Value for Values

Nice to know that the Canadian dollar has finally seen its full strength in relation to the American greenback. It's been a long time since Canadians have had pride in the purchasing power of their dollar in comparison to that of the U.S. Little did we imagine thirty years ago that our dollar would begin a long descent to devaluation, although it remained strong latterly on the international money market.

But now, hey, we're on par with the U.S. dollar, and that's kind of nice. In a way. Should we wish to travel to the United States, we do so with a healthier Canadian dollar. Unfortunately, those American tourists who once enjoyed visiting Canada, who were not frightened away by the events of 9-11, are now discouraged by the fallen value of their own dollar; parity isn't all that attractive to them.

The evening-out of the cost of consumer goods hasn't presented itself as a reality, however, and that's a bit of a bugbear with Canadian consumers who cannot quite comprehend why that should be so. Obviously, part of that is a grudging unwillingness of merchants to pass on some of their newfound profits to the consuming public.

Using the lame excuse of inventory purchased at higher prices having to go through the system. Or the higher purchasing power of bulk-buying for a much larger population. Actually who cares all that much other than people for whom shopping is both an avocation and a beloved form of recreational entertainment.

Companies have always, on the free market, charged what they believe the market will bear, and what's new about their continuing that quaint custom? Agonizing over price differentials and the power of bulk purchasing and a X-10 population base is an academic exercise in book keeping, singularly unattractive to most wage-earner purchasers.

The fact of the matter is there will always be regional pricing differences. It's a market thing. If there's a captive market prices will rise. When shoppers are faced with an array of sources each attempting to outsell the other, it's a shopper's market and they take full advantage of those benefits.

Truth is many years ago it seemed that all consumables were more available, more attractive and less dear in the United States than in Canada. That is no longer so. If meat, chicken, eggs, milk products are less expensive in the U.S. we can thank our Canadian marketing boards for our higher prices. And I for one don't begrudge our primary producers on the land; they too deserve a working wage for their prodigious efforts.

On the other hand, paper products, sugar, flour, fruits and vegetables are often more costly in the United States than they are in Canada. Apparel of all kinds roughly approximate in cost whether in Canada or the United States. It's childish to cavil over the percentile differences. and to go off on shopping trips to the U.S. with the excuse that one saves money.

Gas is cheaper there, but you expend energy to get there. The cross-border shopping excursion is an expedition of recreational enterprise for the shopping-addicted. Spending four hundred dollars to "save" $30 dollars is not a prudent use of time, energy, attention and funds; it is, instead, a waste of all those resources. Since if those items were really an urgent requirement they would have been purchased at home to begin with.

They represent add-ons, extras, unneeded goods, and as such nothing to crow in triumph about their acquisition at a "saving". The saving would be represented by not venturing out to begin with on that cross-border shopping extravaganza.

To each his/her own. Eh?