Your Opinion - Day Trip to Calais

[JustWatching]

For those of you that do a lot of cross border shopping (especially now since the dollar is so high) I'd like to get your opinion....I'm thinking about going to Calais for a day trip....check out a few places see what kind of deals they have....I will not be buying anything big (TV's etc...) It would be more like a few toys...clothes if anything is a good buy....that's really about it.

So what is your opinion....is it worth it....or will I get hammered coming back?

[kerrym]

you could call the customs to see how much you can bring back and if you do go dont take cnd money over alot of atores are either taking at par or a penny less

[shadoww]

One of my friends go over for daytrips all the time, she said she never spends under 200.00 and usually only pays 20.00 to 30.00 for duty.

[ksbeckaa]

i went on saturday, bough groceries and a few pairs of shoes, had a great day, money was at par or a few cents ABOVE..lunch at the chinese place was at par......got charged NO duty.

It was well worth the trip :)

[trinity]

I claimed $190 plus about 20$ in groceries, they didn't exactly throw my grocery receipts away but she put them in a pile and never looked again. I paid $25 in duty and I got 106$ worth of clothing ( jeans sweater 2 blouses) , a purse, some jewelry, some Aleve, and kids toys for a Christmas gift; I paid 25$ in duty. I would go back to Bangor or Ellsworth as I find my options for plus size clothing are too limited here, Penningtons (I usually like their styles) and Additionelle ( although owned by the same company, for some reason I hate their selection and nothing they sell ever looks good on me). I like Fashion Bug and Lane Bryant, between a week's vacation and several day trips I have replaced half my wardrobe this year.

[mizunderstood]

It would be worth it depending on:
When you go,
Where you go
How long you stay
How much you spend
And the customs officer on duty that day
Most places in the states right now will not take canadian money so keep that in mind when your looking at all those "Deals" The U.S. is ticked off that our money is better than theirs.

[badness70]

groceries you don't pay coming back across with, your allowed $20 for a day trip, and if you go over they can charge you on the whole thing. Keep in mind that your not paying duty anymore your just paying the taxes.

[Crystalbeach]

Get some US money before you shop....all the stores in Calais will take Canadian money but the chains like Walmart are not happy with our dollar being worth more than ours and are now charging a "service charge"...

Some times it's worth a trip down and some times it's not...depends on what you're hoping to buy at any given time..

Marden's has lots of really good buys if they happen to have what you're in the market for..their Christmas stuff is now starting to come in and there's lots of good stuff..

I prefer American chicken and turkeys to our own ..last time I was down I got turkey at .77 cents a lb..

When you go to customs separate your items..for example tell them that your purchased $50.00 in goods and $30.00 in groceries...you'll pay tax on the goods and they will not bother you about the groceries..at least they never have done so with me...

You are not paying duty anymore just tax...