France announce a levy on SHEIN, TEMU and similar imports. AIBU to want the UK to do the same?

I mean even baby shops have disappeared off the high street. Mothercare, kiddie care, toys r us with its baby’s r us section all big names stores.

If you can’t make money out of having babies which most people have at some point in their lives within physical stores then stores are fucked.

Who wants to buy a car seat or pram online? Not many people for that but you’ll only find boutique places or the likes of John Lewis having a few on display now. Although I think my John Lewis shut down 🤔

It's not a zero sum game though is it, don't bother with any ethical considerations because of them, them and them....

Yes, absolutely, it's like saying there is no difference between Fortnum and Mason and Iceland!

The thing is, online shopping has taken over shopping on the high street because the majority of people prefer it, for whatever reason (the main on I suspect being that it’s more convenient). So is there any sense in making it more expensive/difficult in order to rejuvenate the high street and appease the minority?

There have been scandals about Nike, Adidas and Apple getting their products from factories that have child, and slave, labour.

If they are selling shoddy stuff from Shein and Tmeu they are opening themsleves up for being fined or even worse sued as what is sold must be complianat with regualtions
Yes you are correct its the consumer who has pushed for cheap goods - this applies to everything from clothes toys food etc. They cant see past what they have in their hands. The damage is being done and the only way to change is to hit people in their pockets hence the levy EU have applied a levy etc.
There are a good few independent shops out there who do sell genuine stuff and are a pleasure to go into, the high street has changed as the world has changed there is nothing the same as it was 20 years ago, its not just online that has killed it - there are other factors too - its never going back to the way it was. But with some clever thinking councils can regenerate high streets to make it better

Well, 'no' actually, people that live in your community and value connections, appreciate the existential crisis for humans who live amongst these dysfunctional societal structures, that want an antidote to the depressing self absorption of the individual, they are perfectly within their rights to want to see this change.

Only if you know for sure they are from better factories etc. People get misty eyed over independent little shops, not realising that some of the stuff they sell are from SHEIN or Temu.

The only reason for the way things are is that people choose what suits them. The majority of people clearly want cheap stuff without the hassle of having to go to the shops.

But according to the OP, it’s so sad that the high street is dying so we shouldn’t be shopping online.

But you can clearly get to shops.

How can you comment that what Amazon provides isn’t necessity? I would be fucked on many levels if I was forced to stop shopping there.

Surely it’s like self service checkouts - giving people a choice is always a good thing.

Thats got nothing to do with what i said - i was replying to the comment that said this
Same factories. Same people. Same problems
The same practices are used everywhere. - They are not - Shein practices are horrific and should not be used - There are plenty of better websites and shops out there that you can get what is required without resorting to Shein

Same.

I’m also queuing up for ages to pay and being hassled at the till to donate to charity/sign up for a membership card/give them my email.

Times have moved on. It’s good that customers now have more choice.

As long as you only want the very limited range of overpriced crap, it’s fine. Or you can go online and get a massive range of reasonably priced crap.

And of course you have to make the effort to go in person and have the pleasure of surly and unhelpful staff, changing rooms which could have any random bloke in there, families of screaming and bored kids, coffee shops packed with teens, and then go home empty handed because they didn’t have it in stock.

I refuse to pay high street prices

That’s not true. My son in law works in clothes manufacturing and he has to inspect the factories they use. Yes, they will be high street brands that use shoddy manufacturers but it is defintely not the same everywhere.

I think people are forgetting that people are ordering more online now because it’s more convenient to them than going to the high street. Most families now have two working parents, weekends are often busy, I don’t want to waste my free time traipsing round shops. Even if it’s more expensive to buy a particular item online, I will often still do so because it’s more convenient to me.

Completely missing the point!

People shop online for many reasons and a big one is we dont want to go "into town" we dont want to caught behind the shambling shuffling unwashed, who want to stand in the doorway and chat mindlessly. We also dont want to wait in queues to pay for extra impulse items that we didnt want in the first place.

And when its cheaper its a bonus!

Same I just wouldn’t buy as much but I would still buy
I don’t have the time, nor do I want to go traipsing around shops to find what I want

There is a huge difference between shein practices and shops that buy in and sell in store. Anything that is sold in store must comply with the rules and legislation with regards to the likes of general product safety regulations etc, they are open to being audited by the governing bodies. Shein by pass this as they dont ship mass container loads for resale here, they ship small parcels directly to the customer, The high street may not be perfect but its 100 times better than Shein

I don't live in a town and haven't used Amazon since 2018. It's no trouble at all, I can't think of a single time I've 'suffered'. What Amazon provides is not a necessity!

Although Argos doesn’t tend to fair well these days I always thought it was ahead of its time.

A in person Amazon. No looking though all the products but go upto a catalogue copy the item number go to the desk and pay, then wait at the front deck area of really their warehouse operation.

Amazon now really outstrips Argos but I remember it always being packed when we went near by.

Course it would - long before Temu and SHEIN existed, the internet was overtaking the high street

Wouldn't it have to apply to ebay, etsy, amazon etc as much of the very same chinese crap is sold on there? (although listed as 'hand crafted on etsy') The only difference is that the buyer pays a higher price anyway.

A relative who loves Paris and has been many times went back a couple of years ago and said it had turned into a total shithole. All the places they used to visit were run down and it was a far cry from the way it had been.

Yet you seem determined to point the whole of Europe as a cosmopolitan utopia.

Actually we have accepted it. How often did you visit all of your local high street shops and spend money in them? What about your friends?

Some places are worse than others but if you are trying to get people to rise up and start a revolution to reinstate the high street, it’s a waste of time.

I don’t care what happens to the high street as it’s not fit for purpose. I will continue to pay less for more choice and better service.

Oh and you can spell out the actual word crap on here.

If you want to live somewhere with a thriving community of shops or whatever, then it’s you that has to move to somewhere more suited to your world view. People don’t care enough to change things.

@AsMuchIn ”I wonder why our acceptance of cr*p and a downward spiral is so different to Europe.”

You keep mentioning Europe, it’s a big place.
Where are these thriving high streets?

If we exclude Switzerland and tourist areas/regions, then France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Poland, are all in a similar state as the UK, from what I have seen.
France is particularly dire.