If your family lives near the U.S.-Canada border, I'm sure you'll often cross the border to the U.S. to refuel, because it's much cheaper than Canada. If you want to save more, you can consider crossing the border to go to a supermarket in the United States to buy groceries.
But some people will definitely say: the difference in oil prices is easy to understand, is there also a big difference in the price of buying vegetables? In big cities such as Seattle, a boxed lunch at an ordinary restaurant costs $13, which is not much different from Vancouver if you count the exchange rate, and it should be similar to buying groceries?
The main problem is still in the exchange rate: 1 Canadian dollar can only be exchanged for 0.73 US dollars, even if the price of food in American supermarkets is cheaper on paper, but if you multiply it by the exchange rate, it will not be significantly cheaper than the food in Canadian supermarkets, right?
Instead of thinking about it this way, let's feel it for yourself: Brandi Dustin, a BC TikTok user, quickly became popular because of a post called "food price comparison", which has more than 700,000 views.
"It's crazy, 35% cheaper in the United States"
Brandi Dustin lives in a small, rural part of B.C. – that doesn't mean prices are going to be low, in fact if you drive from Vancouver to Banff and stay in small towns, you'll find that the price of gas is only slightly lower than Vancouver's, and the price of food is almost the same.
Brandi Dustin had long understood this, and she didn't know the price of food in the small American town opposite, so she drove 45 minutes across the country to buy a bunch of ingredients, including bread, cheese, cream, children's painkillers, pork chops, beef, alcohol, and more.
The total cost of these ingredients and groceries is $85.04, which is equivalent to $117 Canadian dollars. In order to find out the price difference, she then went to the nearest supermarket in B.C., checked the prices one by one, and was dumbfounded: 180 Canadian dollars!
That's right, counting the exchange rate, the total price of these things in American supermarkets is still 35% cheaper than that in Canada, if you don't consider the exchange rate, only consider the local income figures, which is equivalent to the purchasing power of residents in small towns in the United States, which is more than twice the purchasing power of residents in small towns in British Columbia, and the difference is more than 50%!
This experience not only opened the door to a "cheap grocery store" for Brandi Dustin, but also gave new ideas to netizens at the border of British Columbia: don't just refuel at the crossing, but also stock up on goods, and the more you add and stockpile, the more you save.
As for whether I have to pay taxes when I return to Canada? As long as the amount of consumption is not too exaggerated and is reported truthfully, you generally do not have to pay taxes. Even if you do, plus taxes, it should be cheaper than buying things and filling up gas directly in Canada.
"Supporting locals? I'm sorry, I don't want to support"
During the pandemic, there was a slogan across Canada: Buy local, Support local – buy locally, support local businesses (and avoid bankruptcy). Out of compassion and out of "patriotism", it is true that many Canadians do this.
But after such a big price gap, Brandi Dustin scoffed at the so-called pro-local slogan on TikTok:
"We want to support the locals, but the local businesses are making us suffer a lot. We are already under a lot of pressure, but we have to spend 30% or 40% more money to support locals, and we don't go shopping in the United States, are we philanthropists? ”
Her views were supported by most netizens, and some Canadian netizens also sighed, "I should find a way to live in the United States and work in the United States, so that I don't have to think about cross-border matters, just say byebye to Canada." ”
But some netizens contradicted the tune, saying that the old people who go shopping in the United States can only explain one problem: they are very idle, and they can have enough time to drive and pass the customs to "be cheap".
Since you are very idle, instead of spending time passing the test and spending time thinking about how to save, why not find a job in Canada, even if it is a part-time job? In this way, you can also improve yourself and have more confidence to face the price of goods in Canada.
There are also netizens who are clearly "patriotic", such as some people say, "Why do you want to support another country's economy?" The rise in prices in Canada is also related to the fact that too many people are shopping elsewhere in the old age. ”
However, the patriotic views have been ridiculed by more people, and some netizens bluntly said, "After Trudeau came to power, I don't want to be loyal to Canada, I don't want a Canadian passport, what country do I love?" ”
Price comparison website, revealing Canada's "comprehensive super beauty"
Does Canada surpass the United States in all the expenses related to life? The answer is yes, a new data mylifeelsewhere.com by the authoritative price comparison website brings you a comparison in all aspects:
(All figures below are in Canadian dollars)
Restaurant spending: 16.7% higher in Canada than in the U.S.
The average price of a fast food set is $12.06 in Canada and $9.28 in the United States;
The average price of a dish in a Canadian restaurant is $21.82, compared to $18.15 in the United States;
The price of a can of carbonated drink is $2.42 in Canada and $2.24 in the United States;
Supermarket spending: 14.4% higher in Canada than in the U.S.
The price of 1 liter of milk is $2.75 in Canada and $1.38 in the United States;
The price of 1 pound of cheese is $7.37 in Canada and $8.11 in the United States.
Housing expenses: The average price of houses in Canada is 719,300 Canadian dollars, and the average price of houses in the United States is 679,800 Canadian dollars;
Although the U.S. has more tuition, groceries, and clothing than Canada, it's time to talk about real purchasing power: the average annual personal income in Canada is 59,300 Canadian dollars, and the U.S. is 59,400 U.S. dollars, which is equivalent to more than 30% higher income in the United States than in Canada when the exchange rate is included.
It's no secret that it's harder to save money in Canada than in the U.S. It's just that when the gap is getting bigger and bigger, can you really "live and work in peace" in Canada?