one week. You're allowed $750 of goods and three bottles of 750ml wine per person.
We're well within the limit.
So. No excise tax.
Again, even with the stupid tax, given what we paid on the items (along with the small exchange) we'd STILL save money.
By the way, I thought for sure you'd comment on the pharmacy opinion. The way I see it, we should allow them to diagnose people. They certainly are well-trained. While I'm at it, I'd even expand what Urgences Sante technicians can do.
ReplyDeleteEnough with ONLY the doctors can perform the smallest details and tasks. I see no reason why we should prevent a pharmacist from telling a person they have a certain condition. It's absurd that in cases where they know the answer and have the medicine but can't tell provide it to the person.
The person is then forced to go home, call their GP (if they're lucky enough to have one), take an appointment (hopefully within a week - only if you go on a cancellation list), get told the exact same thing a pharmacist would have said, and finally head back to that same pharmacist with a doctor's note saying you can have that bloody special cough syrup.
Inefficiently dumb.
About the pharmacists, I do agree with you. As a matter of fact when it comes to pharmacopeia I trust the pharmacist much more than my doctor; as good as he may be, and he is ecellent, drugs are not his forte nor is it any doctor's.
ReplyDelete