I am not sure why I didn’t realise this, but took a look at the last receipt I have from Canada Post, and stamps in Ontario have 13% HST (Harmonized Sales Taxes, as we don’t technically have GST in Ontario with HST - that is a topic for another day haha). So a Postcrosser in Ontario will typically pay CAD $3.06 for international mail or CAD $1.47 to the USA. Although, a way to avoid paying taxes is to bring in a stack of postcards to the postal counter and as long as you have more than $5 in purchases, and sending at the time of purchase (many of the agency staff don’t realise this and you will have to insist - I have never tried to send several postcards at one time, as I buy my stamps ahead of time and want to make my postcards pretty).
Gas in Ottawa is selling for around $1.40 per liter. A medium cup of coffee at Tim Hortons is $2.15. Bus fare is $3.70 with tap card or $3.75 with cash. Also, minimum wage in Ontario is $15 (rising to $15.50 in October).
It’s frustrating that a federal service ends up charging differently across the country this way.
My stamps ship from Ottawa, which I find amusing. We have a head office (I think?) in Richmond so I thought they’d come from there.
It might be worth it for you to order online to see if they’ll only charge 5% regardless of where you are? I’m not too sure how that works. It’s not a huge difference but it could add up.
Unfortunately, the way the tax laws work is that we have to pay taxes based on delivery address. I work for a retailer, and it can get confusing with shipping items and the taxes involved from a store to the customer in a different province (i.e. Customer places order online, It is shipped from a store in New Brunswick (15% HST) to a customer living in Gatineau, QC (14.275% QST/GST)). So the customer pays 14.275% QST/GST rather than the 15% HST).
The receipt I have is actually the one from a online order with Canada Post. I think the reason they ship everything from Ottawa is that I believe all postage stamps are printed in Ottawa by the Canadian Bank Note Company (same company that prints up our passports, and bank notes / currency). It is all convoluted and confusing when it comes to taxation stuff, and why we do the things we do. Haha
It is $0.80 for sending an international postcard in Singapore ($0.70 if sending to Malaysia or Brunei)
$1.50 for sending a 20g letter internationally (cheaper if within Asia Pacific)
Canned drinks (300ml) at the dollar store cost $0.80
A McDonalds vanilla ice cream cone costs $1
$1.50 gets you a packet of gummies.
Singapore has no minimum wage.
EDIT: To clarify packet of gummies - I mean the bigger bags with say 10 smaller packs in them.
Seasonal fun fact:
In my city (Munich) it’s Oktoberfest right now (I never go there). A mass of beer costs 13.50 euros and an Oktoberfest pretzel (it’s large) 6.50…for 20 euros I can send 21 cards (only international postage costs)…so I’d rather do that.
The price of sending a postcard to any country in the Americas is 480 CLP and 520 CLP to any other country in the world (0,49 USD and 0,54 USD as of 25/09, respectively). Sending two cards out of the Americas is just 50 CLP over the price of a litre of milk, and sending two cards to an American country is 70 CLP more expensive than a 350cc can of coke.
In Serbia it costs 75 RSD for European countries and a few RSD more (usualy 76 to 78, depends on country) for non-European counties. Anyway it’s less than 1 euro or dollar. For that money you can buy, for example: some average pastry/ a snack/2 or 3 little chocolates/a beer.
In Slovakia
0,75 € (Slovakia) you can buy a small bottle of Cola (drink).
1,20 € (Czech Republic) you can buy a package of candies.
1,50€ (Europe) you can buy big bottle of Cola (drink).
1,60€ (World) you can buy a chocolate.
costs 13.50 euros and an Oktoberfest pretzel (it’s large) 6.50…for 20 euros I can send 21 cards (only international postage costs)…so I’d rather do that. 