Don't worry about exploiting the low Canadian dollar for importing CDN
products to the US - that's exactly why it is so low in the first place.

Our gov't keeps our interest rates so low - so as to intentionally depress
our dollar - and make our goods more competitive. Actually, it's a
macro-economic way of exporting our unemployment.

Interestingly - some CDN's are making very big money buying cars like the
PT-Cruiser - and flipping them in the US, as taking into account the
exchange rate, they are still priced cheaper here.

To find out if there is a duty on your product of interest, call the US
Customs service at an airport, for example.

Marshall Ruskin
84 Westy, "Iron Igloo"

>Just a thought, but with the current exchange rates so favorable to us
>here in the States, would there be any advantage to purchasing a set of
>tires from, say, Canadian Tire or Sears in Canada?
>
>Would I be subject to duty or some sort of tax? At US$1 = CN$1.50,  a
>$400 set of Michelin MXT's or Yokohama Y-370's would only set me back
>about $270. That's almost enough difference to consider planning a trip
>to Vancouver BC, always a neat place to go during the summer anyway! I
>could drive up there, buy new tires, save a bunch of money, and have a
>small vacation all at the same time. The difference in tire cost could
>almost pay for the gas!
>
>Am I missing something? Should I feel guilty about exploiting the
>relatively strong US dollar by using it to purchase tires up north? Is
>it this kind of consumerist attitude that contributes to the rest of the
>world labeling us "ugly Americans?" (they're just tires, after all)
>
>I don't want to offend anyone, least of all the nation of Canada. But a
>favorable exchange rate is a favorable exchange rate! One must be
>practical, especially when one drives a vehicle for which cheap,
>garden-variety tires simply will not do.
>
>Dan
>