The Mock Turtle

We're having enormous difficulties at the moment thanks to Brexit - we didn't HAVE to leave EASA (the European aviation lot) but thanks to whoever it was who decided to go Hard Brexit, we have, and we're losing customers, spending a lot of money and jumping through ridiculous hoops for very little gain. We did get an EASA training authorisation so we can train European students but the costs are absurd, and they're deliberately making it impossible for us to do things so that European students stick to training inside Europe. Which I understand but it isn't EASA's right to be political, and they're disadvantaging their own students as the things we do aren't available in the UK.

To make it worse, although we could rejoin EASA, the UK are making a big song and dance about how they're going to align with the US (with their fantastic record on flight safety ) and other countries, making it clear they're giving EASA the finger. Grant Schapps has A Lot to answer for.

Silly little things really get to me. Not EU related (I don't think): I found a rare work part in America for something, tried to order it and was told as a result of the UK implementing new import laws they've had to cancel my order as it was under £200.

What's going on in your job/industry/company?

Well, other than an enormous shortage of basic building materials and sky rocketing prices, its all tickity boo :hystericallaugh: . I mean, it doesn't directly impact me in the sense that I'm still merrily churning out plans but the rest of the process is quite screwed.

Things like leaving EASA are the most infuriating to me. Was there one single leave voter in the country who wanted control back from EASA? (Probably but it must be a fantastically small percentage)

smalex wrote: ↑Fri Sep 10, 2021 10:07 am Well, other than an enormous shortage of basic building materials and sky rocketing prices, its all tickity boo :hystericallaugh: . I mean, it doesn't directly impact me in the sense that I'm still merrily churning out plans but the rest of the process is quite screwed.

That's happening here too though. They're saying it's because of Covid.

To the extent it is here? Interesting. I do think its a toxic mix. I've gone from thinking its majority covid, with some brexit, to the other way round (because I keep reading things saying Europe doesn't have shortages like we do), but maybe that's wrong then.

smalex wrote: ↑Fri Sep 10, 2021 10:25 am To the extent it is here? Interesting. I do think its a toxic mix. I've gone from thinking its majority covid, with some brexit, to the other way round (because I keep reading things saying Europe doesn't have shortages like we do), but maybe that's wrong then.

I don't know what the increases are like there, but here's what we're seeing:

According to INSEE data compiled by the French Building Federation (FFB), the price of construction steel increased by 31.3% between December 2020 and April 2021. PVC, over the same period, surged by 28.6%. Sheet metal, 25.4%. Polyurethanes, 11.6%. Copper, 22.2%. Aluminum, 17%. And concerning construction timber, we've heard of prices multiplied by 2, 3 or even 4 in some regions ...

https://www.capital.fr/immobilier/immob ... es-1407689

This is obviously a massive pain in the arse for us as it's just happening just when we're hoping to re-start work on the Mofo Extension from Hell.


Sorry, bit of a derail there, Lily.

Yeah obviously its hard to compare properly but that sounds similar.

Do you have shortages of other goods? Food etc?

Not to my knowledge, no. I think that is a brexit thing.

And there's no experience of that here either, Smal.

Look at the other things being reported- hotels and restaurants having to close at a time when more people are holidaying in the UK because the hospitality industry can't find staff. You can blame that on the 'pingdemic' but given how many non-Brits take up those jobs- that's Brexit too.

We’ve had a lot of trouble exporting to the EU. It has caused a lot of extra hassle and increased costs. DPD stopped shipping to the EU at all to start with, I’m not sure if that has changed now.


https://www.scotsman.com/business/shipm ... rm-3182778

Same as Squirrel. We lost a lot of money making duplicate orders after UPS lost loads of orders during Jan. We switched to DHL and they have been amazing. Much more reliable. We are way down on European orders though due to customers having to pay tax and duties now.

We have had the identical situation with UPS and DHL! Especially to Germany which is where one of our biggest customers is based. The customer pays the shipping and he is okay with the increased cost for the premium DHL service, but I’ve no doubt we are losing other customers because of this.
By contrast shipping to the US is ridiculously quick and and things seem to get there without being held up for ages somewhere in the middle.

My current workplace makes windows and there is a supply issue with certain parts as well as we're affected by the driver shortage problem.

I sent a parcel to my brother in SE Asia, and another to my goddaughter in England. My brother's parcel was larger, heavier, and an odd shape, and cost less to send as the PO and other companies are adding what seems to be a PITA tax for the UK

The VAT is fairly transparent for the customer, but the fucking import charges Obviously we're not based in the UK, but we have a lot of customers and several suppliers there, and honestly are avoiding using our suppliers unless absolutely necessary.

The VAT thing is double annoying because EU regs have also changed. We sell a lot through eBay and they have (as far as I can tell from my understanding of the new law, everything everyone else says about it, and what eBays own terms say) totally fucked it up, so we're not doing things properly at the moment.