I drove to Plattsburgh, New York today to pick up acoustic dividers for my daycare. Why? Because I paid $569 (including shipping, duty and taxes) for two sets. Retail price here for ONE is $499 plus taxes and accessories bringing the price to $600. For a third of the price I bought two. That's bleeping' why.
$569 or $1200? Gee, lemme me think about that one, Mrs. Rationaleconomics.
We then headed out to Price Chopper to pick up some favorite food items we can't get up here and off we went to the border.
As we handed over the bill for the dividers (I gladly paid the stupid 15% tax), we ended up in a brief exchange with the agent. She couldn't understand why people from St. Jerome, Laval (the North End of Montreal) would drive 1 1/2 hours to go buy food in the States.
Funny, I keep thinking the exact opposite. Why wouldn't you?
Granted, not everything is worth buying. Pasta for example, as I mentioned in past posts, is significantly higher there for some reason. But overall, prices are cheaper. Dairy products, by contrast, are substantially less expensive than ours. I wonder if it has anything to do with Quebec's powerful dairy lobby?
In any event, the agent completely overlooked one important factor. We, people in general, don't necessarily go there to save money. We go there, as I just said earlier, to grab stuff we can't get here.
My wife, for example, can only eat Chex rice cereal. We don't have it here for some outrageous reason. Cereal here is $6. There it's $2.
I like a sourdough bread brand not available here. I like going to see the fricken bean section and having to choose from 15 different flavors and several companies as opposed to the one or two or three choices here.
Even relish has more variety than up here where it basically comes to Heinz and the store brand or some other company - each with the same recipe.
I want variety!
I picked up Jack Daniel's Mustard today. I also grabbed horseradish with beets and N'Orleans Cajun spice.
Think we drive to Plattsburgh for the culture and scenery? It's purely for rational economic reasons. It's the little things that can't be ignored when it comes to shopping for food.
***
The economy in Plattsburgh, for what it's worth, is still well-regarded.
I go to Sam's Club (the Big Box store associated with Wal-Mart) about once a month. It is a slightly more than a morning trip (getting there, shopping, getting back), sometimes a little longer. I probably don't save very much overall when you factor in the gas used but there are items I can get there that I cannot get anywhere in town. I wait (not all that patiently) for them to build the proposed Sam's Club here in town.
ReplyDeleteWe have Price Club (which I think is somehow related to Sam's Club). We have a lot of stuff here but there's always more. I can't complain overall but still more choice would be better. Bah.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to try the JD Mustard.