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Half a year in - How is BREXIT affecting you?

redzer007
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Used to buy watches, cars, boats and parts for same from UK, was pretty painless getting to Ireland. Post Brexit I still considered buying from UK, but having to explain to UK retailers they should not be charging me UK vat for exported goods I have now stopped buying anything from UK and now looking other EU nations. Not great for cars tbh, but ok for watches.

I also work for a fast going tech company, I have moved my preferred hirering location to Amsterdam vs London, easier to get high quality multilingual people.

Think some of Irish house price increase is driven by additional demand as FSI companies move out of London to certain EU cities (of which Dublin is one)

Pretty much as expected tbh.
 
Dedalus05
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Irish here too. I was over a few weeks ago as the fuel crises hit. It was tedious (and a little unnerving) queuing for fuel before my trip back to the ferry. The supermarkets seemed very well stocked, though I didn't visit many.

It's hard not to be political about the situation here as a Government of ideologues in London appears to be playing fast and loose with a very delicate situation re: the Irish border in the North.

That said, I'm no more or less married to the "European Project" now than I was pre-Brexit. As long as the upset to the Irish border is minimal I wish the UK the best of luck.

I keep getting unexpected refunds for Amazon purchases as they estimate import costs on check-out. Also tedious, but I got €100 back the other day for a product I purchased months ago - gonna drink it tonight. Happy days.
 
Engee
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JohnWoo JohnWoo
Not seen any shortages because of Brexit.
Lots of Remoaners blaming anything they can think of!
If something unwelcome happens it's Brexit that caused it, if something positive happens it's despite Brexit.
We have acute labour shortages, food rotting on farms, supply chain problems worse than the rest of Europe, a flight of companies away from the UK. Massive additional bureaucracy. Meanwhile we were promised the easiest to achieve trade deals with the rest of the world. Where are they? That’s just off the top of my head. It’s not a question of blaming everything on Brexit regardless. It is without doubt the case that Brexit is the reason most of for these problems. Anyone who denies this is being willfully ignorant, and like the government are trying to blame it all on Covid, which is utter, palpable nonsense.
 
YY77
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JohnWoo JohnWoo
1. No, nothing in my local stores was out of stock, honestly it's been fine.
Could you have been fooled?

Screenshot_20211024-211747.png
 
Omegafanman
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Engee Engee
We have acute labour shortages, food rotting on farms, supply chain problems worse than the rest of Europe, a flight of companies away from the UK. Massive additional bureaucracy. Meanwhile we were promised the easiest to achieve trade deals with the rest of the world. Where are they? That’s just off the top of my head. It’s not a question of blaming everything on Brexit regardless. It is without doubt the case that Brexit is the reason most of for these problems. Anyone who denies this is being willfully ignorant, and like the government are trying to blame it all on Covid, which is utter, palpable nonsense.

Having had a family history in different European countries the UK seemed to have cheaper produce and more choice.. but mostly not better quality. Overall the Police and AE did a better job in the UK. Hospitals in general is more open to debate (no free food in Italy I think but more beds in Germany etc ). The UK is an Island and has a big population - food prices probably were too cheap with too much waste. I am interested to see how it all pans out / a bit early to tell. It was / is certainly easier to sack people in the UK hence why some companies avoided closing French plants when there was a UK option,
Edited:
 
khanmu
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@ChrisN makes a valid point - that this thread is about “how is Brexit affecting you”.

For me personally, right now, day to day, it’s a minor irritant. I have to queue a bit longer at EU passport control, I can’t come and go as I please into the EU, things that I might personally import from the EU will cost me a bit more and take a bit longer (watches, wine, anything I buy on eBay), and in my business I have more bureaucracy to deal with, and possibly less opportunity as potential clients choose not to work with a U.K. company. Also labour shortages (eg for home building work, we are planning an extension build) are leading to higher costs and longer delays, given fewer East European builders.

The truth is though, I can absorb these - I have done moderately well in my professional life, such that that I’ll be able deal with these, and in about 5 years time I’m planning to retire early at 50 anyway. In the meantime, i may have buy one less watch, or pay for the fast track visa travel scheme when it is launched, as it invariably will, and I can probably absorb any price increases with a slight grumble. In business, I will have to work a bit harder and travel a bit further to win work. But I’ll cope.

No man is an island though, and I am concerned about those who will suffer much more - for example, those who can’t export products into the EU (fishermen, farmers), who can’t easily travel (musicians, roadies, students) or service sectors that will suffer from the lack of labour (care homes, health, restaurants), those who will miss jobs because companies will choose not to build their export factories or HQs in the U.K. - the list goes on…I also worry about our standing as a nation and how we will be seen in future - insular, untrustworthy, and willing to break agreements which we negotiated and agreed, whenever it suits us. Also, to be clear, I have personally, seen no tangible benefits from Brexit, and not do I foresee any.
Edited:
 
TimeODanaos
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khanmu khanmu
I have personally, seen no tangible benefits from Brexit, and not do I foresee any.
🙁
Edited:
 
ChrisN
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TimeODanaos TimeODanaos
🙁
I suppose you've accidentally trimmed the words with my name and then this quote about not seeing any possible benefits?

One benefit might be that the poorly paid will now receive more money as there will be fewer people willing to work for the lowest wage. Perhaps the days of cheap labour in UK are over and many workers will have a better standard of life? That isn't what the thread is about but as I've been tagged here, I suppose I should answer so, feel free to ignore my comment.

Chris
 
TimeODanaos
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ChrisN ChrisN
I suppose you've accidentally trimmed the words with my name and then this quote about not seeing any possible benefits?
Chris, I owe you an apology: you are quite right, keeping your name there as if it were a tag was a complete accident, and I was unaware of it until just now. Those who know me will confirm I lack both the sophistication and the keyboard smarts to commit that error deliberately. The words that caused me to feel sad were those of khanmu [tag deliberately omitted], and I am happy to make that 100% clear. I have now edited my previous post accordingly. FWIW, I think both of you are persuasive in what you are saying: no politics were intended either way. I also concur with those who have been urging us to keep the thread on-topic, so I will revert to my main gripe about import/export taxes and delays.
Best wishes - from a man whose ma was born in Cheddar - peace out.
 
Engee
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TimeODanaos TimeODanaos
Best wishes - from a man whose ma was born in Cheddar - peace out.
Was she a big cheese in the neighbourhood?
 
HootOwl
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Half a year (or more) in, its not affecting me at all really.
I have not had the opportunity to go into Europe because of Covid so have not seen any changes.
I dont bring lots of stuff in on a personal level, so see no import charge changes, in fact I try to buy as much as possible within the UK and support our economy.
I am not a farmer so see no labour changes there either. I chucked my HGV licence 10+ years ago as I didn't need it.
I have a good job working for a global company (nothing significant has occurred beyond container shipping costs which are not down to Brexit) and could retire tomorrow if I chose ...life is good in fact.
I dont generally do rabid for or nay speeches, I leave those to others.
Not too many Brexit voters seem to be very distressed though, the ones I see opining the most are pretty much all former remain camp, they were always gonna be vociferous.
 
Len
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ConElPueblo ConElPueblo
Last week I was looking for some items online and realised how much BREXIT has changed how I buy stuff online. I now look up German and French words for finding vendors not in the UK and when comparing prices on CH24 and eBay I now pretty much always see UK sellers as too expensive and not worth the effort. On vintage watches, it doesn't seem like many have adjusted prices to compete with EU sellers.

Also, I have noted how most online sellers make you choose between "United Kingdom" and "Europe" - come on guys, you are still a part of Europe, just not the Union! 😀

How are the UK sellers, collectors and watchmakers on here faring?
I still look at EU watches for reference but wouldn't buy now due to the 20% duty, so it's reduced the selection available big time, I'd probably take the hit if it was a rare watch like a white Italian Speedmaster. I do have friends living in France and Portugal though.
 
Dedalus05
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I know it is controversial not to declare customs imports when flying, but Duty Free jewelry is available to UK shoppers in the EU. And presumably some of the larger airports in Europe have boutiques. So there are "savings" to be had there for UK flyers. £20 with Ryanair for an old in and out quite likely.

I'd have no moral qualms about not declaring a personal item.

Edit - it doesn't work the other way for EU flyers unfortunately. I checked.
 
gatorcpa
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Dedalus05 Dedalus05
I'd have no moral qualms about not declaring a personal item.
Not a moral issue at all.

gatorcpa
 
DNX
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I live in the UK and I used to buy goods inc. watches from EU countries but since Brexit I no longer do due to the goods attracting the tax on entry to the UK.

As a result I don't buy UK alternatives as I suspect the govt would expect us to, I just send the cash to an offshore account for now until I can travel to EU or USA again and spend it there.
 
DNX
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Dedalus05 Dedalus05
I know it is controversial not to declare customs imports when flying, but Duty Free jewelry is available to UK shoppers in the EU. And presumably some of the larger airports in Europe have boutiques. So there are "savings" to be had there for UK flyers. £20 with Ryanair for an old in and out quite likely.

I'd have no moral qualms about not declaring a personal item.

Edit - it doesn't work the other way for EU flyers unfortunately. I checked.

As I understand it, it doesn't work as for UK buyers, officially the Duty Free shop is obliged by law to post the item to the registered UK address of the traveller and thereby attracting the import duty - they are not allowed to let the traveller take a duty free item of a certain value out of the airside shop. How this is actually policed and followed by the retailers, I don't know.

This may have changed but this is what a well known travel lawyer advised earlier this year.
 
SpeedyPhill
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Heathrow criticises Border Force for 'unacceptable' queues
😗
 
dsio
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SpeedyPhill SpeedyPhill
Heathrow criticises Border Force for 'unacceptable' queues
😗
If there’s one thing we all know about you Brits, its that you can’t resist a good queue. Some of the people in line at the Swatch boutique probably didn’t even know about the MoonSwatch, they just saw a line and thought what a jolly good spot of fun!
 
redzer007
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I have a new pet hate, UK passport holders queuing up at the EU passport holders extrance and feigning ignorance. And I know it's feigning as I have overheard conversations about going the EU route as it will be quicker
 
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