Banks are still dinging almost 3.5% on exchange rates, before fees, right now.

Well that’s not new, even when the C buck was $0.62 they charged 2 – 3% fees. Thats not even that bad, exchange your money at a money exchange stand in Europe or at the airport and get ready to pay 10%+

Mmmm…can you say Canadian dollar higher than US? I sure can. Currently sitting at $1.02 US!

So has anyone found somethinig that is way cheaper in the US (which I may actually need)? I am heading down for a weekend and will do some shopping – jeans & shoes are high on my list but it looks like a lot of electronics are now closer in price.

I looked for a new camera on Bestbuy.com and Bestbuy.ca and the C$ price was marked as “on sale” for an amount which brought it to exactly the US$ price.

The Half Life 2 “orange box” is $5 more in Canada…

Any ideas of things I should check out?

Yeah I have plans for the duty free shop on the way back…

The C$ hit $1.07 today on good job growth in Canada and an interest rate cut in the US.

If anyone has a major purchase to make in the US, consider doing so now, I doubt the C$ will sustain this kind of momentum for much longer.

That being said, I would have never called $1.07 so there you go.

What website do you recommend for good deals on cameras? I am thinking of upgrading and don’t know where to look other than the normal consumer sites.

I would want something non-professional, unlike Mr. MkII there :P

I’ve been ordering BMW parts like mad from the US for the past month now. Half freaking price, and since I do my own work, dirt cheap labour too :)

If you’re shipping ANYTHING from the US, be sure to inquire about USPS shipping. Other companies (UPS, FedEx) charge massive “brokerage” fees, usually between 45-90% of your actual purchase (ask me about my $45 part that suddenly required another $35 at the door). USPS charges a straight $5. It takes a little longer but it’s worth it.

Ok after doing all my checking on bhphoto.com and on outpost.com I have found the camera I want runs for $50 – $70 cheaper in the US. When you add expedited shipping and GST on you’re looking at about $30 – $40 cheaper.

I am going to print out the bestbuy.com price of the camera (which is $40 cheaper than the bestbuy.ca price) walk into the store and see if I can get it for the US price… so I’ll see if that works first.

What about the market dropping 600 points in the last few days?

And the yo-yo returns…

The Canadian Dollar is back down to below the US dollar ($0.98 as of 4:30pm MST today).

And back to par today ($1.0037) thanks to the Canadian economy producing 42,000 jobs in November.