Re: How does one acquire a GG collection w/o going broke?

[Melissa M Stewart <stewartm@acsu.buffalo.edu>]

On Thu, 3 Apr 1997, Mary Jo Watts wrote:

> Interesting problem, this GG collection business.
> 
> Well, one really cheap way to start on CDs if you're living in the north
> of the US is save your money, hop across the border to Canada, buy a GG
> edition box set (which I've never seen stocked in the US) in Canadian
> dollars (great exchange rate right now) and be sure to show your receipt
> at the duty free station so you can get the taxes back. (Taxes have to
> be more than I think 3$ for this scheme to work.) That's even cheaper
> than buying the discs second hand if you don't count the actual cost of
> travel. ;-). 
> 

Well folks, as one who buys a _lot_ of hockey equipment (four sons and me,
and skates are over $100 American even for the little guys), I do more
than a fair amount of cross-border shopping, since I live 5 minutes away
from the Peace Bridge, and another five from Reid's Sports and Don Simmons
Goalie Shop -- but I digress.  I can be in Ontario in less time than it
takes me to get to the suburbs, and with far better results.  Anyway, I
just want to let people know, it takes a lot of spending to make it worth
it to send for the taxes back.  Most people I know save their receipts
and send them all in once a year -- and that's accumulated hockey
equipment prices. But you can get the GST back right at the border if you
stop in a Duty-Free Shop on the Canadian side.  I think you have to spend
enough to get back $7.00 in GST American -- probably $10.00 Canadian.  But
the catch is, it has to be in GST alone, not the local tax and GST
combined.  That brings you up to a hefty total before you can claim the
tax credit.  Usually I try to save up my shopping so I have skates and
maybe a trip to Zeller's, the grocery store and the music store (seems
like they're changing those Toronto Conservatory Repertoire books every
years now) all on the same day.  Everything on the same day counts in the
total.  Except those trips to Country Style Donuts -- mmm! 

Digressing again.  Think I'll go shoot some pucks.

Melissa
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|Melissa M. Stewart			    |  Graduate Student           |
|State University of New York at Buffalo    |  Potential Theorist         |
|stewartm@acsu.buffalo.edu		    |  Hockey Player              |
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