Costly passports
- Thread starter niteowl
- Start date
To the best of my understanding the new security features do not add any additional information collected about you, all it does is be able to store them securely on a chip so that it can be matched with the machine readable information already there.
Personally I have no trouble paying twice the fee for twice the validity, providing that they can still issue the extra page passports for the same premium they currently do. I hate the pain in the ass of having to go in to renew passport, take pics etc. I also don't mind if ICBC was to double the fee and make the license valid for 10 years.
Well technically, if you got the 5-year $60 passport and kept the other $60 in a high-yielding mutual fun (with an annual return of let's say 8%), by the time your passport expires, you will have $88 with compounded interest.
Since 56% of Canadians have passports (19,310,356), collectively this new passport means we'll be missing out on more than 540 million dollars from potential interest earned.
*tucks calculator back into pocket protector*
The irony of it is that the new Canadian passport covers are NOT made in Canada anymore. Geez! Talk about patriotism. Its like the US Olympic Team's Ralph Lauren-designed uniforms that was Made in China. For me, there are things that should be strictly " Made In Canada " no matter the economics. :nod:
I have no problem with the new fees.
$120 for a 10 yr passport is $12.00 a year. A small fraction of the cost of the trip you are taking, requiring you to have a passport.
$120 for a 10 yr passport is $12.00 a year. A small fraction of the cost of the trip you are taking, requiring you to have a passport.
I have zero problem with the additional security features being built into the new passports. If the technology makes it a safer place for everyone then its a winning situation. Everyone who has the RFID will probably be sped through Immigration a lot quicker than the travellers without the technology because they will continue to require the personal interview with border agents.
I hear all the stuff about personal information but really if you don't have anything to hide what's the problem? The additional RFID info is to gather "who is traveling" not "what's in your bank account of if you have paid your parking tickets".
Think about it if we had this type of technology deployed prior to 9/11 and all the Border Security, NSA, CIA and FBI were all on the same team. It may have changed history.
I hear all the stuff about personal information but really if you don't have anything to hide what's the problem? The additional RFID info is to gather "who is traveling" not "what's in your bank account of if you have paid your parking tickets".
Think about it if we had this type of technology deployed prior to 9/11 and all the Border Security, NSA, CIA and FBI were all on the same team. It may have changed history.
They also get a crack at you every time you renew your insurance.
Lets add another variable to this equation. It will take approximately 20 mins to fill in an application, half an hour to an hour to take new pics, one hour waiting in line. and 15-20 mins going over the application with the clerk and probably another half hour to go pick it up. This works out to almost three working hours wasted. Whats' your hour worth?
Wow, people will bitch about the tiniest things when it comes to $$. The existing passports for adults are $87 for 24 pages and $92 for 48 pages and are both valid for 5 years. The proposed passport fees for the new ePassports for adults are $160 (valid for 10 years) and $120 (valid for 5 years). So the cost per year has actually gone down from $17.40 (24 pages) and $18.40 (48 pages) to $16.00 (on the 10 year new ePassport). And the incremental increases are less than the cost of a half-decent HJ session for Christ's sake...
Factor in the real inflation rate and not what they tell you, then your down to 3% interest. Is your time worth 3% of 60?
