Close to my heart Canadian Prices

[CanadianMom]

Wahoo! Got a note from my demo stating that in the new year the CTMH will be changing their prices to match that of the US listed prices! FINALLY a company that gets it!

I have contacted my Stampin Up demo here too asking if SU would be doing something similar.

Any ideas or comments from SC members? I will post my demos response when I get it.

[MSBetsyZ]

SU hasn't made any such announcement, but then again, they're not the best at giving much of a head's up to their demos regarding these types of things.

[lharnish]

I hope they follow suit :-)

[asolven]

I hear you and I understand where you are coming from in this whole US versus Canadian pricing on all our consumer products. It's frustrating to see 2 prices on magazines and pay more than the US pricing when our dollar is at 96 cents.

Unfortunately pricing for SU products (as well as other products we purchase) in Canada will never match the US pricing as it's not just about comparing our dollar to the US dollar. There is a cost of doing business in Canada that is much higher than the US including, but not limited to our Corporate taxes. SU! in Canada is a separate entity from Stampin' Up! US - they have our own corporate offices in Calgary so it has to run as an independant, viable company.

In order to offer parity in pricing I'm assuming that either CTMH will be losing money in the Canadian market (they have to pay Cdn taxes too) or they will raise their prices to compensate for the loss - it will be hidden but optically it will look good. I don't follow CTMH pricing so I can't say for sure - but they are in business and they aren't going to lose money just so it looks good to consumers. Someone, somewhere is going to be paying for the difference. If I was a US customer of CTMH I would be thinking it's unfair to pay the same as Canadians when our dollar hasn't been "par" in some months and the company is a US based one. They are now, in fact, going to be paying more than us - kind of ironic. LOL

I just know that compared to the local market the pricing of SU! products is below the cost of the LSS or big box stores and that's all that matters to me. SU! products are extremely good value for the money and fairly priced in my area. It sounds simple to just charge the prices to match the dollar but really there are lots of factors that go into pricing for any Canadian company.

So the short answer is no I don't believe SU! will be reducing prices to match in the two different markets.

Just my two cents (2.08 cents US - LOL)

[lharnish]

Quote:

Originally Posted by asolven

Unfortunately pricing for SU products (as well as other products we purchase) in Canada will never match the US pricing as it's not just about comparing our dollar to the US dollar. There is a cost of doing business in Canada that is much higher than the US including, but not limited to our Corporate taxes. SU! in Canada is a separate entity from Stampin' Up! US - they have our own corporate offices in Calgary so it has to run as an independent, viable company.

Just my two cents (2.08 cents US - LOL)

I've read, that the assumption that the cost is higher to do business in Canada is significantly higher is incorrect and is a fallacy used as an excuse by retailers to charge us more. Here's one example for the Toronto market:

Toronto's Cost Advantages

A little snippit from the above website:

"Source: KPMG Competitive Alternatives, 2010
The table below shows that Toronto has the second lowest business costs when compared to other major global business centres in each of the countries examined in the KPMG report. KPMG ranks Toronto sixth in business cost competitiveness relative to 41 other large metropolitan regions worldwide with a population of at least 2 million. In addition, Toronto has lower overall business costs than all 22 large US cities studied in the report including Chicago, Los Angeles and New York."

I'm sure there are more links out there to support that this assumption is a fallacy. I can see our prices being higher after the base price considering our sales taxes are much higher than most US places (e.g. sales tax in Nova Scotia is 15% versus around 6% in Maine which is a mere 6 hours from Halifax to the Calais border).

The Canadian Senate is looking into this very issue, as to why prices are so much higher in Canada on identical items. I can see some slight variances in pricing in Canada but the differential is quite high for many items. There seems to be no rhyme or reason and it give the appearance of price gouging.

[Mrs Noofy]

Don't hold your breath on the SU thing! LOL I feel like their main thought is profit not customer service.. especially Canadian. I haven't purchased from SU for a long time ..I'm off to see what CTMH can offer.

[prairiejen]

I backed out of SU 2 years ago, card club and all. The reason was the 'form" letter I received from Calgary when inquiring about the ridiculous Canadian prices.

[CanadianMom]

my demo suggested that I write to SU - I thought interesting response I would have thought she would have wanted to bring it to their attention.

I find that as a consumer I am becoming increasingly uncomfortable that SU is unapproachable as a company. If you go to their website you cannot find a website or a phone number to call. If you try to call the phone number or email - you are curtly advised that these methods of contact are for demo's only.

[CanadianMom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CanadianMom

my demo suggested that I write to SU - I thought interesting response I would have thought she would have wanted to bring it to their attention.

I find that as a consumer I am becoming increasingly uncomfortable that SU is unapproachable as a company. If you go to their website you cannot find a website or a phone number to call. If you try to call the phone number or email - you are curtly advised that these methods of contact are for demo's only.

MEANT to say email - not website