My preference is to keep my hard earned money in my local community where it will benefit my friends, family and neighbours who in turn will spend their money within our community and keep it vital.

It’s an idealistic model, I get that, and yes I realize that I buy things that are manufactured elsewhere – that’s not what I’m writing about.

Sometimes there may be a difference in price between my local camera supplier and buying the same thing online, or over the border, however, I believe the extra price is worth it to keep my local camera supplier in business.

Why do I want to do that? Often I run in there needing a last minute rental, or some advice in a panic, or a special order and they are ALWAYS more than willing to help out. They sponsor local events that keep photographers networking and they donate time, effort and product to our conventions and programs.

$270 is a big difference and I understand that we all have families to feed and taxes to pay, so here’s my suggestion. Next time you are faced with such a drastic price difference, ask your local supplier if they are in a position to match that price or come down a bit. If not, and they may not be, at least you have given them the opportunity and your first choice was to keep your money in your community. Be cautious though not to grind them constantly with comparison ads as different communities have different economies.

My supplier is Beau Photo here in Vancouver and they do an outstanding job of supporting me and my business every step of the way so I gladly pay their prices and honestly, have never comparison shopped. In the end, it’s worth more to me to have local support than a bit of extra cash in my pocket.

End of rant,
Anna