Issue #7
October 5th 2007
October 5th 2007
Page 3 of 4
Canada - Lou's comments
(August 20, 2007)
(August 20, 2007)
Lou says....
After having been in Canada for almost seven weeks I thought you would like to hear our comments and impressions about this country.
Gas prices: We paid between $3.90 and $5.11 per gallon with the average being $4.50 per gallon. The highest price was on the Icefields Parkway between Banff and Jasper. One thing I did notice, which I appreciated, was the fact that the price of gas was did not vary much in a given area unlike the U.S. where the oil companies play marketing games with strategies that vary prices greatly in a small area.
Groceries: In general the prices for groceries were much higher, sometimes double the price. One example is eggs. The lowest price in the large discount stores was $2.79 per dozen and over $3.50 in smaller stores. Another thing, that pushed my hot button, was the fact that a good many items in most all the stores we shopped in Canada did not have prices on the items. I asked many times why this was but never got a straight answer. I don't know if the stores are playing psychological games or if they were just to lazy to take the time to price the products.
Campgrounds: With few exceptions most campgrounds were just parking lots with hookups. The per night cost for camping was the only place we saw lower prices than in the U.S. Generally about 10-20% less and to our surprise almost every campground provided WiFi at no additional cost. Don't plan on overnight camping at Walmart stores here, it is not allowed. As a matter of fact, we found free overnight camping almost non-existent in Canada.
Cellphone service: We have Verizon cellphones and before we left I tried to have our plan changed so we could use our phones while we wrer there. To my dismay Verizon refused to provide us with a plan, which would cost .10 per minute, because we forgot to pay our bill on time just once! As a result, if we used our cellphones in Canada, we would have to pay them $.69 per minute. We just turned off the phones while we were here.
Getting prescriptions in Canada: What a hassle. See my earlier article about this subject.
After having been in Canada for almost seven weeks I thought you would like to hear our comments and impressions about this country.
Gas prices: We paid between $3.90 and $5.11 per gallon with the average being $4.50 per gallon. The highest price was on the Icefields Parkway between Banff and Jasper. One thing I did notice, which I appreciated, was the fact that the price of gas was did not vary much in a given area unlike the U.S. where the oil companies play marketing games with strategies that vary prices greatly in a small area.
Groceries: In general the prices for groceries were much higher, sometimes double the price. One example is eggs. The lowest price in the large discount stores was $2.79 per dozen and over $3.50 in smaller stores. Another thing, that pushed my hot button, was the fact that a good many items in most all the stores we shopped in Canada did not have prices on the items. I asked many times why this was but never got a straight answer. I don't know if the stores are playing psychological games or if they were just to lazy to take the time to price the products.
Campgrounds: With few exceptions most campgrounds were just parking lots with hookups. The per night cost for camping was the only place we saw lower prices than in the U.S. Generally about 10-20% less and to our surprise almost every campground provided WiFi at no additional cost. Don't plan on overnight camping at Walmart stores here, it is not allowed. As a matter of fact, we found free overnight camping almost non-existent in Canada.
Cellphone service: We have Verizon cellphones and before we left I tried to have our plan changed so we could use our phones while we wrer there. To my dismay Verizon refused to provide us with a plan, which would cost .10 per minute, because we forgot to pay our bill on time just once! As a result, if we used our cellphones in Canada, we would have to pay them $.69 per minute. We just turned off the phones while we were here.
Getting prescriptions in Canada: What a hassle. See my earlier article about this subject.
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