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I just bought a 5k and 2.7k versions from Home Depot here in Canada for $15.97 CAD each. My only gripe is the ~22% markup over the US pricing when the Canadian

I just bought a 5k and 2.7k versions from Home Depot here in Canada for $15.97 CAD each. My only gripe is the ~22% markup over the US pricing when the Canadian Dollar is worth ~2% more than the American (and has been for some time now). I found it funny the way they had their lights laid out in my local store. There has always only ever been one aisle dedicated to twist-in bulbs. When I entered the store today, and walked straight to that aisle. All I could find were phillips LED bulbs. Rashes of them. Almost every shelf in the aisle featured a Phillips LED bulb of some sort, for twice the price of the Crees. There were even Phillips LED comparison kisosks where consumers could turn on and off all of Phillips' LED bulbs. It was really quite a spectacle. I broke down and finally asked a sales rep, only to be told the Cree bulbs were in the "fancy/expensive" lighting section of the store. The one where they sell all of the chandeliers and lamps, and you have never been able to find twist-ins for sale. My gut feeling is that Phillips is scared they're going to lose market share over this, and are using their massive Home Depot contracts to negotiate poor placement for the Crees (and possibly poor pricing?). FYI 90%+ of the bulbs sold in Home Depots are Phillips.

justin66 13y ago
> My gut feeling is that Phillips is scared they're going to lose market share over this, and are using their massive Home Depot contracts to negotiate poor placement for the Crees (and possibly poor pricing?). FYI 90%+ of the bulbs sold in Home Depots are Phillips. It'd be interesting to know what kind of maneuvering the companies are doing. Here in the US Cree is paying for a single "end cap" (end of the aisle placement in the front of the store) and the bulbs are selling out fast. Home depot is also their main distributor. But the store is littered with other brands, not just Philips.
- ZeroCoin 13y ago
  I should take a picture of my Local home depot's light bulb "selection", it truly is humorous. I picked up my two cree bulbs in an "end cap"-esque box today, however it was not at the end of any aisle, rather hidden away in the lamp section.
moheeb 13y ago
That is something I've never understood...how can the Canadian dollar be worth 2% more when prices are nearly always much higher in Canada?
- qu4z-2 13y ago
  Because exchange rates and cost of living are two separate things. The Canadian dollar is worth 2% more, meaning for one Canadian dollar you get USD$1.02. On the other hand, stuff in Canada is more expensive no matter whether you're paying in CAD or USD. Exchange rate is to do with currencies, independent of location; cost-of-living is to do with location [pretty much] independent of currency. To see a much more drastic difference in cost of living, try going somewhere like Siam^WThailand. Maybe someone else can fill in the details on the factors that influence exchange rate and cost of living.

justin66 13y ago

> My gut feeling is that Phillips is scared they're going to lose market share over this, and are using their massive Home Depot contracts to negotiate poor placement for the Crees (and possibly poor pricing?). FYI 90%+ of the bulbs sold in Home Depots are Phillips. It'd be interesting to know what kind of maneuvering the companies are doing. Here in the US Cree is paying for a single "end cap" (end of the aisle placement in the front of the store) and the bulbs are selling out fast. Home depot is also their main distributor. But the store is littered with other brands, not just Philips.

ZeroCoin 13y ago
I should take a picture of my Local home depot's light bulb "selection", it truly is humorous. I picked up my two cree bulbs in an "end cap"-esque box today, however it was not at the end of any aisle, rather hidden away in the lamp section.

moheeb 13y ago

That is something I've never understood...how can the Canadian dollar be worth 2% more when prices are nearly always much higher in Canada?

qu4z-2 13y ago
Because exchange rates and cost of living are two separate things. The Canadian dollar is worth 2% more, meaning for one Canadian dollar you get USD$1.02. On the other hand, stuff in Canada is more expensive no matter whether you're paying in CAD or USD. Exchange rate is to do with currencies, independent of location; cost-of-living is to do with location [pretty much] independent of currency. To see a much more drastic difference in cost of living, try going somewhere like Siam^WThailand. Maybe someone else can fill in the details on the factors that influence exchange rate and cost of living.