EVERYTHING is "out of stock"

[Dollygirl2008]

Literally having one of those days. Talk talk is down in my area so I'm ploughing through mobile data. But literally EVERYTHING I'm trying to order is out of stock and it's driving me mad! I'm trying to find garden furniture, a bin store, a new rug, clothes for my daughter - it goes on and on!!

Just ranting!!!!!

Obviously trade is down, but can you point to the bit in the ONS figures where they say this is due to Brexit "beyond doubt" please?

Err.... UK/EU trade survived pretty much intact between Feb 20 to December 20... despite an almost total global shut down in the spring of 2020.... but then along comes 31/12 and trade slumps?

Why would that be i wonder.

@jasjas1973

Obviously trade is down, but can you point to the bit in the ONS figures where they say this is due to Brexit "beyond doubt" please?

Err.... UK/EU trade survived pretty much intact between Feb 20 to December 20... despite an almost total global shut down in the spring of 2020.... but then along comes 31/12 and trade slumps?

Why would that be i wonder.

So, in fact you are interpreting the figures to suit your agenda, and there isn't anywhere where the ONS says the reduction was due to Brexit.

A person with a different agenda might interpret the figures as a reflection of the fact that the effects took a while to appear. Factories etc didn't shut down immediately, goods were still in the supply chain.

Obviously people will follow their agenda and try to hijack the ONS figures as "proof".

@DynamoKev Nope, British chamber of Commerce has just released figures that state an increase in loss of trade.
Half have difficulties in exporting/importing to from EU.

You think it took almost 12 months before the effects of CV showed themselves?
Rather conveniently occurring just as we left the EU properly.

But i guess the biggest problem with your POV is that UK global trade actually increased by 1.8% during this period, if trade issues were CV related etc, we'd see falls in the 60% of trade we do outside of the EU but haven't.

Well i run a small manufacturing company that exports direct to customers in Europe. Our European trade dropped to zero in January due to difficulties with postage and red tape. Definitely due to Brexit. DH kept ranting about why its not been in the news as we know other companies like ours have to be having the same difficulties.
We may not have been huge but we have developed a very profitable business model, its not as if we were an inefficient company teetering on the brink, but it only worked because of no tariffs and reliable cheap postage.
Up until Brexit, our business boomed in Lockdown as its hobby based and people had more free time.

@ListeningQuietly

Now the shortage is related to silicone and it is impacting on how quickly laptops can be manufactured. Hopefully you mean silicon

and the time lag on wafer fabs is about two years

Sorry - yes, I did mean silicon (silly fingers stuck an extra letter at the end of what I was typing).

@Wbeezer

Well i run a small manufacturing company that exports direct to customers in Europe. Our European trade dropped to zero in January due to difficulties with postage and red tape. Definitely due to Brexit. DH kept ranting about why its not been in the news as we know other companies like ours have to be having the same difficulties. We may not have been huge but we have developed a very profitable business model, its not as if we were an inefficient company teetering on the brink, but it only worked because of no tariffs and reliable cheap postage. Up until Brexit, our business boomed in Lockdown as its hobby based and people had more free time.

And this proves Argos and others being short of stock is Brexit related?

[quote jasjas1973]@DynamoKev Nope, British chamber of Commerce has just released figures that state an increase in loss of trade.
Half have difficulties in exporting/importing to from EU.

You think it took almost 12 months before the effects of CV showed themselves?
Rather conveniently occurring just as we left the EU properly.

But i guess the biggest problem with your POV is that UK global trade actually increased by 1.8% during this period, if trade issues were CV related etc, we'd see falls in the 60% of trade we do outside of the EU but haven't.[/quote]
So the shortages of stock in Argos etc (even thought they predate Brexit) are due to Brexit and the ONS British Chambers of Commerce says so. OK.

Covid is going to be the ‘go to’ excuse for bad service from now on.
Also companies have not stocked up because of lock downs, I’m sick of getting the answerphone using covid as an excuse when staff are supposed to be working from home - the call should be re-directed to their home.
This ISN’T anything to do with Brexit!

@Freud2

Covid is going to be the ‘go to’ excuse for bad service from now on. Also companies have not stocked up because of lock downs, I’m sick of getting the answerphone using covid as an excuse when staff are supposed to be working from home - the call should be re-directed to their home. This ISN’T anything to do with Brexit!

ONS would disagree.

Overall, Britain’s exports dropped 19.3% and imports fell 21.6%, the biggest monthly declines since records began in 1997, the ONS said. Shipments to non-EU countries increased slightly, and imports from countries outside the bloc declined about 8%.

www.france24.com/en/europe/20210312-trade-between-uk-and-eu-plunges-after-brexit-hurting-british-economy

I work as a buyer for one of the retailers regularly spoken about in this thread and I buy the products which you are currently trying to get hold of - there is a global shipping issue at the moment since long before the Suez Canal. Massive container shortages, freight being held at ports in the far east as there are no free vessels to send the goods on. Shipping fees have shot through the roof meaning retailers are now often making a loss especially on the big items such as garden furniture.
Suez Canal has poured fuel on the fire. All the boats work to schedules which now cannot be adhered to. Imagine a boat stuck behind the Ever Green. It was sat there for almost a week not moving, once it arrived to UK port it had missed its slot as had many others so they have to wait as there's so much port congestion. That means the boats late returning to China and then when it gets there there aren't enough containers to ship all the stock sat waiting to go back to Europe anyway.
And the circle continues.
It's a huge mess and while Brexit has brought its challenges (particularly for goods made in the EU where suppliers haven't been prepared despite years of warning this was happening) , I wouldn't say this is due to Brexit entirely.

@Olivia789 that’s really interesting, so will things get back to normal at some point following the Suez Canal incident? Or are the container shortages more of an issue and if so why don’t they make more containers?

@beginningoftheend

I think *@Umbivalent* sums up all that is wrong with UK today - no concern for the people in NI whatsoever, just pointscoring against the EU.

I'm really upset watching what is happening, people's actual lives are being harmed now - a whole week of rioting.

I see Johnson has refused to engage today.

No answer to my point about the EU not caring about Ireland or NI, or refusing to follow their own process, I see. But I was forgetting that the EU can do no wrong, and those of us who don't agree with it can do no right.

But thanks so much for the mention @beginningoftheend, I had no idea that I was responsible for the state of the UK

@Freud2

Covid is going to be the ‘go to’ excuse for bad service from now on. Also companies have not stocked up because of lock downs, I’m sick of getting the answerphone using covid as an excuse when staff are supposed to be working from home - the call should be re-directed to their home. This ISN’T anything to do with Brexit!

Covid and Brexit. Two easy excuses for all inefficiencies.

Didn't say you were responsible @Umbivalent, I doubt you've much power, just that what you said represents a big problem in our politics.

I get fed up of having to keep saying this. So, so many products come from China. They had covid before us. So what with the Chinese workers not working due to their New Year (a massive holiday there) then they all got sent back home again. The factories were shut for months. Orders not being manufactured. When movement started the freight fees went through the roof. There are containers still stuck at sea due to the ports not having room for the sudden influx, in one go, of container ships.

@Dollygirl2008 sorry this pandemic has stopped that really important shopping for you. Lots of businesses in the world are about to go bankrupt. Unbelievable.

Make more containers!!! How would that even begin to solve the problem? They'd need to build more container ships.
They don't ship them over on a dingy.

@GerardWay123

I get fed up of having to keep saying this. So, so many products come from China. They had covid before us. So what with the Chinese workers not working due to their New Year (a massive holiday there) then they all got sent back home again. The factories were shut for months. Orders not being manufactured. When movement started the freight fees went through the roof. There are containers still stuck at sea due to the ports not having room for the sudden influx, in one go, of container ships.

As my granny would say you can't fix stupid, you're wasting your breath here my family reporting from China didn't make a dent in here 😅😅

@GerardWay123

Make more containers!!! How would that even begin to solve the problem? They'd need to build more container ships. They don't ship them over on a dingy.

Well the person who knows stuff about this said there was a shortage of containers, not of ships. Maybe there’s enough space on the current ships,for more containers. I’m aware they don’t use dingys. 🙄

@beginningoftheend

Didn't say you were responsible *@Umbivalent*, I doubt you've much power, just that what you said represents a big problem in our politics.

I think that blaming Brexit for everything is more of a problem, and ignores the reality of global supply chains and, you know, pandemics.

[quote GerardWay123]@Dollygirl2008 sorry this pandemic has stopped that really important shopping for you. Lots of businesses in the world are about to go bankrupt. Unbelievable.[/quote]
Thanks, I appreciate it. Luckily I've managed to get my outdoor rug so I can sleep easy now!

I wish Ireland was Buddhist.

That might not be a solution:

www.lionsroar.com/buddhism-violence/

www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-21/buddhist-extremism-meet-the-religions-violent-followers/10360288

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/buddhism-pacifism-militant-violence-sri-lanka-a8997631.html

@DynamoKev appreciate you are a brexit supporter (and i am not!) but the reality is that Brexit has caused a drop off in trade & during a pandemic, both have contributed to shortages.

R4's farming today reports that Agri exports to the EU are down between 75 and 90%
Alt markets are being sought/found but many businesses have gone out of business.
Several govt ministers inc Liz Truss, are extremely worried about the non tariff barriers in Johnsons trade deal, which is more about sovereignty than the economy.

Burying your head in the sand on the effects of Brexit might make you feel better but it doesn't hide the realities.

The Financial Times thinks there’s a Brexit problem:

www.ft.com/content/55f116d8-6f3b-400a-825a-94be4d379db0

Shane Brennan, chief executive of the Cold Chain Federationwhich represents the perishable products industry said while trading conditionshad improved since January there was still a “long way to go” and that new bureaucracy put UKgoods at a permanent disadvantage.
“UK goods are slower-moving, much more expensive and way more hassle, and EU customers are buying less. I wish the government spent as much time listening to business concerns as they do searching for ways to spin the trade figures,” he said.

All I know is...

Something odd going on with bananas 😂 Have bought from Morrison’s, Sainsburys and Aldi. They’re weird. Mostly rotten. Wasting a lot of the actual fruit. Threw another 3 away to the compost bin this morning.

I notice it because it’s one of the few things my son will eat regularly so, we go through a lot of them.