Cross-Border Shopping....

[Belgian]

Any recent experiences shopping for beer with our high-flying Canadian Dollar and unaccountable border delays?

What I'd like to know iis just the best times & places to cross for minimum pain in the ass line-ups and duty hassle.

The sudden thoroughness of car checks feels like opportunistic financial harassment. Where's the drop in our retail prices if they don't want us to use our financial advantage in Buffalo? Gas pricing hasn't budged at all.

[kinguy]

I've only gone over a couple of times since the loonie started to soar, but the news makes it sound much worse than it's been in my experience. I haven't seen the dogs or border agents searching every car, although they do go through every bus. If you're importing a ridiculous amount of beer or several hundred dollars worth of purchases, you can expect to be pulled over to pay. We came back both times with a case of beer, give or take a bottle or two, and about $100 in other declared goods and were waved through.

As for where to cross, I've found that the Rainbow Bridge is best for crossing over: the earlier the better, especially on weekends, and the Peace Bridge is best for coming back. A couple of weeks ago, it took us about five minutes to cross into the States at Rainbow Saturday morning, and ran into some people that took about 45 at Queenston-Lewiston. On the way back, after dinner at the Pizza Plant, the highway messages were warning of at least 2 hours at Lewiston and 90 minutes at Rainbow, but we only waited 10-15 minutes at Peace.

[Ale's What Cures Ya]

Whatever the one in Fort Erie is called. It's name slips my mind right now. In my experience that's the best bridge to cross at. Minimal waiting times, guards aren't too bad.

[Al of Kingston]

I crossed last Friday at Sarnia around 2 pm, took 20 minutes to get through, bought about 250 bucks worth of beer and about as much of other stuff, came back Saturday around 2 pm, drove up to a gate without any line up, with receipts in hand declared my 67 beers (to which I received the response "like you have about 3 cases") and declared 500 bucks of shopping - and was waved through.

Some days things work out well.

[Mississauga Matt]

I was in Buffalo last week to take my wife shopping. We arrived at the Peace Bridge at 11 am and made it across in about 45 minutes.

We came back at 5:30 pm and I was surprised to find the wait time like it was in the old days - it took us less than 5 minutes to go through.

I declared the $200 in regular goods and $30 in beer that we had, and we were waved on our way. That's the way it should be.

[Gedge]

Crossed at Sarnia on a Friday morning about month ago. Took a good 45 min. to an hour to get across (but I think this was more because a lane was closed for repair).

On the way back we were waved through with about $500 in goods including 36 beers (which we declared). Only took about 10 min. to cross on the way back.

[Publican]

I went down to Buffalo yesterday by bus and it took 40 minutes to get into the US. I came back on the 9 pm bus and there was very few cars on the Peace Bridge and I got through Customs in 5 minutes. I brought back 14 bottles which included Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter, Boulder Beer Hazed and Infused and two Youngs beers, Special London Ale and Oatmeal Stout. Customs just waved me through and I paid no duty or tax!!!!

It will be intresting to retry the Young's ales since this will be the first time I've tried them since the Ram brewery was closed and brewing transfered to Charles Wells.

I bvought these beers at the Consumer's Beverages shop at 2644 Elmwood Ave in Kenmore and the cost was verry reasonable. The Edmund Fitzgerald Porter was $7.49/6 pack. Hazed and Infuzed $8.99/6 pack and the Young's ales $2.99 per 500 ml bottle.

The beer prices at Cole's weren't bad eithier. Before I headed over to Mr. Goodbar I got my bill and 3 US micro pints cost me $13.50 . All in all a good day trip to Buffalo

[Publican]

Thinking about the prices I paid for US micro 6 packs. I would like to see a cut to the so called sin taxes that we all pay for beer. Now I don't think that the cost of Ontario micro 6 packs should match the US micro price but a cut of say a dollar off the current $11.95 Ontario micro price would be fair to the craft beer drinkers of Ontario.

[Belgian]

Appreciate the replies.

...with receipts in hand declared my 67 beers (to which I received the response "like you have about 3 cases") and declared 500 bucks of shopping - and was waved through.

Some days things work out well.

Seems to be a big thing to have all the receipts and be really prepared - ie. not disrespecting their time with fiddling around and telling them BS.

[JerCraigs]

Thinking about the prices I paid for US micro 6 packs. I would like to see a cut to the so called sin taxes that we all pay for beer. Now I don't think that the cost of Ontario micro 6 packs should match the US micro price but a cut of say a dollar off the current $11.95 Ontario micro price would be fair to the craft beer drinkers of Ontario.

The OCB relatively recently successfully lobbied for a reduction in excise taxes (?) for small breweries. Unfortunately, my impression is that this was still not enough to lead to price reductions for most local brewers, rather for many it perhaps made the difference between being in the black vs. in the red.

Personally I would like to see Canada adopt a system where there is no excise taxes on say the first 10000 hectoliters, which would cover most of the smaller micros in Ontario and much of the production of the some of the others. The loss to the government is likely minimal, but the benefit to the small producers would be large.

[flip]

We were in Buffalo a couple of weekends ago, pretty similar story to what's been said before. We went over Saturday around noon and it took about an hour and a half to get a cross at the Queenston-Lewiston bridge. On the way back Sunday afternoon we went over the Peace bridge and it took all of five minutes. We declared $250 in merchandise and 24 beers from my stop at Premier (I had ~36) and they waved us through.

[King Reign]

My wife took a bus strip to Erie, Pa. in a bus. A woman declared one bottle of liquor and she had 14. They took it all and fined her on top of that. She should of known better.


King Reign