kind of a shame that even though they're based in Canada, if I were to buy one from either company I'd have to pay USD to get it shipped 1 hour away in the same metro area. $10 USD for local shipping apparently
In short, they are trying to make shipping price more fair for the average customer (including those oversea, or in remote regions) by making shipping a bit more expensive where it is cheaper.
Charging people nearby a bit extra allows them to offset some of those costs.
They provided a few examples of backpacks shipping to remote regions in Canada (I forgot the name, sorry) custom upwards of hundreds of dollars, but they capped shipping price to 50/60$ for every customer.
Very happy to hear that (I live in Europe), but obviously you're probably not a fan of the idea as much as I am hahaha
I had to ship a laptop from me on Vancouver Island to my employer in Vancouver and it cost ~$50.
Shipping in the states is cheap. Shipping in Canada, even very short distances, is not.