Princess Auto wtf?

So my buddy and I are on a bit of a road trip to Mississauga lasterday and we stop briefly at the Princess Auto. I'm walking around looking at their fine selection of hunting and shooting related products. I'm quite impressed given the location. As I enter the game processing aisle and scan the area I see a good selection of grinders, stuffers, scales and other such equipment. Along beside me is a store employee ( prolly early-mid 20's) organising and repricing some items. "You make your own jerky and such" she say's? "Yes I most certainly do, but by the looks of it I can't afford to shop here" was my reply. We chat for a bit about hunting and some of our experiences, showing a few pics on our phones. She told me she has 10 deer mounts on her wall but no bears. What a great talk we're having then she must resume working.

I mentioned the price of some of the items because it seemed outrageous to me. The High Mountain Jerky seasoning package was $15.99. Then the young lady I had been chatting with reached up and removed a $9.99 price sticker from the same product, different spice flavour. She then repriced it at $15.99. "What is this, a $6.00 increase" I chirped? " Ya it seem's like a lot but it's because of the Canadian dollar" she replied.

Am I alone in thinking that Princess Auto has just put the screws to the customer big time? $6.00 Increase on a $10.00 item and existing stock on top of the fact. As I began to pay more attention I noticed many more employees with many sheets of new price stickers. I can't really grasp this, I try to understand this whole Canadian dollar scam and such but the amount of the increase on just this one item has me really wondering how much more screwing we're in for?

Any thoughts?

outback

The exchange rate not only effects the dollar, but the duty as well. You have to remember they convert the price to CDN and THEN calculate tax and duty.

So it cost me a $1.50 to buy a $1.00US item, then I pay tax on the sale( maybe $2.00CDN NOW), then when I get it to the broker, customs charges me upwards of 30 to 400% tax and duty on it. Everyone has to get their pound of flesh between the seller and you..
Sucks but that is the truth.

In the past 6 weeks. we have been getting price increase from all our suppliers that purchase product in USD. 60% seems a lot but that's what business is about, if you don't like move on type deal.
Look at used car, boat and such, lots of dealer from the states come to the Canada auction and take is all, 30c to the dollar., makes it really tough for our used vehicul dealer. Great time to trade in a vehicul thoughbut the price of the new went up too, I paid my truck 40G in 2011, the equivalent today is 48G (but 0% interest).

I am buying more and more in the US, some things I have shipped to my parents in Florida, but some things that I have shipped here there is practically no duty and I am paying less. More and more I am buying from the US and that is with our low dollar. Canadian companies are going to have to cut prices by 25% if they want my business.

I compare prices to Princes Auto US counter part.

in the past most things were the same price but if I see a big difference I get it here.

http://www.harborfreight.com/

Stop complaining and thank God for Princess Auto. Everybody with testicles needs to hit the place at least every 6 weeks. There's all kinds of junk in there you didn't even know you needed!

Search for Canadian made products online.You would be surprised whats made in Canada if you searched for it online.

What surprises me is that the last big increases we were forced to swallow was, according to the experts, to pay for the increase costs of transportation ( high fuel costs...$1.20 lt back then).

Well, fuel costs have receded ($0.80 lt) but the prices have NOT come down !! Silly to have expected them too I guess :)

Increasing the costs on OLD stock is really low...it was priced accordingly at the time they received it from the manufacture with appropriate retail mark up. Going back and changing it now is just greed.

I have noticed the same thing at a well known Ontario gun dealer. I had been following a certain rifle for a few months. Dealer had 4-5 of them in stock @ $930. for a few months. Checked yesterday and they were priced @ $1030. Highly unlikely he sold all of the ones that were priced @ $930. and got a new shipment in which were priced higher due to Cdn $ decrease. If I were to get serious about one of the guns, I would offer him the price I saw them listed at earlier or try to work $100 worth of extras out of him.

I am not willing to swallow the tripe about the US $ exchange. I have watched various retailers reprice stock that has been on the shelf well prior to the drop in the Cdn dollar.
This in many instances is simple greed masked behind the lame excuse of "... the low Canadian dollar has really impacted our bottom line..."
My response is along the same lines as greatwhite's ... I will shop south of the border!

Every retailer has to make a judgement call on what to do with 'old' stock on hand when costs go up on new stock coming in. The easy thing is leave the price unchanged on stock on hand, which also may boost customer loyalty. However if earnings are under pressure then typically the decision is charge what the market will bear (i.e. Why leave money on the table?). The risk is that customers may find out and get upset -

Gone are the days you could walk into a store a purchase something off the shelf you need at a reasonable price. Nowadays you got to be a planned shopper. Know what you need and shop the sales.

This stores biggest fault is that they start their sales on TUESDAYS.They will take great pleasure in pointing this out to you on the small print on the front page.Normally you get the flyer a week or so before so remember not to go the following Monday.LOL

I paid $120 for 7 lures including taxes, duties and shipment. Sound like a lot??
I never before thought of all my lures as an investment. LOL.

I can honestly say that most of the increases are due to the dollar. Some prices have also gone down as well on many items. Those are mostly to due to better buying and some are vendors taking a hit just trying to survive. A drop of one cent in value of the Canadian dollar is a loss in the millions for retailers in Canada.

Yes I work for Princess Auto.

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Originally Posted by Rumble_b

A drop of one cent in value of the Canadian dollar is a loss in the millions for retailers in Canada.

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True but it's hard to rationalize a 50% increase in the retail cost on an item...let alone old stock.

I don't think all of the price increase is due to the dollar some of it is price gouging. If I can ship an item from the US to Canada for 25 - 50% cheaper than what it is here with the current value of the dollar they should be able to get it cheaper than I do since they are buying in bulk. Some of the online stores like Amazon from the US charge little if any Duty.

I do agree that it seems a bit much. There is a possibility it is a mistake. I will look into it tomorrow.

As far as the "old stock" argument, doesn't work like that. It is logistically impossible to adjust the price of an item depending on when it was purchased, brought into the country or into a store. It can't be done. Not on the scale of any retailer that has more than a few stores or a small number of sku's. Not one with 12000 plus items.

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Originally Posted by greatwhite

I don't think all of the price increase is due to the dollar some of it is price gouging. If I can ship an item from the US to Canada for 25 - 50% cheaper than what it is here with the current value of the dollar they should be able to get it cheaper than I do since they are buying in bulk. Some of the online stores like Amazon from the US charge little if any Duty.

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Some of it may be and a lot of that has do with the retail market. If one store is able to sell a product for $x then why can't another store sell it for the same. People are buying it so why not. That is how companies make money.

Things in the U.S. Are cheaper for a few reasons. One is size, bulk purchases in Canada are nothing compared to the U.S. Also when your money is US funds you're already ahead. We need to change can to us and that's where it hurts.

Oh and don't forget the cost of running a business in Canada is much more than the U.S.


And for the record, I don't like the price changes. It's a lot of work for me and I shop a lot at princess auto. So it costs me too. But I do like being employed, so I can't win!!!

High Mountain Jerky currently show as 14.99 on Princes Auto Website

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Originally Posted by greatwhite

High Mountain Jerky currently show as 14.99 on Princes Auto Website

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Just like Cabela's so it doesn't seem unfair.

I had a similar experience at Princess Auto on Monday, with a different outcome. I needed a new pressure switch for my air compressor. Checked TSC and they wanted $80. Checked Princess Auto, and the identical one was $40 on their website. Off I go to the store, but when I get there, the price on the shelf says $32. When I go to pay, I am charged $40. I point out the price on the shelf of $32, and that is what I end up paying. The price for the website and sku number had been updated, but they hadn't changed the labeling on the shelf yet. The cashier mentioned that prices on almost everything in the store were being adjusted because of the exchange rate. They didn't waste any time either removing the shelf price label.

7.99USD on Hi Mountain website so roughly 10.50CAD, plus shipping and duties....

The manufacture sets the wholesale rate and retailers use the magic markup formula..something like x1.64...so competing stores of the same product would be similar.

That's why buying direct on-line or thru places like Amazon who use a smaller markup formula will save you money.

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Originally Posted by MikePal

The manufacture sets the wholesale rate and retailers use the magic markup formula..something like x1.64...so competing stores of the same product would be similar.

That's why buying direct on-line or thru places like Amazon who use a smaller markup formula will save you money.

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Depends, sometime the manufacturer give x% of discount to their distributors and the retail price is the same everywhere (that's the way we do it). Doesn't seem to be the case for this product though.

While I get the dollar difference and exchange rates it just seemed like a huge jump in price at one time. The dollar has been falling for a while now then this increase. I am quite sure that all the stores have the same situation happening, I just happened to notice this because the store staff was changing the sticker as I was looking around. May have added to the sticker shock.

I'm not real experienced with computer shopping and not real trusting of this method. May hafta learn, on High Mountain website the deal is buy any 2 flavours and receive the new Spicy Lime Jerky Kit for $15.98.

outback

I find when you shop on-line the final cost is almost the same as the Canadian retail price. By the time you do the dollar exchange, the Mastercard fee, the brokerage fee and the shipping cost you don't same much if anything. Oh and hope you don't need any warranty work BTW.

I gave up on eBay because of the excessive shipping cost in Canada. I've been bent over by UPS, Fed Ex and now Global Shipping (Pitney Bowes). Shop in Canada and employee your neigbours.

On a positive note the devalued Canadian dollar has slowed down the exportation of manufacturing jobs to Mexico and the southern states. our firm is an exporter manufacturer and we now are on firmer ground than we have been in years.

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Originally Posted by outback

I'm not real experienced with computer shopping and not real trusting of this method. May hafta learn,

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I was the same so I asked the folks here about Amazon.ca and got nothing but good reviews on the process. So I made my first purchase about 3 weeks ago and was more than pleased with the ease and quality of service. I'll sure look at Amazon again before I make any significant purchases in the future....and I bought Canadian.

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Originally Posted by DanO

I find when you shop on-line the final cost is almost the same as the Canadian retail price. By the time you do the dollar exchange, the Mastercard fee, the brokerage fee and the shipping cost you don't same much if anything. Oh and hope you don't need any warranty work BTW.

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The beauty of living near the border; I have a US P.O. box and I drive down to pick up my parcels. Most times, if I keep the value less than $200 I get waved thru customs and even save the HST...

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Originally Posted by MikePal

The beauty of living near the border; I have a US P.O. box and I drive down to pick up my parcels. Most times, if I keep the value less than $200 I get waved thru customs and even save the HST...

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This is my frustration. Not only do we pay more (and sometimes significantly) we have to give the government 13% on that difference.

I have ordered a few things from Amazon.com to be delivered to Canada and little to no duty. I check amazon prices on both sites before ordering. A good example of the differences in prices I purchase a Lee Loading system from Walmart.com. Total charge with delivery to my parents in Florida was 172.00 with exchange. The same kit was 175.00 here + tax and 25 for delivery so I would be 222. A savings of 50 still.

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Originally Posted by DanO

I find when you shop on-line the final cost is almost the same as the Canadian retail price. By the time you do the dollar exchange, the Mastercard fee, the brokerage fee and the shipping cost you don't same much if anything. Oh and hope you don't need any warranty work BTW.

I gave up on eBay because of the excessive shipping cost in Canada. I've been bent over by UPS, Fed Ex and now Global Shipping (Pitney Bowes). Shop in Canada and employee your neigbours.

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It's raining so today I will go to my US mail box and get some stuff. I ordered an OTTER cell phone case/protector for my Samsung s4.

All my searches at the malls had this priced from 49 to 59 $ Canadian.
Ebay I got a new one for 11.95 ... after exchange it was under $17 ..
this is a no-brainer even for my limited mathematical skills!

And I'm sure customs will wave me through with this and a 12 pack of beer.

Gas after conversion (1.30) will average 64 cent/liter .. so I'll be filling up too!

IMO .. Our entire Canadian retail system is based on gouging.

Well it was a good trip over. Picked up 3 items at the mail box. Got milk, eggs, cheese, and two 12 packs of beer. filled up the truck till it choked at 64 centsCN/liter and got two 5 gallon cans of premium for my lawn mowers -lawn rollers - chain saws - outboards etc.

Customs just waved me through. I feel better not giving Trudeau any $ at all to offset his 30 billion dollar deficit this year!

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Originally Posted by SK33T3R

Customs just waved me through. I feel better not giving Trudeau any $ at all to offset his 30 billion dollar deficit this year!

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It feels like I won the lottery every time they say "Have a good day" :)

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Originally Posted by MikePal

It feels like I won the lottery every time they say "Have a good day" :)

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I barely clear the customs booth and a do a little fist pump! Drives her nuts! It's not a big victory but for that moment IT WAS!

Too bad eBay wasn't around 30 yrs ago. I would have retired a lot earlier.

Also, you have to remember that there is a minimum wage increase that Ontario retailers have to cover!! Gas in the states is $1.78 a gallon. As soon as you cross the border into Ontario, $3.40 a gallon, or .85c a litre or more in Western Ontario. Costs way more to fill the store's shelves here in Ontario.

I'm on my way to Owatonna Minnesota to get Spring bear supplies. Cheaper than Cabela's in Winnipeg!!

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Originally Posted by SK33T3R

Well it was a good trip over. Picked up 3 items at the mail box. Got milk, eggs, cheese, and two 12 packs of beer. filled up the truck till it choked at 64 centsCN/liter and got two 5 gallon cans of premium for my lawn mowers -lawn rollers - chain saws - outboards etc.

Customs just waved me through. I feel better not giving Trudeau any $ at all to offset his 30 billion dollar deficit this year!

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Not sure if I'd declare that in a public forum. They could come after you.

Nothing illegal about what he did. Customs no longer bothers when it is just small items. Especially if under 100 bucks. We bring back a dozen beer and tell them and they just say it's not worth their time.

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Originally Posted by MarkB

Not sure if I'd declare that in a public forum. They could come after you.

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Originally Posted by greatwhite

Nothing illegal about what he did. Customs no longer bothers when it is just small items. Especially if under 100 bucks. We bring back a dozen beer and tell them and they just say it's not worth their time.

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Not that I really care, but if it isn't declared, then technically it is hiding the import of goods. If it is declared and the customs officer choses not to impose a duty, then it's all good. For a stay under 24 hours, I'm not sure if there are any exemptions, I don't think so.

Otherwise, to each his own.

It's all being declared. Ask all the guy's on here. Customs just cannot be bothered with anything under 100.00

The last time I was over there I said I had a case of Beer and some roofing material and show the receipts, Customs said Go. So I said where do I pull over? He looked at me and said GO Home.

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Originally Posted by MarkB

Not that I really care, but if it isn't declared, then technically it is hiding the import of goods. If it is declared and the customs officer choses not to impose a duty, then it's all good. For a stay under 24 hours, I'm not sure if there are any exemptions, I don't think so.

Otherwise, to each his own.

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Originally Posted by MarkB

Not sure if I'd declare that in a public forum. They could come after you.

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MARK LET'S SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT! I SMUGGLE NOTHING! NOTHING!

I live in a border community and cross the border 2 or 3 times a month. The missus and I both have NEXUS cards. both have been fingerprinted and eye scanned. I will not risk losing my rights by smuggling piddlyazz items. I declare everything and am more then willing to go in and pay. BUT if the customs officers wave me through - for whatever reason - then I say thank you and go home!
Great system EH?

Mark may have been referring to bringing food across.

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/ca...up-from-mexico

Guys like I said, I don't really care ... I'm just trying to make sure my fellow members don't get into trouble, but you technically should declare everything the food, the gas, etc. If the officer says go ahead, then I'm pretty sure you're fine.

You just don't want them coming on a site like this and then nailing you because you said you bought eggs and milk and didn't declare that, or you filled your gas tank and didn't declare that.

I'm pretty sure you get what I'm saying. Happy shopping in the USA.

Sc33t3r - not having a go at you at all, in fact the opposite. I'm not saying you didn't declare all this stuff either, I'm just saying it in case you didn't. Last thing you need is some libtard on your back because of an internet blog. If you declared everything and the officer let you through, then that's the end of it.

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Originally Posted by MarkB

You just don't want them coming on a site like this and then nailing you because you said you bought eggs and milk and didn't declare that, or you filled your gas tank and didn't declare that..

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I don't think you folks that don't cross the border often have a grasp of the whole scenario...I cross almost weekly, closer to go there than to drive into Ottawa.

I buy all sorts of food...they NEVER ask for details...if I get called in to pay HST for other items, I give them our grocery receipt and the throw it back with nothing more than a glance and they don't include the grocery costs in the overall total. FOOD is not an issue and hasn't been for some time.

I just crossed Thurs with 30 lbs of boneless, skinless chicken breasts I picked up for $1.49 lb and 20 lbs of ground beef for $2/lb...told the officer how much I had in total groceries and they gave me the standard "Have a nice day"

I'm like sk33t3r....never hide a single purchase, wouldn't risk the penalty. Some trips the nail you for the HST, other days you hit the Lottery and have money for a treat with the coffee at Tim's :)

edit add: just looked at the weekly flyer from Food Basics..the same chicken breasts are on sale for $5.99 here this week.

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Originally Posted by MikePal

FOOD is not an issue and hasn't been for some time.

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It's a bit odd ... did you see that story I posted above?

Everybody I know in border towns cross-border shops for groceries all the time and no issues. Then they nail a guy for packaged soup mix? Yes, it was from Mexico, but even so ... we import packaged food from Mexico, so what's the deal there?

Mike - agreed, it becomes routine I understand. Takes a new recruit or an officer having a bad day to turn it into a bad one for everyone else.

I wonder if I flew into Toronto (Pearson) from Ohio with a suitcase full of chickens what would happen to me. Same rules, same officers. LOL.

Have a great weekend guys!

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Originally Posted by welsh

.. we import packaged food from Mexico, so what's the deal there?

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It sounds like the issue was he didn't declare it and was fined.

edit add: the country of origin is also involved in this case...see the link below, it explains what you can import (and quantities) from the US and from other countries.

http://www.inspection.gc.ca/food/inf.../1389648516990

Mike
I think you are correct when you say that the inland guys just don't fully grasp how we border communities go through customs. For many "Customs" is a nervous experience. For me and you it's routine. Boneless chicken $1.49 I musta missed that. I guess they don't advertise meat in the beer aisle! Wife's car needs some gas so I think I'll check out the meat counter this week. I'm lucky enough huntin that I buy very little meat BUT she likes that dry white boneless stuff. I'm a dark meat guy. I don't even take any grouse home from the moose hunt - too dry!

Our moose group has so many American bear cans in the recycle you'd think we were from the southern US! We comment often that we wonder how the rest of Canadians get buy living so far from the border. Once or twice I have ordered stuff delivered to my door from the US and I got a real lesson why I should not do it. There's usually an extra UPS charge for the shipping from the Canadian port of entry to my door. Then the gouging starts with brokerage fees and the tax man. I pay for a US mailing address. It's the only way!

Mike I am guessing you cross there at Oggy? Have you ever crossed at Cornwall? Is it just as quick?

We did a few times back when we used to go to the Massena Mall, but eventually we just didn't bother going to all the way Cornwall and just drove up on the US side from "Oggy". It's a nicer drive on the US side.

I concur with MikePal and GW. We cross border shop at least once a month, went across today ironically. Ended up with 15 lbs of boneless/skinless chicken breasts, 1.49$, porkchops 2 packs .99$, and a ham, .88$. All in 26$ USD Freezer is maxed. Gas was 2.00$/gal. With all the other misc stuff, eggs/milk etc saved at least 200$ on grocery we needed anyway. As for the big stuff, layouts, decoys, hunting gear, tires all comes from Bass Pro/Cabelas etc, sent to the UPS store. Most of the big stores all have free shipping to a US address after spending so much money. Last time I ordered from Cabela's Canada it doubled the cost of the item, and took three weeks.

At the border, always tell the guy exactly what we have, worst case scenario, I pay 13%, never a hassle no fuss, have never paid on groceries. Have never tried beer on a day trip, but may next time over.

Don't get me wrong, I am a proud Canadian, just not made of money.