It must be tough for the cosmopolitan American to move to Canada. We are way behind on some things.
1. Canada's been punished extensively over the last five years over our government's refusal to implement and prosecute strict digital rights management laws. It's a subtle thing but once you start to notice, the conspiracy nut that lives in the corner of everyone's brain begins to giggle. For instance - there's no Netflix in Canada. There are other companies providing a similar service but they suck ass. I think it also has to do with our far-flung populace and the terrible quality of our postal system, which leads me to:
2. Our shitty postal system. I am a regular Etsy shopper, Ebay shopper and pro buyer so I spend all damn day shipping things from hither to yon. I specify on my purchase orders at work to never, ever use Canada Post. I will pay more for better service from the couriers. Canada Post is not as good as the US Postal Service and they cost more. Shipping from the western US to western Canada is way cheaper and more reliable than domestic shipping from any point. I don't think it's a quality problem on the staff level - our standards just aren't kept as high.
3. We are so provincial in our choices of stores. It takes at least 5 years for a good American store to attempt to come to Canada. Many stores just aren't interested because we have 10% of the population of the US, so no matter what we Canadian customers do our buying power is minimal. Canadians have been screaming for Target to come up here and end our misery for at least 15 years.
There's really nothing we can do about these things either. It's the sacrifice we make to live in (relatively) quiet peace and comfort. We just have to make grabby hands toward the south once in a while.
