Canadian Pricing On Dvds

[George Bellefontaine]

With the Loonie pushing .85 cents against the US buck, one would think there would be less of a difference in the US / CDN pricing of dvds. US msrps on new releases seem to be around $18, but often these are retailed at $12 to $14 or less, while the same titles in Canada at low priced retailers like Walmart are still asking anywhere from $24 to $27 for the same titles. Seems to me the new releases should be now selling at just under $20 CDN in discount retail shops.

Are all dvds imported from the US ? And if so, why are there no pressing facilities in Canada ? The latter would surely see pricing in line with those in the US, would it not ?

[David Meek]

Now that's an interesting post, George. :scratchhead:

Going with the Occam's Razor principle (the simplest is usually the most likely), I'd bet that you are looking at some middle-men and/or retailers that are taking advantage. I'm not sure about pressing facilities in the frozen far North, but if a bootlegger in Shanghai has them, why not a reputable organization up there?

[Andrew Pratt]

I'd guess there's a number of factors going on that range from any or all of the following

1) middlemen soaking up higher profits.
2) delays in aquiring new inventory at reduced purchase price
3) Price fixing...or least stable pricing regardless of exchange rates. Really prices could go up or down with the exchange rate but they never do...which hurts right now but might be a blessing at other times.

[David Meek]

One thing I found out when I was travelling internationally is that if you use your credit card to purchase something in another country, your card's company will use the BEST exchange rate available within the 30-day billing cycle. With that being the case, would it be cheaper for you to order from the US and pay the duties?

[George Bellefontaine]

Yeah, Tex, I did that very thing back in the days of laserdiscs, when the Canadian dollare was strong but LD prices were almost double US prices. It is something I am considering doing again with dvds.

[aud19]

Actually (at least out west here) with A&B Sound and the big box retailers (Walmart etc), we usually have prett good pricing on software. It's not uncommon to see new CD's from $9.99 - $14.99 and DVD's from about $18.99 an up (dependent on movie etc.) Sure some are still up in the mid 20's and up but I would expect those are also higher prices in the US too.

Jason

[Andrew Pratt]

Right I think if you compared software prices at B&M's on both sides of the boarder Canada would hold its own well...its really the internet sites that Canadian B&M's can't compete with.

[Spearmint]

I have imported many DVD's from both Canada & the US, as far as the Australia $ is concerned there is sometimes little difference between both countries, My choice comes down to who has the best upfront price, and freight charges.

The only gripe I have with getting DVD's out of Canada is the delivery time, most time via post out of the US we have them here in around 7~10days, whereas out of Canada can be from 20~30days. The worst case I had out of Canada was 7weeks. The other thing is I get them out of the UK in around 7days as well, must be some problems with international postage from Canada.

Regarding the manufacturing of the DVD's a lot of the cases are different between US & Canada, I have had a couple of variations were I have bought a copy of a disc from Canada & a mate has bought the same title from the US, and there is a difference in the audio.

[purplepeople]

This could all change in the next little while. I heard that Cinram is going to post a poor quarter.

ensen.

[David Meek]

Jensen, what is Cinram? A Canadian processing company?

[purplepeople]

Cinram is one of the largest disc pressing companies on Earth. They are HQ in Ontario but have plants in Canada, US, France, etc. If it's disc-based media, they make it.

ensen.

[Brandon B]

Irritating situation. We could get US DVDs delivered in Tokyo for about $25 from Amazon when we were there, and that was with a small import duty.

My latest gripe: The new remastered 6 disk set of the starwars soundtracks is well over $50 everywhere. I have trouble finding the DVD set for anything more than $50. Geez.

BB

[Shane Martin]

Regarding the manufacturing of the DVD's a lot of the cases are different between US & Canada, I have had a couple of variations were I have bought a copy of a disc from Canada & a mate has bought the same title from the US, and there is a difference in the audio.

Don't forget those naughty dual language covers too :throwup:

[Lex]

George, I'm not sure exactly how accurate your pricing is. Were you saying 18.00 in Canadian dollars, or 18.00 in US? Actually, the standard price for a DVD before it falls to discount shelved prices, is 19.99 for a single disc. That's at Walmart. Go elsewhere other than Best Buy, and it could go higher. Sometimes we get discounts on opening week, but I've noticed a trend that this doesn't seem to happen as much now. In fact, I went to Walmart last night for Friends Season 8, and they didn't even have it yet, much less discounted.

So, while their may be a disparity in pricing, I am not sure it's as much as you said.

Lex

[Gordon Moore]

Don't forget those naughty dual language covers too

Can't be helped unless you change the law...Canada is officially a bi-lingual country (despite what Alberta and B.C. would like to believe :lol: : ). With regard to audio differences...sometimes the advantage goes to Canada and sometimes vise-versa.

For some reason we get special editions that the U.S. doesn't (i.e. Brotherhood of the Wolf) but sometimes we lose out on a DTS track or a feature because a french language track is required. It's a bit of a toss-up.

I think Andrews factor 3 is most likely:

3) Price fixing...or least stable pricing regardless of exchange rates. Really prices could go up or down with the exchange rate but they never do...which hurts right now but might be a blessing at other times.

[George Bellefontaine]

Lex, I'm a little confused by your post. Are you saying the discounted Walmart new release price is $19 USD? This is higher than what I have been told. In Canada the Walmart discounted new releases go for $24 to $26 CDN on average.

[aud19]

Can't be helped unless you change the law...Canada is officially a bi-lingual country (despite what Alberta and B.C. would like to believe :lol: : ).

I'll have you know we probably have more language diversity here then most places in Canada. We have all the french and english packaging etc. Plus we actually have places with street signs in punjabi, other places chinese... etc.

So : : :lol:

Jason

[Lex]

Well, sometimes we see a discounted release date price, but what I am saying is, once that first week is up, the price for an average single disc movie is 20 bucks, until it hits the discount racks, of 2 for 11 or 13.99, or such.

Normal price, 20.00 US$ plus tax. Today I paid 29.99 for Friends season 8. Retail was listed at 39.99. I believe once introduction week is over, it will be 37.00

Lex

[George Bellefontaine]

Lex

Okay, now I understand. Obviously I have received some inaccurate information on pricing. Unfortunately the only close discount chain is Walmart so I was using thgeir pricing as an example. If Walmart is selling a new release in the US for $20USD and the same disc for $26CDN, that is getting pretty close to the difference in our dollar.

I shouldn't be complaining. I remember buying laserdiscs not that long ago for anywhere from $55 to $75. In fact the last big LD purchase I made, before dvds came out, was the Starwars Box Set and paid $329 CDN. The same set today on DVD ( though Georgie Lucas made a few changes) can be had for $54 CDN.