Opinion | Canadian Tire has never been more Canadian — and it’s working
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Since abandoning American retailers, I’ve certainly given Canadian Tire way more money than I used to. I’m not surprised that others have, too.
They really are an alternative to many of the things you might find at Walmart or Amazon.
And they sell a surprising amount of Made in Canada products, which is even more important to me.
Back in January I did a bit of price comparing between Canadian Tire, Home Depot and Rona for the materials for a project I was planning. (I wanted to check Home Hardware as well, but the closest one is about 75KM away, so not really practical in my case)
I was surprised to discover that Canadian Tire had better prices on all but 2 of the things I looked at. And even those 2, they were less than a dollar different.
And Home Depot’s owner is Republican megadonor, so I avoid it whenever possible.
Rona is the Canadian alternative, right? Looks like it was owned by Lowes, but was re-established with headquarters in Quebec. Still, it can be hard to know with everybody trying to look as Canadian as possible.
Now owned by US private equity according to wiki.
Cool story. Now pay your workers a living wage and get them health benefits.
Everyone forgot they were using facial recognition cameras
Warranty your products properly as well. I don’t buy anything from Canadian tire that isn’t disposable since they won’t take back a 2 month old vacuum or car jack that stopped working.
They exchanged a Motomaster battery charger that was almost 20 months old. It suddenly stopped working, and they didn’t even bother testing it to confirm my assertion.
The biggest headache was finding the purchase in my account’s history, as they can only search a month at a time, and not by product. Very bad usability for something that employees likely use on an hourly basis.
My latest was a 2 month old Hoover vacuum that died on me. I had to go to Hoover who wanted me to pay to ship and repair it. I bought from Costco after that.
It’s never been “crappy”. People who say that are just smug.
It was called “crappy” because prices were so high and for awhile they rebranded some serious poor Chinese products. This was more in the 90’s and 2000’s, so if you are young you wouldn’t have experienced.
I’m 46 and never experienced the bullshit you’re spouting.
Then you lucked out.
I used to buy all sorts of stuff at Canadian Tire in the 90s, and while it was affordable, it almost all broke within 2 years, from CCM bicycles that had their frame welds crack to Hunter kitchen appliances that had power supplies that overheated and failed, to even bouncy balls that would harden and crack. Air pumps where the plastic would crack or the pump rod (which was held in by glue) would disconnect, foldable chairs where the stitching would unravel, knives where the blade would snap.
The list goes on and on. Never had that volume of problems with any other store I’ve ever shopped at.
Also, I had relatives that worked in CT in the 90s. They’ve got even worse stories to tell.
They did actually sue someone for the exclusive right to call themselves “crappy tire”:
IIRC someone was hosting a Canadian Tire complaint website “crappytire.com” and in trying to get it shut down Canadian Tire used the legal argument that this person was infringing Canadian Tire’s identity (“We are the legitimate Crappy Tire, and this person is an imposter”) and the domain should be surrendered to them.
They won.edit: They lost.Err, I bought a SuperCycle in 2005 which ended up unusable within two seasons worth of riding due to brake and rim deformations. I’ve also bought numerous spare bike parts, cables, tools prior to 2010. They were invariably of very poor quality. Cables rusted, tools ruined other parts due to poor tolerances and weak materials. Once you handle parts and tools made by the typical bike industry, the differences in quality and durability becomes obvious. I don’t know how they are today but this was a conscious choice to reduce costs and pad profits. It’s not like there were no better bikes on the low end of the spectrum. The first cheap non-CT bike I bought in 2011 second hand (Iron Horse made in 2006) and serviced with non-CT tools and parts is still in use today by a friend.
I hate how much CT has stepped up their credit card sales tactics, I feel like their sales desk has creeped closer and closer to the entrance over the past few months.
I really hate it because getting assaulted with a sales pitch triggers an anxiety attack for me. Maxi is also guilty of this (PC Financial), but they put them at the exit so you can’t leave.
But I do have to admit what they have to sell is good, Canadian and decently priced. I end up there a lot regardless for car parts and tools.
I just say that Visa and Mastercard are American companies, and I won’t support them. No more anxiety and make the them feel bad for selling that shit.
At the local store here they stand 10ft past the turnstiles… My tactic is to just make no eye contact and veer away ASAP. If that fails, I tell them I already had one and learned my lesson. They don’t follow up with anything after that in my experience.
This too causes me anxiety, and I have considered avoiding that location because of it. The other stores in the area don’t do this thankfully.
Same, I avoid eye contact, walk fast and make a wide circle to go to the parts counter lmao
Remember to only buy items on sale, all the others ones are overinflated. For instance the ratchet kit at $699 will go on sale at 80% off every 2 months, etc.
I bought an air rifle last year from CT. The person I talked to scanned it with their hand scanner and told me it was going on sale in two weeks.
I came back two weeks later and got it before they even had their sales tags up and asked to get it out since it was on sale. They were a bit confused on how I knew. I just said I saw it online.
Staff the stores and increase the quality of items you carry, and you’d be doing well. Not sure if they’re doing that or whether this is just the Buy Canadian effect.
I’m an “analyst” as well. My opinion is that Canadian Tire went all in on flyer delivery and e-mails and that is what turned the tide.
The time products spend on the shelves of a ‘Canadian’ Tire is just a layover on the way to the landfill.
Just avoid the lowest end Chinesium parts and you’ll be good.
They’ve become my top spot for housewares and appliances lately along with London Drugs. They also have a surprisingly decent hardware section which is becoming more and more important as Rona keeps scaling back their hardware. My local Rona removed an entire section from their pipe fittings wall and has no intention of bringing it back.
Rona in general has really gone down the shitter, but that’s another rant for another time.
Since I limited online shopping, I found CT and other Canadian shops to be useful.
Same day pick up, don’t have to wait two days + or missed deliveries.
Pricing might not be good, but how much you will buy?(generally/daily/monthly)Canadian Tire treats their employees like shit. You are shopping at Canadian Walmart, nothing more.
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