Buying Yarn - To drive or not to drive...

I don't live in a place where I can run to a local store and grab some yarn. The closest place to get Red Heart or Bernat yarns is 1.5 hrs away where there is a Fabricland (with limited Red Heart With Love colours) or Wal-Mart (limited Bernat Premium / Red Heart Super Saver colours).

I prefer using RH With Love, but Fabricland is overpriced at $8.85 a skein.  The Bernat Premium is great yarn and $4 CHEAPER, but I prefer using The With Love yarn for afghans since it's thicker yarn - although they are both Worsted Weight (4). This also makes making an afghan more expensive sadly.

I needed more colours for the Granny's Attic afghan, but I didn't want to spend a day driving plus $60 in gas to get yarn, so I did some math and checked buying online. I don't need the yarn today, so it wasn't a rush.

I created a chart for comparison.

I left out DUTY because of NAFTA - I shouldn't have to pay duty on US made goods and RedHeart Yarn is made in the USA, (imported goods I buy from this site, I should be charged...that's my understanding, anyways), but If I was buying something else, I would get charged it at RedHeart.

I chose to go with Herrschners although RedHeart appears to be cheaper - and the key word is 'appears' - with Herrschners, I know what I'm being charged.

• No duties on anything on the site
• Billed in Canadian Dollars
• Delivered by Canada Post
• Returns processed in Ontario
• Prices
• Great Selection 

Redheart

• Billed in USD
• Does not show correct tax before final checkout (see chart - should be over $6)
• Does not mention duty charges (if I was buying non US made items)
• Until my Credit card gets charged, I don't really know the real cost after duty/exchange rates.

Umm...and I don't know why DISCOUNT shows as blue in the table below :) I'm talking about Yarn here...not worried about fighting with HTML!

SHOPPING COST COMPARISON

Table Header	FABRICLAND	HERRSCHNERS	REDHEART
PRICE @ 1 skien	$ 8.85	$ 6.24	$ 5.49
PRICE @ 12 skiens	$ 106.20	$ 74.88	$ 65.88
DISCOUNT	20% = $ 84.96		20% = $ 52.70
TAX (GST @ 12%)	$ 10.20	$ 8.99	$ 3.53
SHIPPING		$ 13.95	$ 17.95
EXCHANGE @ $1.26			$ 93.47
GAS	$ 60.00
TIME	4 hrs	7 - 14 days	10 days
TOTALS	$ 155.16	$ 97.82	$ 93.47

* RedHeart was an online discount code - so this would not be reflective of buying there on a regular basis.
* I have a yearly Fabricland Member card which is $25 dollars - it gives the %20 discount.
*You can get a yearly membership card for Herrschners for 25$ that gives 10% discount on all orders and free shipping on first order, but they don't state the conditions - just *free shipping

Once I get the yarn in, I'll post an update.