Toronto Photography Meetup Group

Looks like this will mean more trips down to the US then for decent prices. Very disappointing development.

Reminds me of this; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_O1hM-k3aUY

Retailers that do enough volume most likely source direct from the US anyways and bypass Canon Canada. What's the point of dealing with Canon Canada - unless there is some advertising cp-op dollars or some rebate for the retailers.

Especially with the Canon warranty policy. I would watch for a change in warranty policy soon - to follow Nikon's policy of country specific warranties.

Retailers are consumers too.

My whole point earlier is entirely based on my speculation. I am not sure where the push or motivation is coming from. I am sure the US retailers would love nothing more than to maintain the direct ($$$) relationship with Canadian consumers. It could be Canon Canada trying to protect their channel or Canadian retailers trying to protect their margins - hard to say which is the case.

It is interesting that prices for Zeiss and Leica stuff are better in Canada than in the U.S. (or almost the same)- it must be the different distribution/support models.

Maybe the LCBO will start selling cameras?

Cool, then I could get AIR MILES!

Trust me, the margin isn't that great... whenever I see big price differences between the U.S. and Canada the item in question would have to be sold below the retailer's cost to match it.

My former point of Canon Canada charging more is the most likely scenario:
http://www.moneyville.ca/article/116706 ... everything

Thus retailers have even more reason to be pissed off at the Canadian distribution channels/methods. The equipment sure isn't being sold at a loss in the US and I don't buy the it costs more to sell here argument for a femtosecond. As Jamesy's article points out it's an arbitrary cash grab. It's a vicious cycle, more people are going to buy equipment from the US and the retailers are going to have their margins pushed thinner and thinner and the reactions of the manufacturers/distributors is likely to be unintelligent. There's something horribly wrong with the system when buying new from the US is within 5-10% of buying used in Canada.

Sigma is a bit of an odd duck in this scenario to me. Sigma US handles distribution in the US but in Canada that is handled by a third party distributor (Gentec). One would think that another set of hands would add to the cost (ignoring the cost of Sigma setting up a camp here in Canada). Yet, a few of the lenses I price compared between B&H and Merkle (tends to have the better Sigma prices in Canada) are pretty close when all is said and done.

Ultimately, it's a complex thing that can be summed up with one line: They're doing it wrong.

Of course retailers are pissed off, but the thing is Canada is a VERY VERY different market than America - when you consider the population in California alone is equal to that of Canada you can begin to understand a little bit more. No, it's not fair but Canada as a country doesn't have the potential to bring in any more revenue for the big dealers than one solitary state. Comparing Canadian markets and American markets is not like comparing apples to apples, America arguably has the most competitive market on the planet.

We have a small population spread out over a very very large land mass, which means less distribution points and more freight charges. We have higher minimum wages, and goods imported here are subject to taxes and tarriffs.

This issue regarding pricing is not just applicable to camera and electronic equipment, it's almost everything. CTV did an article on this last year. http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20 ... mo-110414/
I don't see this as an arbitrary cash grab at all, what it is, is free market capitalism at it's finest.

I'm aware of the population differences. I don't buy it. The camera that is manufactured for the US is the very same that is manufactured for Canada. Same multilingual packaging too so I don't buy any localization argument. The Canadian allotments probably come across on the very same boats from Manufacture/Assembly land. The Canadian allotment just has a different address than the one for a place in Americaland. Wages, taxes and tariffs increase the costs and with the exception of the first these are arbitrary price increases. And this is not free market capitalism but that's another topic which unless you have a Masters in Economics and a strong foundation in social theory I'm not interested in participating in.

Yup, I used the wrong term... just plain ol' capitalism. Luckily you don't have to buy it, you as a consumer have the freedom to buy, or not buy anything you want from anywhere you want you speak with your money and hopefully dollars going south will help drive prices down, but I strongly doubt it. I'm just saying, the retailers are on your side, they are consumers too.

And this is the unfortunate part of all of it. I do want to buy Canadian. I would, of course, much rather offer CDN companies my patronage rather than American. Logistics alone say it makes sense. And I'm sure retailers would much rather me do so as well. Yet, I go and buy anyway so the widget is sold and thus the manufacturer doesn't care. As far as I can tell the only way to incite accountability is to not buy at all and that's hardly a solution. Bleh.

Holly has it right. The other part is of course the efficiency of retailing or providing maintence/support in Canada- a store in Calgary/Toronto or wherever is just going to have higher per unit costs because the sales volumes are going to be lower per unit - same thing for maintenance/service-Canada just doesn't have the population/sales volume to improve economies of scale. B & H in New York or Canon USA are always going to have lower per unit costs.

That being said, even with meaningful price differences, I now think twice before buying in the U.S. for photo gear -especially when buying new- given geographic restrictions on warranties. I bought a tripod in the U.S. and can't get it serviced here in Canada under warranty (it has a lifetime warranty in the U.S.)- the cost of shipping to and from the U.S. for repairs (leaving aside) eliminates the "savings" from buying from the U.S. in the first place.

How do one go about "servicing" a tripod?


Do you get them to spit shine the legs and WD-40 the joints or something...

DW40? Someone's been watching too much NASCAR.

I was too busy 'servicing' my tripod and hence the typo...

I stand by my original statement.

A leg came apart.. needs to be replaced.. connector is stripped. Would you prefer "repaired?"

-J

It's funny this debts continues. The only way a Canadian retailer can truly sell items close to the US price is to simply close down, and directly operate out of the USA, shipping everything to Canada. So you'd still pay more, and the Canadian economy would suffer greatly. Sure, margins play a role, but unless they are selling units at high volume (like grocery) they cannot afford to have margins below 30%.

I think unless any of you have managed budgets within a logistics environment, you just won't get it. Simply saying "capitalism" or eluding to simple greed is expressing a lack of understanding.

Nobody is allowed to comment on this topic until they read this. Blaming logistics is too simplistic. Like blaming roads for speeding.