Deliveries to Northern Ireland

[WilsonMilson]

Just a rant really.

Getting a bit fed up with companies who’ve decided to stop (temporarily or permanently - who knows) delivery to Northern Ireland, or who have limited the things they can deliver to NI.

Since the Brexit deal, so far this week I cannot order from M&S, Debenhams have stopped NI delivery and now Amazon won’t sell alcohol, perfumes or aftershaves for delivery in NI. And I cannot get a home office chair for love nor money to be delivered from any bloody where.

This is all I’ve seen so far. I’m sure there must be more as I’ve not really shopped much. It’s incredibly frustrating to be so disadvantaged comparing to the mainland.

I still can't believe some adults don't know the difference between Ni and Ireland.

Well it starts at the top, with Ministers of the Crown failing to gasp that, and then trickles down with various MPs also not understanding it.

Given that Ministers are advised by experts (who do know the difference) then allowing them to make complete and utter arses of themselves in public was a clear signal from behind the curtain.

MPs making arses of themselves is less newsworthy, admittedly.

For larger companies the despatch process is highly automated, it's not as simple as printing a label. Fine to manually process one order, but if you're M&S and have a thousand orders, that's a burdensome process

Well hopefully they can get their IT people to write some code and get it sorted. Quickly.

@annevonkleve

For larger companies the despatch process is highly automated, it's not as simple as printing a label. Fine to manually process one order, but if you're M&S and have a thousand orders, that's a burdensome process

Well hopefully they can get their IT people to write some code and get it sorted. Quickly.

Assuming it's worth the value, yes. For public companies, shareholders need to be convinced that it's an investment that will bear profit, or they won't be able to support it. There is no obligation to provide a subsidised service to any part of the UK unless it's enforced by law.

I have just ordered an office chair from Ikea and seems they will deliver to me in NI on 2nd February! Even Argos cannot delivery :(

This is not about the internal IT systems of certain companies, or laziness in printing labels. Most customs processing is done automatically - details filed via a computer interface - duties calculated and charged to that account. People don't queue up at an office with your parcel and printed slip!

There needs [needed] to be a whole new system in place, at HMRC level, for processing every item sent from GB to NI and vice versa. Basically it needs to be processed like an international shipment (due to border in Irish Sea) but 'registered' like a domestic one ( no duties payable). The existing customs systems (govt run) cannot do this.
The govt ran out of time to get its own system to do this
It threw several hundred million at a consortium headed by Fujitsu and a leading Brexiteer amongst others.
The system went live last week. They are MASSIVELY struggling.
There appears to be no proper consideration that freight may move by air as well as sea(!)
In particular there is bafflement at air freight moving out of NI back to GB (apparently they keep telling HMRC about this 🙄) [that but prob isn't relevant to consumer online shopping but will be to certain NI businesses]

In summary, it's a Brexit shit show. It's not just political stability in NI that has been thrown under the bus for Brexit. This administrative process could and should have been resolved but it has not been. All of those TV adverts about businesses needing to be ready for Brexit are a massive smoke screen. It is the government that isn't ready.
So don't blame the companies (who I'm sure would still like your business) blame the government. 🇬🇧

@Apollo3

And BTW NI doesn’t need to “join Ireland”. It is already in Ireland

No, it literally isn't. Ireland is the name of the country that NI is categorically NOT in.

so sick of your ignorant gobshiting on every single NI thread.

Oh and the GDPR credentials of this consortium are unclear. Perhaps your favourite shops are currently prioritizing protecting your data until the HMRC British government private consortium Brexit shitshow is sorted out.

So don't blame the companies (who I'm sure would still like your business)

Only if it makes a profit. That literally is the bottom line. Because it it doesn't, you need to find a way for shareholders to agree to use profits from elsewhere, to prop up the cost of doing business in NI. And that isn't going to happen.

It costs nothing to register with the new system and no additional duties. The only cost is hassle factor. Once the process is sorted it will be the equivalent of adding a different billing address to shipping address. Until then, too much hassle.

Clinique isn't delivering either!!

My pet hate is use of the term 'Mainland UK'. There is no such thing. There is no UK without Northern Ireland. I'm afraid without Northern Ireland it's back to plain old GB.

But anyway, yes very frustrating. Always in the small print are NI. I hope this is the incentive we need to look inwards to our own economy, production and maybe even a decent government. There is little scope for a united Ireland. GB will continue to pay child support for the foreseeable, we have a rather blurred territorial boundary, finally our arm is forced to start looking after this land/country/jurisdiction for the benefit for its inhabitants.

My guess is very few companies will deliver to NI for the first couple of months of 2021.

One business I know is now driving shipments over the border into the EU and flying them to GB as the customs process is established and straightforward. The wonder of Brexit!

I am frankly stunned that people in Northern Ireland (of any, all and no political hue) have not kept up to date with how systematically Johnson has sold them down the river.

Northern Ireland is, for trade purposes, now part of the Republic
and there is a hard border between it and the ports of Wales, Scotland and England.

It is not temporary
its an international trade deal
that was approved in Parliament yesterday

@BubblyBarbara

NI is a third class citizen in the UK. Hardly any English people have ever been there and even fewer give a toss about it. They should join Ireland or go independent IMO

Hello from Dublin.

No thanks. Don’t want NI.

Just to say (as one person pointed out up thread) - The Isle of Man is most definitely not part of the UK...

There is no UK without Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland never had a kingdom. The UK is named after the unification of multiple kingdoms on GB.

@VodselForDinner

Short memories...

I don’t know why retailers are so lazy though. Is it really that hard to print a customs label? Or arrange delivery outside their own country

This is not about lazy retailers.

Free trade just means tariff free it is NOT the same as being in a customs union/single market.

It’s not just a question of slapping a customs label on.

Customs procedures include customs declarations, licenses and certificates depending on the product, customs handling & clearance fees, ATA Carnets, VAT, and a whole heap of other bureaucratic red-tape non-tariff barriers.

The deal does include a customs cooperation and simplification agreement which might help ease some congestion but they'll still all need declaration forms, scans and clearance.

The Rules of Origin stipulations will also add to the problems. -
When we were in the CU-SM and sharing the same EU trade deals, it meant that between EU-UK we could also have customs and tariff free trade for all countries we had free trade deals with. But now that we're not in the CU-SM and the EU doesn't recognise our trade deals, tariffs will apply to any goods traded which are 40% or more not of UK or EU origin, even if we've both got free trade deals with those countries.

Some businesses will suspend deliver to NI while they get their heads around the new protocols, which they haven’t been given sufficient time to plan for.

Some U.K. businesses will simply find too costly to deliver to NI just as EU businesses will find it too costly to deliver to the U.K. The ones that continue to deliver will have to raise prices to cover costs. Equally some EU businesses will find it too costly to buy from the U.K.

In short, this is the biggest trade fuck up this country has ever seen.

@herethereandeverywhere

In summary, it's a Brexit shit show. It's not just political stability in NI that has been thrown under the bus for Brexit. This administrative process could and should have been resolved but it has not been. All of those TV adverts about businesses needing to be ready for Brexit are a massive smoke screen. It is the government that isn't ready. So don't blame the companies (who I'm sure would still like your business) blame the government

Yep. There's no indication that our customs borders are ready - infrastucture, technology and/or staff-wise.

@HannibalHayes

Just to say (as one person pointed out up thread) - The Isle of Man is most definitely not part of the UK...

That was me and I have cousins from the Isle of Mann - one Manx father, one EU mother. We wind them up all the time telling them that they're Brits! The lectures I've received even as a child and I still don't understand their relationship with the UK! Nice people. With Liverpool accents haha. Also covid free.

[quote TatianaBis]@herethereandeverywhere

In summary, it's a Brexit shit show. It's not just political stability in NI that has been thrown under the bus for Brexit. This administrative process could and should have been resolved but it has not been. All of those TV adverts about businesses needing to be ready for Brexit are a massive smoke screen. It is the government that isn't ready. So don't blame the companies (who I'm sure would still like your business) blame the government

Yep. There's no indication that our customs borders are ready - infrastucture, technology and/or staff-wise.[/quote]
To be fair, they left it to the eleventh hour and eleventy second, so how could companies know what to prepare for? I don't think that anyone knows even now what the situation is?

They didn’t have any time to prepare. But watch the government blame businesses.

"With Liverpool accents haha. Also covid free."

Some with Ulster accents, and some with shudders a combination of the two...

They've had a few outbreaks recently, from people finally returned to the island but not isolating as they were supposed to. Probably ending up in the Jurby Hilton...

@TatianaBis

They didn’t have any time to prepare. But watch the government blame businesses.

Boris Fuck Business Johnson is the Prime Minister

The deal is basically the one that the EU offered in 2017

BUT
There has still not been a single parallel run of the UK Customs Systems

In 1988 when the C88 took over from the C16 there was a FULL 3 month parallel run to make sure trade was not impacted

[quote mmgirish]@VodselForDinner

Short memories... [/quote]
By whom?