Being in the location in which I now reside, I'm starting to see how totally screwed Canadians are in the simplest of things. Take, for example, Amazon. There is, I'm sure only Canadians know, both an "amazon.com" and an "amazon.ca" to service either Americans or Canadians.
I was just looking for an item to purchase, one that I know is currently out and available. Since I wanted to avoid the hassle of going to Calais to get it, I looked first on ".ca". Not only is the price higher (by quite a bit more than can be explained by the slight difference in the two dollars right now) but on ".ca" it says the item normally ships in 1 to 3 weeks. Yet, if I don't mind either paying more to ship it to Canada or pay less to ship it to Calais, the exact same item from ".com" can ship within 16 hours of my placing the order right now.
What the hell?
What I am starting to realize, too, is that most of these small discrepancies between the states and here are generally caused by Canada/Canadian legislation. For example, Canada knows it has poor TV and cannot compete with American productions (which, ironically, are so often filmed in Canada), so it passed legislation forcing a certain minimum amount of Canadian fare on its networks. Rather than allow the competition and rising to the challenge, it has denied itself the competition and its people suffer with the mediocre results.
I've been in contact with a few different companies via email about some issues or lack of service(s) and, to a one, each has replied back that they would love to provide the service/content/whatever to Canada, and in a few cases that they are in negotiations with the Canadian gov't to provide it, but that it is difficult, costly, and time-consuming to get the appropriate approvals from the Canadian gov't and either they are in process or have chosen not to due to those inconveniences. So, again, the Canadian gov't avoids competition and its people suffer the results.
This, coupled with the Canadian service industry's desire to apologize for a lack of service or bad service rather than simply providing good service, is one of the things that will likely take me the longest to "get used to." I doubt I will ever truly accept it, but I imagine at some point I will stop railing against it.
Works both ways. Canadians as individuals and as a nation are also somewhat sheltered from the huge losses associated with Lehman Bros and others in the current market crisis thanks in part to our rigid legislation.
ReplyDeleteSometimes it works, sometimes it does not...
The worst of Amazon.com is that a few months ago they stopped shipping most of the good stuff. pretty much if it's not on the Canadian site then it's not available to ship to Canada. Not even children's toys! It used to be our primary shopping spot. Now it's all but useless. Although I did last week order from the American site because even after the exchange, visa fees, and shipping it was still cheaper than the Canadian site pre-taxes and shipping!
ReplyDeleteSigh. This is a common trend. Just take a look at the big tech provider sites - ie Dell, HP, etc and what they even offer to Americans vs Canadians let alone the prices. It's highway robbery really. And knowing that it's going to be ages later that the same products are offered in Canada. It's little wonder that people living close to the border cross so frequently to get even the simplest of items that won't be available in Canada for months or even years later!
On the television point, part of the reason for the difference in quality is the simple lack of an audience. The Canadian population is significantly smaller than the American one, but television still costs the same to produce. If the costs cannot be recuperated through advertising in the smaller market, and the ratings are higher for American produced shows, of course the networks are going to air what makes a profit. The Canadian Content legislation, though certainly flawed, is in place in order to ensure that the content of Canadian television is not exclusively American. Cultural protectionism is the reason for the legislation, not economics.
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