How bad are the food prices in the North now?

[cindybubbles]

This video was uploaded about 4 years and 1 month ago. It showed a bag of chips that costs $7.39 up in Nunavut when it would usually cost $2 - $3 here in Ontario!

To any of you who live up there or someplace similar, please let me know if the prices have dropped/risen/stayed the same! I know it is expensive because you have to fly the food up there, but didn't the government provide subsidies to make it more affordable?

What do you think? If you live up north, but don't live in Canada, are your food prices reasonable? If not, how do you deal?

[Gravekeeper]

It's the same or little bit better on certain items ( mainly fresh produce ). Its a major issue in Nunavut. And the shipping costs ARE subsidized by the government in Canada, but many of the retailers are pocketing the cash instead of passing on the savings. So the prices haven't come down much as a result.

So the failure isn't on the government of Canada, its within Nunavut. The middlemen are making a sweet buck off the government.

[s_stabeler]

unless you argue that it's the government's job to ensure the savings are passed on.

[AccountingDrone]

What I don't understand is why they still use those stupid trucks that go on the ice roads ... I saw some sort of commercial where they claim that each of the trucks costs about a million dollars, they can only do in a restricted timeframe and the convoy is about 10 trucks [in the tv show, it might be more than that in real life] and flying stuff in is done in airplanes.

Why doesn't some damned company buy a couple of the heavy lift airships that have a decent cargo capacity for the same amount of money that the 10 trucks cost, they can then ship any time of year and the freight cost would level out. And they wouldn't have to worry about falling through the ice. They can also land in fairly small communities with no major airstrip length.

[Gravekeeper]

unless you argue that it's the government's job to ensure the savings are passed on.

They do. Retailers are required to submit monthly reports and may be audited at any time. Hence a few of them have been caught not passing the entire savings on so to speak. There are very few retailers in Nunavut ( like...7 ), so when half are getting caught with their hand in the cookie jar it affects a lot of people. Additionally, you have small one off stores that are basically just the 1 store in a given community.

There are two main problems aside from that:

A) The government of Canada subsidizes shipping costs based on food value. IE they will fully subsidize the shipping cost of fresh produce, milk, cheese, eggs, etc. But they're not going to fully subsidize your cool ranch Doritos.

B) Even with shipping subsidies some shit is just going to be expensive because you're no where remotely near where its produced so there's no direct chain from a distributor. Turkey is one example. Turkey is expensive in Nunavut even after the subsidies because well, its turkey and this is the arctic circle. >.>

What I don't understand is why they still use those stupid trucks that go on the ice roads

Because those "stupid trucks" along with seasonal sea lifts are actually the most cost efficient shipping method for non-perishable items. While planes on the other hand are the most cost efficient for perishables.

Why doesn't some damned company buy a couple of the heavy lift airships that have a decent cargo capacity for the same amount of money that the 10 trucks cost, they can then ship any time of year and the freight cost would level out.

Well, aside from being new conceptual phase technology without a proven track record. The problem isn't volume per vehicle. A heavy lift airship is inferior speed wise to a transport plane so out of the gate its not going to work for perishables.

For non-perishables, its operating cost is comparable to estimated traditional freight ( again no track record ) but its a single large volume craft. Those 10 trucks split up to 10 different small communities. There's no community in Nunavut that requires 500 metric tons of non-perishables nor has any place to put it. Which means operating 1 craft on a longer, slower delivery route instead of 10 smaller loads to 10 different destinations that only need 1 trucks worth of supply.

[patiokitty]

Pretty much everything costs more here on the tropical isle of Newfoundland. A lot of it has to do with the fact that we cannot grow a large volume of foods locally due to lack of arable land - we've got a LOT of scrub, trees, and rock instead of land that can be used for farming or grazing of animals. A lot has to come from off the island, and that means ferrying it or flying it across from the mainland. Winter is worse because the ferries often simply CANNOT make it across due to sea conditions. So not only do we have to deal with the fact shipping is added into the cost of our food, but there is also the whole supply and demand thing at play.

For example, a 2L of milk here is around $4, 1doz eggs is about $3.50, 1lb of butter is about $5. Canned milk? $2 each. The only thing that isn't priced super high is seafood that can be (and usually is) locally caught - I eat a lot more seafood here than I ever did in BC. About the only place to get relatively cheap food is Walmart because those prices are set by their corporate office for across Canada.

[Gravekeeper]

I eat a lot more seafood here than I ever did in BC.

Conversely, after moving to BC from PEI I swore to never eat seafood ever again.

[cindybubbles]

It still amazes me that Tropicana Orange Juice cost $13.00 in Nunavut in that video, whereas here in Ontario, I've seen 1L juice cartons go for only a buck or two!

[cindybubbles]

I've got an article that says more about this:
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/06...n_1588144.html

[Gravekeeper]

That article is from before the new subsidies program. It was implemented in Oct of 2012 and had been in planning since 2010. If you want the full info, reports, etc its all available from the Government of Canada.

[cindybubbles]

Thanks, Gravekeeper! I'm wondering if Alaska has high food prices, too, though....

[Gravekeeper]

I don't think Alaska has many problems with grocery prices given that its mainly a single landmass and has a much larger population and density. Nunavut is pretty much a desolate wasteland of horror and apex predators spread across a collection of small islands.

Nunavut:
Population: 31,906
Density: 0.02/km2 - 0.052/sq mi

Alaska:
Population: 735,132
Density: 0.49/km2 - 1.26/sq mi

[TheHuckster]

I've been to Fairbanks, Alaska several years ago in October, and I do remember some markups on food. However, it wasn't nearly as bad as Nunavut.

They did, however, have a HUGE markup on gas prices. They were double what I paid in the Northeast where live, and I was told the main reason for it was because, while crude oil was imported to Alaska and carried via the pipeline to the port in Valdez, they still had to ship it to the continental 48, refine it there, and then ship it back, hence the steeper prices.