Barriej

Ive decided to run my little business from two locations. Stock for me is drop shipped and my main supplier has a Uk and EU warehouse. (prices have always been more expensive here in the EU as they make and export out of S.E Asia)
The stuff I make is small and my son will run the Uk side.
He already has enough of my products to last a year or so as I made loads before we moved out, but to restock gives me two choices, go to the Uk for a week or so and make new stock, or make it here and take it when we visit (not advisable)

Will cross that bridge when I get to it.

Rotor

Loafing Along

One thing we must not forget according to Jacob Rees-Mogg " British fish are better and happier " now they are swimming in British waters. That can be chalked up as a major achievement for Boris and his team

DLC

It's not just opening a company in the EU, it's having to set up a distribution hub in the EU, employing people in the EU, and paying taxes in the EU just to stay as things were before Brexit.

It's not cheap, probably means any investment on the UK side is on hold, and may even involve cut backs on the UK side. And it's not even an option for many businesses who don't have the capital to expand or are in a sector like fishing.

And as for services, especially financial services, opening a shoebox with a brass plate on it in an EU country won't be enough. Equivalence rules are quite clear on that.

Rotor

Very few will be affected that way , only big players who should have seen it coming , the smart ones like Stobarts et al are already set up all over Europe and have been for years , the small independents who`s been winging it for years and not paid attention will fall by the wayside and it will be no great loss as many operate illegally anyway .

I know a lot of people in business and spend time on business business forums and generally everyone seems happy , supplies/goods are going both ways across the channel unhindered , even with covid , ignore media hype about lorry drivers sandwiches , the most discontent seems to be coming from ex pats who are realising they wont be able to live an English lifestyle in the sun with Angel Delight and Bovril sent by post from the UK .

DLC

As you have understood me to be referring to logistics, not everyone wants or needs Stobarts to be supplied or supply their goods (not that Stobarts is particularly big for a European logistics company). Independents could deliver goods quickly and there was nothing illegal or any as it could be done thanks to the single market. Not any more.

If you're interested here's one going up from Spain to the UK who's going back empty to not get caught up in customs, and he's used to Swiss customs:



However I was referring to British businesses who make and sell goods. British companies selling to EU consumers could just stick stuff in the post. Now they may even have to set up a distribution warehouse in the EU. British food companies could supply practically any prepared, fresh, or raw food overnight for arrival the next day with hardly any paperwork. Now paperwork can require days to sort out, for example meat rotting in Rotterdam. DEFRA actually advises British businesses to set up in the EU:


After Johnson said that there were no tariff or non tariff barrers on Christmas Eve, Businesses were warned of the exact changes at about 4pm on December the 31st. And.as usual Johnson was economical with the truth, there were many tariff and non tariff barriers and people did not know before this was published exactly what the deal would entail.

From the EU's point of view, the UK is exporting half of last year.

Incoming trade from Great Britain remains at ‘half the level of 2020’

Almost half of lorries bound for Calais completely empty

Something's going wrong somewhere and I would say it's unsustainable.

Notdunroamin

Rotor seems to be a closed minded diehard brexiteer so pointing out the obvious to him is futile.

Like him or not James O'Brian on LBC came up with a wonderfully succinct summary of what's going on, he said:"We wrote the EU rules which third countries must abide by, we then voted to become a third country, we are now moaning about the EU rules which third countries must abide by."

Rotor

Doom mongers a plenty , why would you be so concerned when you've chosen to become a European ? KPMG`s forecast looks encouraging and barely gives Brexit a mention , its concerns are , rationally, based on Covid outcomes .

The FTSE is looking pretty good too.

No need to go into how the UK is leading the way with vaccination rollouts whilst Europe is clearly becoming a disaster .

scrubbedexpat142

And while the UK is leading the way with the highest current daily average death rate.

Rotor

Indeed , the UK has suffered certain demographics ignoring govt rules and laws , a much harder stance should have been taken on law breakers , the govt trusted the people to comply for their own good and too many ignored the law and still are , Spain isnt getting away with it lightly either .

Rosemary

Lynn R

I don't know if it's an indication that things are settling down somewhat, but with some trepidation I made two orders from Marks & Spencer last week (their Spanish site, although the confirmation said the goods were dispatched from their UK warehouse). Their website said they guarantee no additional customs or delivery charges (although I'm sure any extra costs they have incurred will be built into the sale price!). The first order was placed on Tuesday 23 February and the second the following day. I chose to have them delivered to my local DHL collection point and was given a delivery date of Thursday 4 March for the first order and Monday 8 March for the second. Yesterday I got a message to say the first order was ready for collection, and when I went to get it this morning the second order was there too, so 3 working days earlier than expected. True to their word, there were no additional charges asked for, and no forms for me to fill in. So it seems goods can be ordered with confidence from M&S, and good service from DHL too.

Barriej

I think M&S have satellite warehouses all over and are able to 'route' stuff through these. I will ask my boy when I talk to him as he works in a flagship store behind the scenes.
But I do know a lot of UK companies got together to open EU destinations for their goods, one of the wholesale companies I drop ship from have warehouses in 10 EU countries now (even here in Spain) and they ship fair trade products from SE Asia direct to these now, instead of the main Uk one in Sheffield. They also make products in the Uk and ship those and apart from one batch of aroma therapy oil they are reporting no issues with shipping from the Uk to the EU so far with the customs forms etc.

Loafing Along

i remember when M & S opened their first store in Madrid in the late '80s . They even had their sandwich range with the usual short sell-by date. I knew the logistics company that managed their products and asked how was this possible. Apparently legislation was such that no date was put until they were actually removed from the deep freeze container that had been used to ship them.

Barriej

That would be Unique foods (now green core) I worked for them and they used to do BR cheese sandwiches as well.
They still do M&S, British Airways and a couple of others.
The main factory is in Northampton.