Cross-border shopping: Is it still worth it?

The weak Canadian dollar is putting a damper on cross border shopping this month with some businesses noticing a drop in customers from B.C.

Consumer reporter Lynda Steele took a trip to Fred Meyer in Bellingham to see if it’s still worth crossing the border to gas up and buy groceries.

Steele’s grocery list:

U.S. price                            Canadian price

4 litre jug 2% milk              $2.69                                     $4.69

Ground beef, 1 lb.             $4.28                                     $6.54

Oroweat loaf of bread       $2.50                                     $3.69

Oreo cookies                     $2.99                                     $3.89

Coke, 2 litres                     $1.67                                     $2.00

Kashi Go-Lean cereal       $2.50                                     $6.29

(390 gram box)

Cheddar cheese 2lb.        $7.49                                     $13.49

Total:                                 $24.12                                   $40.59

When you factor in the exchange rate that day the American groceries come to $28.94 Canadian. Overall, it comes to a savings of $11.65 or almost 30 per cent.

What about fuel?

The day Steele visited Bellingham gas was $1.879 U.S. a gallon. In Vancouver, it was selling for $1.039 a litre.

Do the conversion based on an 80 cent dollar and that works out to roughly 58 cents a litre south of the border.

John Ries is an international trade expert at UBC who doesn’t think it’s “un-Canadian” to shop south of the border. He points out that even when the loonie’s high, Canadians don’t see prices drop at home.

"I don't feel bad about that. Canadian retailers when the dollar's strong have the ability to purchase foreign goods cheaply, and they should pass those savings on to the consumer," said Ries.

While there were a lot of B.C. license plates in Bellingham when we were there, the dropping Canadian dollar is having an impact. Staff at Fred Meyer say many of their Canadian customers are staying home these days, so the tills just aren't as busy as they used to be.