Discussions

... a few weeks ago just for fun and kill the boredom.  
Wasn't worth the drive.

We’ve gone down about 4-5x this summer and haven’t had to pay tariff duties any of the times

From what I understand you pay the tariffs in addition to the gst and duty if you go over your personal exemption. I’ve been down this summer for 48 hours and bought groceries but I wasn’t over the allowed $800 so I didn’t have to pay anything at the border. If you go to the CBSA website and click the link for the dept of finance there’s a list of the items covered by tariffs but doesn’t give a lot of info regarding the % (looks like 25% or 10%, But doesn’t say which rate applies to which products). Personally I wouldn’t think it’s worth going down for groceries anymore if you’re going to go over your personal exemption and be liable for gst, dirt and tariffs, especially when you factor in the exchange rate,

A lot of fresh groceries and even boxed goods are almost at par to items here in Canada. It's not worth spending money on gas and then add the exchange rate.  
 
If your going for the day, it does depend who you get at the border. Some officers would pull you over to pay, others won't.  
 
As for the tariffs, I would stay away from buying items that are on the list. IE. Ketchup.  
 
For clothing and other things, wouldnt recommend going to bottinea.