Even when exchange isn’t the best, it's often worth the trip as the lower price of gas across the border helps keep costs down (A quick conversion tip is to divide the posted price by four. Gas is $1.63/gallon? Wow, that's approximately 45 cents a litre!).
I love shopping across the border as our US neighbours have tons of different goodies that you can't find in Canada. From Vanilla Coke to loaded Doritos to everything in between, it's fun just browsing the grocery aisles to see what's new. But if you want some ideas, check out this Pinterest board for regularly updated list of: Items you can only buy in the US.
As a Grand Forks regular, here are some of my tried-and-true Insider Tips for cross-border shopping.
Insider Tips
1. Get a tax refund! - The North Dakota sales tax is currently 5%. So right off the hop, you're saving yourself the usual GST/PST. But it gets better! North Dakota refunds state taxes to Canadian visitors meaning you pay 0%. Click here for your refund!
2. Use an American self-serve gas station with a Canadian postal code! - Need gas? At most U.S. gas stations, if you want to pay at the pump, you are required to enter the 5-digit zip code associated with the billing address for your credit card in order to complete your transaction.The problem is, your Canadian credit card billing address does not have zip code. If you’re thinking about using the zip code for the address where you are staying in the US, think again… it likely won’t work as credit card companies validate against your billing address.
Fortunately, there’s a great work-around. When asked for your zip code, try this trick instead! Enter the three numbers in your postal code and add two zeros. For example, if your postal code is M9Z 4X3, you would enter 94300 as your zip code. This will work most of the time!
3. Use coupons for extra savings! - Savvy cross-border shoppers know it's worth it to print before you go.
- Hotel Coupons (from flyers)
- Dining and Shopping Discounts (from Grand Forks Tourism)
- Grocery Store Discounts (Target (or download the CartWheel app!), Super One Foods and other general coupons)
If you have the flipp app installed on your phone, you can check the current local flyers in Grand Forks or Fargo. Simply hit the setup icon in the app and enter zip code 58202 for Grand Forks or 58103 for Fargo.
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