Price Gouging

Since moving to Canada from the US, the one thing that irritates me the most is how Canadians get price gouged by companies based in the US. When questioned on this, most companies have very simplistic reasons for it: price to ship across the border, differences in packaging requirements, and even the difference between the US and Canadian dollar at any given time. When it is pointed out that none of these (or, if you prefer, all of these) can account for the huge differences in price between exactly the same goods in either country, they stammer, hem and haw, and usually cut the q&a short very abruptly. The reason being, there is no good reason for the huge markups with which they sell goods in Canada.

As an example, I broke my mouse yesterday. I thought it might be time to get a nice, new gaming mouse for my main PC on which I play games. I did a little research and discovered that a particular mouse, the Razer Deathadder V2 is a nice, solid, wired gaming mouse. The articles all pointed out that the price of the mouse is right around $70. A little steeper than the typical $20 I spend on a generic, "over the counter" type of mouse, but a gaming mouse has more buttons, are generally larger, have better lasers (DPI), and are generally more rugged -- just what I need.

I'm a fan of Newegg. So I went to Newegg.ca to see the cost to get it to me as fast as possible. I blanched when I saw $229.99 plus $29.99 shipping! I went to Newegg.com and looked at, literally, the exact same mouse sold by the exact same company and saw $85.98 and free shipping. When you add in shipping to the Canadian cost, the exact same mouse is slightly more than 3 times the cost of the US mouse!

Newegg.ca on the left, Newegg.com on the right

In case you think this might be because Newegg is using different sellers, I clicked on both and went to the exact page for each device. Both are being sold by the same third-party vendor.

Highlighted: The third-party company selling the device to both .ca and .com

As I post this, the Canadian dollar is at $0.74 of the US dollar. In other words, to buy 74 cents of US currency would cost you a full dollar of Canadian currency. Let's round that to a nice even .75 cents to make the math slightly easier and any good sent to Canada would cost 25% more than in the US just based on the differences in the dollars at this particular moment. 

Note, there have been times when the two dollars have been at par and they are usually closer to par than this current value.

That would mean that the mouse in question, just based on the dollar difference, should cost $107.48 Canadian. The price listed, without shipping, is still slightly over double that difference. Can shipping across the border account for that? Not by a long shot. Can the differences in taxation account for that? Not even close. Can both together account for a more than double value on the same good? Nope.

A quick search of Google finds articles going back decades about this disparity. It is especially galling when the dollars are close to par and Canadians should be paying only the difference in taxes and import fees, making the goods purchased only a few bucks more. But when companies can get away with pricing a good at 3x the cost they sell it for in the US, something has to give.

People often ask me why my wife and I travel across the border so often. It is because, if we save up and ship a bunch of things at once, the cost of the goods in US dollars, even with the taxation and tariffs we may pay recrossing the border, plus the gas and time to get it from the US postal service, it is STILL cheaper than buying it from a Canadian store or a US store with a Canadian presence (like Newegg or the third-party vendor in the examples above). This is why so many of the US border states with Canada are so desperate to have the Canadian/US border re-opened as soon as possible during this COVID-19 pandemic-- they are losing out on billions of dollars of Canadian purchases and tourism. Nearly 90% of all Canadian live within 100 miles of the US border and a majority of them make multiple trips across the border for things that are worth it, like food, clothing, and electronics. All those border cities are hurting even worse than other locations because they have been cut off from both their US customers and the Canadian tourists that regularly shop there. 

Note, the Canadian government sees the absolute clusterfuck that the Trump administration has made of the pandemic and refuses to reopen the border even when the US begged them to this month and last month. And, frankly, with the second spike already forming in the US earlier than expected due to the idiocy of so many people, they were right to. They will probably keep the border closed through the end of the year, at least, at this rate.

Canadian have often said, and they mean it, that they understand that there are some differences in price between the same goods sold in the US and Canada. They understand that the dollars are not always near-par, they understand there are some shipping and taxes involved, and they are willing to pay those differences. But when you see an obvious price gouge like Newegg and their third-party vendor doing with this mouse, that is when Canadians get angry. That is when you hear about introducing legislature to force price parity. That is when you hear about Canadians possibly putting tariffs on companies that use these predatory practices. We just want to be treated fairly!

Complicit

I honestly believe that 90% or more of all police officers around the United States are good people trying to do a very hard job as best they can. The bad apples that shoot people (usually PoC) with little to no provocation, who plant evidence on suspects (even when wearing body cameras that catch them in the act), and are generally hate-filled assholes are very much in the minority.

However.

Every single "good cop" is absolutely complicit in the deaths (murders, really) of PoC and others. Every single "good cop" is absolutely complicit in the planting of evidence. Every good cop is complicit in the action of the hate-filled assholes. Why? Because they allow it to happen and hide behind the "blue line" and their union when it happens. And, because of that, these rogue cops, these bad apples, these hate-filled assholes get away with it. Good cops look the other way, subtly (or grossly) change their testimonies during inquests and trials, and hide behind the union's statement on the matter. They think, "It might be me one day." Well, no. If you stay honest, continue to follow the rules, and never act or become an asshole, it should never be you!

A job as contentious as police officer needs a union, and a strong one. There are plenty of people who wish ill-will toward the police and will accuse them of all manner of things. At the same time, however, the police need to have one of the staunchest policies to root out bad apples. It should be the highest honor to be nominated for Internal Affairs within the police department, not a badge of shame. Every police officer should be encouraged to turn in any other officer that crosses any of the lines that police officers face every day and should get citations and commendations for doing so.

And, when we have a video of police officers kneeling on a completely subdued man's throat until he's dead, the police union should be some of the first to decry the action and should lead the charge to fire that officer and any officer who is present and doesn't help the choking man.

When we have a video that clearly shows a police officer drawing his weapon and firing when there is no obvious reason to do so, the police officers of his station and his union should be first in line to ask for summary punishment up to and including criminal charges against that officer.

Instead of sending police officers to classes that teach them that everyone else is prey and they are the predators hunting for wrongdoers, we should be sending officer to de-escalation courses.

Instead of emphasizing any sort of "war" on the people they serve, police officers and their unions should be emphasizing protection, negotiation, and conflict resolution. Instead of the latest armament and tank, the police should be purchasing more non-lethal subduing implements and courses.

In, I'm guessing, well more than 90% of all police work on a day-to-day basis, police don't need firearms of any sort. They don't need those heavy flak-jackets. They don't need riot gear, shields, tanks, teargas, explosives. If that's the case, then why do most police officers have that equipment?

It used to be that cops were those who protected and served on a daily basis. They needed little more than their badge, handcuffs, and the occasional use of a gun or pepper spray. When you need a more military-style response to a situation, you called in SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics). The "special weapons" part was that they had the military gear. They trained in the tactics to overcome the special situation that only occasionally arise in the course of normal police work. Now that every cop has a semi-automatic to a fully automatic weapon, armor, and other special gear, what does SWAT do?

As the old saying does, when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Now that the police are practically an arm of the military, they are acting like the military. They see everything as a military engagement, they escalate with overwhelming force in split-second timing regardless of whether it is a domestic dispute with no weapons or a bank robbery with fully armed and armored robbers. They act like SWAT because they are armed like SWAT. They see everything as a nail because they have been given some pretty big hammers and nothing else. It's time we start taking the hammer away and give then some pliers, wrenches, and maybe a screwdriver!

The police already have separate groups within their organization that have special training. Investigators solve crimes. SWAT is (supposed to be) the tactical response to special situations. Maybe now we need to say that the everyday beat cop needs nothing more than some non-lethal responses, training on how to de-escalate and resolve conflicts, and the ability to write tickets.

It all comes down to: what do we need the police to do? Do we need the average, everyday cop to be like the military and provide a military-style response? Or do we need them to help find stolen bikes, diffuse domestic disputes, and protect those who need protection?

If we take away the cops' instruments of war, they will have to seek other solutions to problems. If we make it a badge of honor to weed out the bad apples, the public will trust the cops more. If we give them the tools to use conflict resolution and de-escalation techniques, fewer interactions with the public will make the nightly news (and for all the wrong reasons, typically). 

Ask yourself, "What do I need the police for?" You may find that "fight a war" against people of color, those with mental health issues, the homeless people, and others is not the answer.