That's exactly the excuse that Lego gives, but the reality is that Lego was priced in terms of currency differences with little regard to any of the above. So why should be it an issue now? For instance, when the Canadian dollar was worth 70 cents US, the Lego price difference was 30% (which made sense). There was no talk about gouging Canadians even further due to smaller market, taxes, etc... the difference was the currency value. Now that the Canadian dollar is at par (and has been for a long time now), Lego has slowly adjusted their prices (difference is closer to 20% as opposed to 30% from a few years ago), but Canadians are still being gouged.mah4546 wrote:No, it's not.cookiemonstr69 wrote:I think that's the true rip off.nami wrote:When I also asked them why Canadians are paying 20-30% more for Lego when the dollar is at par, again, no reasonable answer.
1) Taxes are higher in Canada. That factors into the cost.
2) Competition is less free and less numerous in Canada. The factors into the cost.
3) The population is significantly smaller,meaning fixed costs (like hiring HQ employees, running a distribution warehouse) are spread over a much thinner population base. That factors into the cost.
4) Speaking of which, labor and utilities are much more expensive in Canada. That factors into the cost.
5) Oh, and transportation costs are significantly higher in Canada. There's more costs.
6) Did I mention Canada has high import tariffs while they are virtually zero for the United States. Is LEGO magically supposed to make pretend that doesn't exist?
Canada is a highly regulated country extremely high operating costs, like most of Western Europe, while the United States is the complete opposite. It enjoys significantly more consumer freedom, less taxes, less regulation, cheap energy and more competition. That makes consumer goods cheap. If you think the extra $20 a Canadian pays for a Hobbit set is a rip off, what do you think of the extra $10,000 a Canadian pays for a basic import luxury sedan like a G35?
People have it all mixed up - consumer goods are priced normally in Canada. It's that the United States offers a market that allows them to be dirt cheap.
The main issue is that most Canadians simply don't care and continue to pay full retail without batting an eye. Lego and other retailers know this, so why adjust pricing? It's not like Lego has any real competition... they simply set their prices and we pay. Luckily, we have sites like this that provide us with options. Out of the thousands of dollars I spend annually on Lego, I'd say less than 10% of that goes to a Canadian retailer... even with regular 20% off sales, it's simply not worth it. Sadly, I'm in the minority as can be witnessed on Black Friday as throngs of people lined up and swarmed the Lego store to pay full retail. It's hilarious how the Lego store had enough scratch cards to last an hour... after that, people continued to buy bags and bags of stuff at full price. I was scratching my head at the absurdity...