As I write this, the Canadian dollar is worth close to $1.04 U.S. But the Canadian version of the online Apple Store seems to have missed the memo. Prices for hardware are higher across the board; for example a MacBook Pro in the U.S. starts at $1999, but in Canada we are expected to pay $2199. Across the board, prices are about 10% higher for hardware.
Now, Apple has a long, sorry history when it comes to overcharging, as well as “spitting on their customers and telling them it’s raining” (as one commentator put it in an article I read many years ago), but in this case they are just one of many retailers who seem to have gotten used to fat Canadian profits from customers who have gotten used to higher prices. They need to remember that 90% of the Canadian population lives under 200 kilometers from the U.S. border, and there is always online shopping.
To the bleating retailers, I would say, this is the free market working, the same free market you have repeatedly invoked when it was to your advantage. With cross-border shopping at historic levels, the shoe is quite literally on the other foot. As I’ve said before, it is not our patriotic duty to be gouged.
Tags: Apple, Canadian Dollar
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