MEC

“Did you know that the Arc'Teryx Bora 80 backpack that retails for $350 at REI and other retailers here in the US can be had for $320 CANADIAN at Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC)? That's something like $208 in US dollars! They won't ship it to the US, but Vancouver isn't that far away, baby.

But what's this confusing stuff...Capacity 78 liters...weight 2.5 kg... Any of our Canadian TTers shop at MEC?

I wonder if the Mounties will notice if I try smuggling it across the border?”

“Good luck!”

“It's not the Mounties that you need concern yourself with, it's the US customs folks. However, I've never had them do more than glance in the car when crossing the border from north to south. Going the other way however, we were grilled extensively by a very crotchety hag.”

“I imagine if they found the newly purchased pack, one would be expected to pay some sort of duty on it?”

“If you are smugglin', could you please hook me up with some Cuban cigars too!”

“hell, medic girl was gonna hook me up with that deal, a year ago.

you musta rode the short bus, kleet.”

“Why won't they ship to the US? What, our money not good enough for them?! Lousey Canadians, I bet there's all sorts of other gear just waiting for an American dollar to snatch it up.”

“Kleetn, Darling, just take a bunch of backpacking gear to Canada with you. On your way back, put it in your new pack and say you were backpacking. It's just that easy. :o)”

“Better yet, Kleetn. Bring a bunch of your backpacking gear to BC and actually do some backpacking. When you head home, your pack won't look new, anymore.

Unless I'm mistaken, 78L is 4680 cu in, and 2.5kg is 5.5lb.

By the way, I will be passing through Seattle on Aug 9th or 10th on my way to the TT 3 Sisters hike in Oregon. Perhaps I could test drive a new Arc'Teryx, on the trip, and accidentally leave it in Seattle.

Preferrably, come on up, for a trip, and I'll take ya down, to MEC, for a little shopping spree.”

“Gee, rad, you mean I missed a thread a year ago? Well I'll be a sumbitch. My apologies.

bc_trailguy, just kidding about the metric stuff. We currently make about 35-40% of our maps using metric units.

So do you have any idea why the price of Arc'Teryx stuff is so much cheaper in Canada? Any opinion on Serratus equipment? MEC website”

“Kleetn- Other than Arc'Teryx being a Canadian manufacturer, I don't know why there's difference, in price.

Two of my friends use Serratus packs and have no complaints. They're made here in BC, also, and the price is definitely right. I'm sure they don't have the advanced design features, of the Arc'Teryx, though. I've been looking at the Bora 80, myself.

I've been using one of MEC's house brand packs, for about 5 years and it's held up great. I paid about 120 Cdn for it.”

“kleetn -
I believe that you pay duty on anything over 1,000 dollars. I bought a door for my house over there a couple of months ago, cost me 175 bucks US and customs didn't care.”

“Joy,
It's the American gear retailers that got really pissed off. MEC was undercutting a lot of companies in the US and so some of the big name gear companies (Patagonia) told MEC to stop shipping to the US or they would stop using MEC.
So now you do as other people suggested, wait for the CA dollar to fall, put an order to MEC and have it mailed to a friend in CA, and then have them forward it to you. An automatic savings of 35%!”

“Do what I do. If I find a real bargain in the U.S., I send for it to my U.S. post office box. Then I wait until I can spend a weekend hiking in the States and bring it back leagally (you need proof you were gone at least two nights). Also, ship it to somewhere close in Canada, then pick it up and declare it at the border and pay the duty. With the exchange it's often worth it. Of course, you need to live close to the border, unless you know someone (Pisgahforest?) who is studying up here. Lots of possibilities for creative types such as poverty stricken Cdn teachers and (ahem) gun owners who need to beat the system. Happy trails.”

“Where the heck is pisgahforest anyway?”

“in the southeast.”

“Hobbit... if you're going N to S, it's the US border guards who check your stuff... but you knew that, right? ;-)

It's funny I had totally the opposite experience from you when I went to Montana two winters ago. The US customs ripped my car apart, made me open all my bags(skis included)and grilled me for almost half an hour. Honestly, do I look like that shady of a character??

On the way home, I could've driven straight through without stopping... the Cdn customs guy wasn't even in his booth! I waited for 5 minutes for him to show up... then he didn't even come out. Just looked at me, asked where I'd been and told me to have a good day!

Maybe she was PMS'ing or something... Hey Raddy... thanks for 'membering me! :o) The offer still stands...”

“I went fly-in-fishing in canada with my dad two summers ago. (Leaving for the same trip again in two days, but thats not important) We were with a large group of people and going into canada these two 50 somethin' couples got stopped by the canadian border patrol. All four of these people were pastor type people and they were accused of smuggling guns. So its not only the US customs who can be cause problems.”

“A buddy of mine (who is a Canadian citizen) is going to Calgary in a few weeks and said he'd be happy to stop at the MEC there and do some shopping for me. He's in Vancouver today but he says BC has a provincial sales tax and Alberta doesn't. Anybody else need anything?”

“Looks like you're all set, Kleetn. Let me know if it doesn't work out, We can set something up.
...Hodgeman”

“You guys don't know your'e born, an arc'teryx theta ar jacket retails at £360.00 in the UK. Thats $648 !! Happy and cheap trailing.”

“Just buy the MEC brand stuff. It's great! Best quality I've found for the money.”