Quick observations on Calgary, day 2

[plutoniumdragon]

A lot of stuff is really expensive up here - at a downtown pub I paid $7.50 for a pint of Alberta-brewed beer, and even at a local neighborhood bar outside the middle of town it's at least $4.50.  A basic, half-ton, 4WD pickup truck starts at $45,000 new, and a new Nissan Murano starts at $40k.  Property is expensive, almost as insane as the

Comments

[zero_the_fool]

Are these prices American or Canadian dollars? Either way, that's pretty insane.

[plutoniumdragon]

Well, currently USD$1.00 = CAN$1.03, so they're right about the same.

[punkosopher]

Wow dude, we should just start doing black market cigarette runs to Canada for income...

[plutoniumdragon]

I'm seriously considering it...you can take a carton at a time on the airplane, but with a pickup...holy shit.

[qcvar]

I can already see a commercial for the movie "Maxx and Lou's Hardcore Canadian Carton Run" with a chase action scene of a pickup bouncing over mountainous terrain, leaving clouds of dirt in its wake and leaving a chain of explosions due to cigarette cartons falling out of the truck bed and exploding on contact with the dirt due to friction. Behind, some Canadian border patrol cars are furiously attempting to catch up: some are flying off dirt mounds while others are struggling to pull themselves out of ditches. Some boulders roll out of nowhere, missing the pickup by inches. The commercial ends with a middle finger being stuck out the side window as the truck jumps out of sight.

Now that I think about it, this movie would be several orders of magnitude better than movies I've seen recently.

Also, if American cigarettes are so expensive, why haven't the tobacco companies sold more to Canada? I get the sense that there are some massive tariffs or bans in place, otherwise market equilibrium should have equalized the prices...