The Exchange Rate

[Steven]

Snap.

[zagfan1]

If you were to find a great deal on plasma tv's on the other side of the 48th you could try to dump them all in Canada at an auction perhaps.

If I keep thinking about this I'm going to find myself knee deep in "Get Rich Quick Books."

[Steven]

I don't think you'd get a deal that good, you might save some money but undercutting a Canadian wholesaler would be hard. The reality is that there are small shops in Canada that have been shipping stuff across the border for years.

The advantage we have in Alberta is that Montana has no sales tax, so you don't have to worry about a "we don't ship to Canada" situation, which is the easiest way to avoid US sales tax. You can just get hold of a dealer in Montana, get them to special order it and go and fetch it.

The other problem you run into is the warranty situation on whatever it is you buy, but if you're buying it for yourself you can always take it back across the border for repair although that could be a PITA depending on what it is.

I noticed on my TV that although it came with US instructions as well as Canadian, the serial number has a "CAN" prefix which I assume is how they work out the warranty validity.

I've been seriously thinking about getting DirecTV because they have more HD channels than BellExpressVU or Star Choice. That is going to be a real trick to pull off, I've got a US address, and you only need a phone hook-up for PPV which I never use anyway. However the dish installation is where it gets complex. Plus I'll need an antenna to get local stations.