taking advantage of sales tax differences between provinces

i was born and raised in alberta, the land of zero provincial sales tax. all we had was the gst, which started at 7% but had fallen to 5% under the conservative government. so when i moved to bc for the start of residency, the extra 7% in provincial sales tax was maddening. friends who moved from outside alberta to alberta all felt that it was like a free discount -- they never saw sales tax as an extra burden. my friends who moved the other direction, on the other hand, couldn't.

i typically go to calgary 3-4 times a year. when i first moved to vancouver, i used to go 8-9 times a year. one of my habits is to save on my provincial sales tax. this typically involves knowing how long the return period is and holding onto receipts. then whenever i go back to calgary, i go to the store, buy the product on a new receipt (no provincial sales tax) and return on the old receipt (provincial sales tax).

but sometimes, you run into snags. for clothing, often times there are sales when you buy the item but no sales when you want to do the exchange/return. so then it doesn't make sense to buy and return. sometimes, you need to buy a certain size in order to return the size that you bought but they're out. that's why i keep the bar code and bring them with me in my wallet. sometimes, they will relent and give you a price adjustment if the price is actually lower, but there is a chance that that adjustment will occur for the province of original sale. in other words, pst may still be there. always safer to do a full return.

an example today:
express men: i needed to grab a few pants last week because i don't stockpile a huge wardrobe. $59.90 regular price, but i bought them for $49.90 each, or $55.89 after sales tax (gst + pst). i was expecting to get $7 back in provincial sales tax.

bonus today: 40% off regular price, or $35.94 each, or $37.74 after sales tax (gst only).

the issue: i could only find one of the two pairs of pants. they were not willing to do a straight out price change, but offered to let me buy it. then, if, by chance, i found my original pair, i could return that on the old receipt. i haven't heard anything so ridiculous in a long time. so for that one pair of pants, i made a purchase. i asked about whether the other location would have the other one that was missing, and they said they would call. "don't worry, if i have to go to [insert location here], then i'll just return these there on the old receipt." i made it very clear that this was what was going to happen anyway. and luckily, another cashier came up, kind of gave a sigh, and said, "i might as well save you the trip." so she did the price adjustment and also returned my newly purchased pants on the old receipt.

i was nervous that the price adjustment would still include the provincial sales tax, but it didn't. the end result: i got a refund of $18.15 per pair, or a total of $36.30. not too bad! and i really do have to give kudos to sales agents who are empowered enough to bend company policy enough to let common sense prevail.

next stop:
costco to pick up higher priced regular goods. tide laundry pods, dishwasher pellets, razor blades.

"if i keep on doing this," i told my mom afterwards at home, "then this trip will basically pay for itself."