and clothes, electronics, etc, etc. Fuel is much more expensive (ex: gasoline was about $3.80/gallon in Jan) except at cities on the border which are closer to US prices. On top of that, there is a 16.5% tax included in the price of most consumer goods. Because of that, lots of people used to travel to the US to buy clothes, school supplies, and other items for "back to school" time or Christmas. Given the rise in the USD:MXN exchange rate, that's not as attractive any more especially when factoring the cost of fuel to get there (unless you are also buying a few 55 gallon drums of gasoline to sell when you get back home). Income taxes can be higher too.