retail woes

[CheeserBeezer]

I've heard it said many times you don't actually have to use a solicitor to write a will. There are forms you can download on line and do it yourself. Having said that I've not done it and we did use a lawyer albeit pre-Covid and for very reasonable money. I guess it might depend on how complex your affairs are...Anyway I'm not paying anyone to put the Beeza back together so I better crack on!

...and if you think your affairs aren't complicated, a solicitor will soon make them complicated.

[Black Sheep]

That's another urban myth.
It doesn't have salt in it, but it does have the chemical compounds known as "salts" in it's composition, and there's a big difference.
Shouldn't use it though as it stays "slippery" for too long, unlike proper tyre soap which evaporates very quickly.

The guy that told me worked for Unilever on the detergents side so I assumed he knew his stuff. If you wash the bike using washing up liquid you can sometimes see tiny dots of reaction on the beautifully polished alloy.
Doesn't happen on my bikes which get an annual wash down with paraffin.   

[Angus]

I must admit, I find this export/import problem to the EU strange. I have no personnel experience (Well one purchase from Italy but no drama or costs incurred there) , but I wonder if it is because we are playing too much by the rules again or if the EU import rules are stricter/better enforced then ours. My examples are purchases from China with values ranging from £5 to £130. All sent through the post, all with customs declarations on the parcel and all arriving without drama or any additional costs.

[CheeserBeezer]

I must admit, I find this export/import problem to the EU strange. I have no personnel experience (Well one purchase from Italy but no drama or costs incurred there) , but I wonder if it is because we are playing too much by the rules again or if the EU import rules are stricter/better enforced then ours. My examples are purchases from China with values ranging from £5 to £130. All sent through the post, all with customs declarations on the parcel and all arriving without drama or any additional costs.

The purchaser doesn't see the issues. Your observations may be correct. If I send a consignment, of any significant value, overseas, all the individual contents have to be given a customs code. Try finding the customs code for a second hand light switch for a 1958 Gold Star!. If there are 20 items in the consignment, ranging from electrical parts to cycle parts to accessories, each has to have its own code. Furthermore, a description of the materials used in construction and country of origin for each component have to be stated. trust me, it takes hours!

[groily]

I think it's the £130 threshhold that probably saves the day there Angus.

It's certainly often tougher, going the other way. I was a bit irked to have to pay 25€ for a Christmas present sent to the wife by her brother from the UK! Which meant both countries got the VAT, the French picked up their admin fee, etc.

But it's a lottery. Some stuff just comes no hassle, while other items of similar declared value get caught.
If goods coming here are made in the UK, there should be no customs charge at least, but that isn't always made clear or respected either.
Postie won't leave anything on which taxes are said to be due, what's more. So if you want to argue, it has to be after the event. Refusal to accept a package doesn't work too well either - I took one argument to the stage where the 'huissiers' (bailiffs) were threatening to drop by before I surrendered. That was from the USA.


For these and the related admin reasons at the despatch end, I can quite see why many businesses won't sell into the EU. CB's latest comment says it all.
There are also other countries to which many businesses won't send things for reasons of incompetent postal services, theft en route and so on.
South America is hard, South Africa is a nightmare these days, as are parts of Asia, and even the USA can be problematic.

Globalisation is just a word really.

[Rex]

I must admit, I find this export/import problem to the EU strange.

Me too. I can go to Lidl's and buy (as examples) bacon and mushrooms from Ireland, cheeses from Germany and Denmark, flowers and veg from the Netherlands, Portugese biscuits and Polish stew ingredients, all of which could/are also home produced in the UK.
Clearly EU imports aren't unduly affected, so why the unnecessary  European forms-in-triplicate exports? Protectionism?
Political dogma rather than pragmatic business again.

[Colsbeeza]

What is now the general feeling in UK? Was Brexit a mistake?
Col

[limeyrob]

It depends who you ask. Those opposed will say its been a disaster, but those who support it will say its been a success.
The town I'm in, Slough, has a young population (one of the youngest in the UK) and voted out.  They saw the EU as limiting their freedom and looked more to the rest of the world.  I'm in oil&gas and they welcomed it, its a global industry and the EU was trying to take control.  Few EU members have natural resources and so the EU wanted to take over North Sea oil 7 gas as a common resource - it would have bankrupted the UK and made the fishing arguments look like nothing.  Its why Norway will never join.
We travel a lot - Nice in a couple of weeks, Malta a months ago, last year Germany, Italy, Poland.  Brexit hasn't affected our travel at all.  We have a UK Health card and bio-metric passports.  I was travelling before we joined the EU so its all very familiar to me.
Re sales, I sell on e-bay and have recently sold to Germany, Italy and Spain with no problems and I bought from Austria (a bike part) without any problem. What I do agree with is that some suppliers have got it sorted and others have made a right mess of it.  British Only Austria are particularity efficient and can get a part on my door step cheaper than many UK suppliers.

[a101960]

"  British Only Austria are particularity efficient and can get a part on my door step cheaper than many UK suppliers." I find the same thing with stuff that I have bought from the US. Even with all the add ons, frequently the price is far less than I can get it for in the UK.

[limeyrob]

There is an international post agreement that determines the post charges for each country.  China rigged it and have got very low international postage rates, interestingly Trump has this on his to-do list.  The US rates to the UK are a lot less than the UK rates to the US.  I needed a tool that was about 2lb weight.  The post from the US was about half the post from the UK supplier and the US price was about 75%.

[Colsbeeza]

I have purchased a fair bit of stuff from the US, mainly through eBay. Their eBay shipping charges are over the top. A pair of Lilac front forks at US$40 would have charged US$200 to ship. Needless to say I left it in the USA. Most sellers don't seem to want to negotiate any solutions as eBay will give them a huge slap on the wrist. Buying direct from suppliers is much cheaper. I purchased US$350 in parts for my veteran Harley and postage was US$59. Unfortunately, eBay is probably the only way to find really rare stuff.
Col

[CheeserBeezer]

It depends who you ask. Those opposed will say its been a disaster, but those who support it will say its been a success.
The town I'm in, Slough, has a young population (one of the youngest in the UK) and voted out.  They saw the EU as limiting their freedom and looked more to the rest of the world.  I'm in oil&gas and they welcomed it, its a global industry and the EU was trying to take control.  Few EU members have natural resources and so the EU wanted to take over North Sea oil 7 gas as a common resource - it would have bankrupted the UK and made the fishing arguments look like nothing.  Its why Norway will never join.
We travel a lot - Nice in a couple of weeks, Malta a months ago, last year Germany, Italy, Poland.  Brexit hasn't affected our travel at all.  We have a UK Health card and bio-metric passports.  I was travelling before we joined the EU so its all very familiar to me.
Re sales, I sell on e-bay and have recently sold to Germany, Italy and Spain with no problems and I bought from Austria (a bike part) without any problem. What I do agree with is that some suppliers have got it sorted and others have made a right mess of it.  British Only Austria are particularity efficient and can get a part on my door step cheaper than many UK suppliers.

Ref: Brexit. Do I feel better off? No. Do I feel that our borders are more secure? No. Do I feel safer now that we are out of the EU (and Russia has bombed the pants off Ukraine)? No. Does our NHS suddenly seem better as a consequence of all the cash being spent on it that we're not spending in the EU? No. Do I feel that all the trading agreements we are now able to negotiate are making our shopping cheaper and our range of goods better? No. Would those who voted for Brexit and are still in favour of it like to explain how it has improved their lives? Probably not. Do I care? No, because there's f*** all I can do about. I had my vote. 51% of the country didn't agree with me so they must be right!

[Rex]

Did I believe my life would get instantly and demonstrably better? No.
Was I happy that close on 1000 years of a largely workable (and widely copied)  democratic system was going to be overturned and dumped by career politicians lusting over a life on the Brussels gravy train, and having to take instructions from distant foreign politicians with no regard for Britain or Britons? No.
Do we really want to reopen the can of (Brexit) worms after so many years? No.

[CheeserBeezer]

Did I believe my life would get instantly and demonstrably better? No.
Was I happy that close on 1000 years of a largely workable (and widely copied)  democratic system was going to be overturned and dumped by career politicians lusting over a life on the Brussels gravy train, and having to take instructions from distant foreign politicians with no regard for Britain or Britons? No.
Do we really want to reopen the can of (Brexit) worms after so many years? No.

Absolutely right, no point in reopening that can of worms, we've had the vote, end of. And I can understand why those who voted to leave don't want to talk about it.

[Rex]

And I can understand why those who voted to leave don't want to talk about it.

Maybe they're just fed up of the constant background whine of blaming each and every bump in the road on Brexit?
I know I am.