Solar panels, batteries, roof airs, parts and accessories. Gringos are fortunate. Take anything priced in US dollars then multiply it by 125%. Not sure about import taxes that affect Canada but not the USA. But a 369 US Dollar solar panel sells for 461 Canadian DollarsOUCH!

Tell me about it! Now do the math on a bank of Lithium. :(

One US Dollar sells for $1.25 Canadian, so it's really a wash- 3.69 x 1.25 = 461.

Or, one Canadian dollar sells for $0.80 US, so $461 x 0.8 = $369. To-may-to, to-mah-to.OR$369 US$461 CN1,000,000,000 pesos....

Canadians have it easy. I hear Mexico cost 15 times as much :E

Noooooot when a person is fortunate enough to have a USA pension.I just purchased four kilograms of inch and a half thick custom cut New York Steak. Steak from the USA. Tender, fat marbled and struck with a USA grading stamp. Has proved ultra-tender the last several years.Three Dollars eighty-five cents per pound.Custom cut pork chops. No bone. One dollar ninety one cents a pound.Watermelon 12 Kg. seven cents a pound. Strawberries, a dollar eighty three cents a kilogram.And wild desert honey (pitahaya cactus blossom and Russian Thistle). Almost black in color. One kilo for four dollars eighty cents. Fresh grouper, yellowtail tuna, all at prices too low to mention.Mexico did what it is famous for and invested tens of billions of pesos when the Euro was worth more than a dollar fifty US. The peso is currently trading at near sixtten to the dollar.Europeans and Americans/Canadians PLANMexicans IMPROVISE

Pobrecitos Canadienses | Good Sam Community

47 Replies

SoundGuy
Explorer
Jun 07, 2015
jrnymn7 wrote:
Just compare prices between amazon dot com and amazon dot ca, and you'll see that extra 25 cents on the dollar we allegedly make, doesn't begin to cover the difference. And I know for a fact, there are places in the states where I could make the same wage or more, working in my trade.

pnichols wrote:
The above doesn't seem to jive with what I read about Canada not experiencing anywher near the hit that the U.S. did in the recession a few years ago and that it's economy came through it in flying colors, comparatively.

Comparatively speaking that's true and the current Conservative federal government makes no bones about the "fact" it was because of "their" financial policies. Hmmmm. :R

Also, aren't several areas in Canada close to a housing price bubble as we speak?

That's been the rumour for quite some time now according to the "experts" but it doesn't seem to have proved true, not even in Alberta which depends hugely on the oil industry. Sure, there has been some adjustment in some parts of the country but in places like Toronto home prices are continuing to skyrocket, with very simple homes in some parts of the city selling for well over $1M. :E I'm just west of The Big Smoke and in the 28 yrs since I first built it my house has nearly quadrupled in value and continues to rise month by month ... what bubble? :h

I wonder then what's up with Canadian wages if any of the above is true?

I'm not sure there's any way for those of us who aren't degreed economists to even begin to compare our two economies as there are SO many differences between the two. Nonetheless, Canadians for years have been complaining about the wide gap in retail prices on identical items sold both here and in the US, with prices here typically being 30% higher for no apparent reason. The federal government has been promising for years to address this issue but to date really hasn't done anything at all so we continue to pay, and pay, and pay. :M
brulaz
Explorer
Jun 07, 2015
pnichols wrote:
jrnymn7 wrote:
Just compare prices between amazon dot com and amazon dot ca, and you'll see that extra 25 cents on the dollar we allegedly make, doesn't begin to cover the difference. And I know for a fact, there are places in the states where I could make the same wage or more, working in my trade.

The above doesn't seem to jive with what I read about Canada not experiencing anywher near the hit that the U.S. did in the recession a few years ago and that it's economy came through it in flying colors, comparatively.

Also, aren't several areas in Canada close to a housing price bubble as we speak?

I wonder then what's up with Canadian wages if any of the above is true?

Our banks are more conservative than yours. So survived. But our economy was/is highly dependent on Alberta oil, soooo when oil took a dive so did our economy and dollar.

The housing/condo bubbles are in part driven by vast amounts of off- shore money. Rich Asian investors like to park their excess cash in property. It does help the urban construction industry.
jrnymn7
Explorer
Jun 07, 2015
My pension took a 35%+ hit, like everyone else's, so no escaping the overall economy there. Inflation is still a "hidden tax on stupid people" regardless of country of residence, and housing bubbles are what they are. It's all based on fear, ignorance, and a belief that debt is a good thing. btw, I recently sold a house (that I built) and property in Windsor Ont, for less than you could build it for, from scratch. That means lumber is worth more on Home Depot's shelf, than it is in a house, and your labor ain't worth $h*t.

Toronto is said to be currently one of the two best places for construction, in Canada, and yet hear I sit, unemployed, again. Lots of unemployment here, unless you're willing to work for minimum wage... at which rate, I would have to work 50 weeks a year just to live in a going-on 30 year old bus.

You must be reading government propaganda, or something?
pnichols
Explorer II
Jun 07, 2015
jrnymn7 wrote:
Just compare prices between amazon dot com and amazon dot ca, and you'll see that extra 25 cents on the dollar we allegedly make, doesn't begin to cover the difference. And I know for a fact, there are places in the states where I could make the same wage or more, working in my trade.

The above doesn't seem to jive with what I read about Canada not experiencing anywher near the hit that the U.S. did in the recession a few years ago and that it's economy came through it in flying colors, comparatively.

Also, aren't several areas in Canada close to a housing price bubble as we speak?

I wonder then what's up with Canadian wages if any of the above is true?
brulaz
Explorer
Jun 07, 2015
Wasn't that long ago the Can$ was at par with the US. It varies. You learn to live with it.

And all the Solar panels I've bought in Ontario have been less than or equal $1/watt + tax. Last summer they were Chinese, this spring made in Ontario.

Batteries though, and some other stuff, are more difficult to find up here at a good price. But as snow birds we can just wait until Florida.
qtla9111
Nomad
Jun 07, 2015
Many places in Mexico use a symbol that you relate to the dollar for pesos. It can be found on websites likes Sears and Walmart de Mexico. Nothing uncommon.
NinerBikes
Explorer
Jun 07, 2015
qtla9111 wrote:
smkettner wrote:
Canadians have it easy. I hear Mexico cost 15 times as much :E

Here's a page of solar panels, some which include free shipping within Mexico. Prices are the same as U.S. take into account an exchange rate of 15 pesos per dollar.
qtla9111
Nomad
Jun 07, 2015
smkettner wrote:
Canadians have it easy. I hear Mexico cost 15 times as much :E

Here's a page of solar panels, some which include free shipping within Mexico. Prices are the same as U.S. take into account an exchange rate of 15 pesos per dollar.
jrnymn7
Explorer
Jun 07, 2015
"But, but, but .... do Canadians actually work harder to earn their $1.25-US-equivalent dollar?

I doubt it. So what that means is ... it's just as easy to earn a new coach battery in Canada as is it here in the U.S.."

hmmm,

33 u.s. gallon gas tank for my bus... $540 can. (made 5 minutes from my house, btw), $280 u.s. shipped

Tinted , thermal pain, sliding rv windows.... $300-400 can., $100 shipped.

Shall I go on?

4 barrel carb for my chev 350... $450 can., nice refurbished unit out of florida, $165 shipped.

... tires, stereo equipment, electronics, household goods... all way way way more than 25% more.

Just compare prices between amazon dot com and amazon dot ca, and you'll see that extra 25 cents on the dollar we allegedly make, doesn't begin to cover the difference. And I know for a fact, there are places in the states where I could make the same wage or more, working in my trade.
MEXICOWANDERER
Explorer
Jun 06, 2015
^
LEGISLATORS

Yeah this affects me in a technical way. I have less money to blow on transistors, tires, and tools

Good thing I live in a resort - walk to work (the hammock).

Anyone have good luck with ALIBABA finding RV parts? The site loads slower than sludge here and I have never been able to give it a good look.

Also need a good, strong permanent magnet fan, 120vac so I can save the FanTastic for battery only. Like a foot diameter 1,000 CFM permanent magnet fan. That way I can use it with the inverter and battery with great caution to blast out the casita after returning from a day of shopping.

Oh yeah, I forgot about asking for do-it-you-seff hanging mosquito netting strips for doors. The grandkids cannot get it through their head screens are NOT for pushing. RV screen doors are just too flimsy. I can make a custom screen for the house and for the rig (even the rear escape door). I have a talented seamstress living next door.

If I lived in Whitehorse I could probably afford a 44-block igloo, but I hear the mosquitoes are so big and mean, they tip over Caribou to get at the white meat.

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Pobrecitos Canadienses

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