Consumption patterns in Quebec

A small anthology of the consumption system in Montreal.

1) MONEY
Expect to spend your time calculating the final price to pay at the checkout all the time.

In fact, taxes are never included on any in-store price.

Count 15% of taxes (TPS = 5% and TVQ = 9.975%)

• Add to this the tip or “tips” in many services

In restaurants, the norm is to add a tip of 15% on average in addition to taxes (i.e. 30% more than the amount indicated on the card!). Indeed, some employees have very low salaries and are paid with tips.

For other professions it is not always clear. It is said that in a bar we give 1$ per drink, we add tips to personal service professions such as hairdressers, massage therapists etc.

Taxis, on average 1 to 2 $

Often in cafes, there will always be a small tip jar in front of the cash register. In fact, for a takeaway service there is no obligation to tip, because we are not talking about real "service".

• Payment methods

Cash or in cash = in cash

Debit or Interac = debit card

Credit = credit card

Yes, in Quebec, we have 2 cards.

Here the culture pushes towards consumption and these credit cards are a double-edged sword. You pay with money that you don't have but that you have to repay (or at least a minimum amount to avoid interest within 21 days). No overdraft allowed here but this system of purchasing on credit that the French are a little afraid of. We will tend not to spend thousands and hundreds with it or to repay quickly to get back to 0.

2) TRADES

• Opening hours

You should know that almost all shops are open on Sundays.

In general, the opening hours of the shops are distributed as follows:

Monday – Wednesday: 10am – 6pm

Thursday-Friday: 10am – 9pm

Saturday-Sunday: 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.

However, pharmacies are open from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m., 7 days a week.

So you can find medicines there, but not only that: personal care, hygiene, cleaning products, makeup, you can even develop photos there, buy a snack or even post a letter (yes, the post offices are in these stores).

Supermarkets or small grocery stores are open from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m., 7 days a week.

The repairers (called " mini markets " Or " the local arab » in France), are as its name indicates a place that can help out. You can buy beer, cigarettes, chips, sweets there. They are everywhere. They are often open until 11 p.m.

After this time they can no longer sell alcohol.

• Speaking of alcohol, here, unlike in France, you cannot buy it in supermarkets when you go shopping. .

In fact, we stock up on wine, spirits and liqueurs at the SAQ (Quebec Alcohol Society)

There are SAQ Express stores open until 10 p.m. every evening.

• Moreover, with the legalization of cannabis, there SQDC has a storefront in several locations in the city in order to obtain some. 

All the flavors, there is something for everyone. It's very simple, easy to spot, there is always a queue in front of this store.

3) RESTAURANTS

• Given the price of bottles of wine in Quebec, restaurants are increasingly offering the possibility ofbring your bottle of wine when you come to eat. In fact, the prices in restaurants are even higher than when buying them at the SAQ, so the options " hasbring your wine » are quite common and more economical.
• The dishes are much bigger than our portions in Europe

It's very simple, a Small menu here will correspond to a meal for 3 people very often. We can therefore ask for Doggy Bags at the end of the meal in order to bring the leftovers of your meal barely started often at home (no waste)

4) TELEPHONE/INTERNET PACKAGES

You'll find out soon enough when you arrive, but phone plans (or cell phones as they are called) here are exorbitant.

We are far from the Free packages at 2 euros.

This expense item takes up a portion of your monthly budget that should not be overlooked.

For example, for a 6GB package, I pay more than 55 $ per month including taxes.

The plans do not offer much higher GB options

Not everything is unlimited like most of our packages in France

So hang on. Here again there is a monopoly of 2 large telephone companies Videotron and Bell, so no competition with low cost packages possible.

Internet can be expensive too, but if you search carefully you can try to find reasonable subscriptions (even better if you arrive living in a shared apartment, it won't take much of your monthly budget).

In summary

What costs more here:

• The wine
• The cheese
• Air travel
• Phone/Internet packages

What costs less:

• Electricity
• The essence
• Water is free