Americans seem to be getting a better deal from Lee Valley.

[Robert]

Difference? Only in product. They appear to have a virtually identical pricing policy.

[Michael Daly]

Health care, in Ontario at least, is paid for by the employer. Nice hypothesis, too bad you don't have facts to back it.

Mike

[Paul Kierstead]

Funny, I live in Ontario, I don't even *have* an employer, yet I get Health Care covered. Two explanations:

- You are dead wrong or

- You two are talking about different things. "Health care" from a "plan" such as is offered by an employer, is additional health care which covers such things as dentistry, travel coverage, a portion of eyewear and prescriptions (especially). These things are not covered by the government. The government plan covers operations, doctors visits, etc; mostly everything except the ones I listed. Travel coverage is a bit weird and too complex to go into here. The employer does *not* pay for this care; it is out of conventional gov revenue.

PK

[Clint]

But a real comparision is really Canadian vs US big name brews (i.e. Bud vs Labatt's), or Canadian vs US micro brews. Comparing one countries big names to another countries micro's is hardly fair.

Clint

[Dave Balderstone]

The micros I've had on both sides of the border are quite comparable and in general, excellent.

Comparing the majors, I much prefer Canadian beer. More flavor, for one.

Q: Why is American beer like making love in a canoe?

;-)

[jdownie]

Rick:

I should have been clearer, I meant block plane, not aero-plane. The LV prices are before the (15% in Ontario) PST & GST.

[Michael Daly]

Third alternative - you don't understand.

OHIP is payed for by employers. Unemployed are still covered. Self employed have (had?) a loophole that let them off the hook as well. At one time the OHIP costs were split 50/50 employer/employee and unemployed had to pay directly. Now it is 100% employer and the unemployed get coverage regardless.

Mike

[Rick]

It's been a LONG day ...

my apologies.

Thanks for the VAT/GST info.

Rick

[patriarch]

[e-mail] (JohnD) wrote in news: [e-mail]:

John, Understanding pricing decisions in different, yet related and connected economies is inherently political.

And it seems only in contentious election cycles that politics is a perjorative.

Politics is the very messy process whereby people make decisions on how they will deal with a complex, uncertain world. Thank whatever belief system you espouse that we have those options.

Patriarch

[Paul Kierstead]

What? No, it most certainly is not. *You* have some misunderstanding; employers don't even get close to paying full OHIP costs. Where on earth did you get such information?

PK

[Paul Kierstead]

I already answered this once, but here is more info:

I think you are referring to the Employer Health Tax. This is a surchage to employers for health taxes. See

think if you have a look at the rates and the cost per person of health care, you will discover it doesn't even get close to paying for it. It is just another tax grab whilst claiming to have the tax rate set (or even reduced); not that I mind paying taxes for services received, I just hate it when they are dishonest about the whole thing.

Anyway, you have been misinformed; I encourage you to explore the issue yourself to verify that. Even write them an email.

PK

[Michael Daly]

You're right - I left out the federal part (the ever declining part until recently) and whatever comes out of general revenue. However, to the earlier poster's comment, the employer does not get off scott free. There are costs to the employer, though likely lower than that paid to private insurers by US employers.

Mike

[mp]

Perhaps I can explain it a bit better to you. Some provinces charge health care premiums, some don't. The amount that some provinces charge is minimal, for instance, British Columbia charges $50 per month per person. This is only a token amount, a mere pittance in the overall operating costs. The majority of the funding for the health care system is shared between the provincial and federal governments (i.e. the Canadian public).

Sometimes the employer picks up the $50 per month premium as part of the employee benefit package but that can hardly be considered as you suggest, health care being paid for by the employer.

[Upscale]

For all your warnings and complaints against Lee Valley Tools, there's one thing you haven't commented on and that's Princess Auto's reputation for selling low end products. I live in Ontario and I've been to one of their stores a few times. The products they sell are almost always a cheap knock-off from the original product, a no name product, or an off brand name that very few have heard off. Anybody viewing their online catalogue can confirm that in an instant. The place reeks of low quality.

I don't know about the bar clamps that you're comparing to Lee Valley, but from the few times I've visited Princess Auto, I'd wouldn't buy from them unless I needed something really quick and they were nearby. I certainly wouldn't expect that product to fulfill any long lasting need.

[patriarch]

[e-mail] (JohnD) wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Does the scale and geographic diversity of the market have no effect? Fixed costs, specific to the country, spread over a smaller sales base?

Recall also, in the US, Lee Valley ONLY has the web/catalog sales model to support, without bricks and mortar retail.

Patriarch

[patriarch]

[e-mail] (JohnD) wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Flights are also cheaper, because there are more people wanting to fly, at any given price.

Patriarch

[Glen Duff]

As you say most provinces charge a health tax on employers however, in the overall scheme of things if you add the cost of extended health benefits paid by employers the private sector in Canada is paying for an about 30% of health care although our Federal and Provincial Governments do not like to acknowledge that.

Glen Duff

------------------

mp wrote:

[mp]

I never said that. What I said is that some provinces charge a small premium for health care. Sometimes it's paid for by the employers, sometimes it isn't.

We were talking about subsidized health care, which is largely funded by the taxpayer and is free to every Canadian , regardless of their employment status (with the exception of some provinces that charge a small monthly premium).

Private health care is another issue. It's optional and the degree of coverage can vary from 0 to 100% depending on the employee benefit package.

[Ken Muldrew]

If you have evidence to back up this egregious accusation, please produce it. He said that they set their prices when they print their catalog, and thereafter price differences accrue as the currency exchange rates change. The better deal for American customers is only an artifact of their falling dollar. Rob Lee has no control on the value of the U.S. dollar; it is completely out of his hands.

Ken Muldrew [e-mail] (remove all letters after y in the alphabet)

[Robert]

Um, no, he did not say that. He said prices are set differently to compete in the different market places. Less competition in Canada means Lee Valley can charge higher prices to Canadians.

He does have control of prices charged on the Lee Valley website. But he also admitted he needs the exorbitant profits made on Canadian sales to offset the low prices paid by Americans.

Rob Lee considers this fair, I don't. It's as simple as that.