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

[AsMuchIn]

AIBU to want the UK to do the same as France, who are imposing a levy on products bought from SHEIN, TEMU, etc.

The impact on our high street (or now lack of) is massive, shops gone or as people choose cheap, poor quality, sometimes dangerous products. Less jobs in retail, empty shops, units filled with nail bars and vape shops.

The impact on the environment is also detrimental.

We are not making good choices ourselves, so bring in a levy.

France targets Shein and Temu with fast fashion fees https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm2792pendro

I think we can all agree that prices need to be much higher.

Poor people have had it too good for too long.

We need to tariff the hell out of them !

For a second I thought you were serious 🤣🤣

I buy a lot on Shein and Temu, a levy wouldn’t stop me.

Businesses like the above are not responsible for the death of high street stores, which were already closing and struggled way before companies like Shein or Amazon came along, they just provided an alternative more suitable for today’s consumer needs.

they just provided an alternative more suitable for today’s consumer needs.

Not needs. Wants. Nobody needs "a lot" of stuff from anywhere, never mind Shein and Temu. Showing on my Temu homepage - pack of 50 microfibre cloths, multipack of cardboard nail files, multipacks of socks designed as an Adidas rip off, 1000 air fryer liners, various electric chargers, 1050 tooth picks...

These sites are not about selling you one or two things cheaply. They are about shifting huge quantities of stuff and have promotions and offers to encourage you to add more and more to your basket.

Levy exists for all EU, I am in Ireland and my daughters are beginning to see the light and realise shein is not the bargain it once was

Using Temu etc isn’t a sign of a low IQ - people are perfectly aware of their business model though.

You can’t stop using something like the high street and whine when it disappears. People will take the cheapest alternative.

Probably. But any change has to be on a massive scale. People who boycott Amazon aren’t going to shut it down because there aren’t enough of them. Same with the cheap online stuff. So long as people buy it, they will sell it.

It isn’t that the people who buy it aren’t aware of what goes on. It’s that people don’t feel strongly enough about it to pay more (particularly when it’s the same stuff)

This type of levy doesn't only apply to France, as there is now a new customs charge within the EU for online purchases of goods from outside the EU (which includes UK BTW). At the moment it is €3 PER ITEM, and will be increased gradually. The online retailers have set up EU warehouses now to circumvent this, but the prices apparently have increased nonetheless.

So there is a Brexit Bonus after all, the non EU customs charges don't apply if you purchase from a UK address.

I love Shein, I love being able to buy everything I need from one shop rather than trawling round town for hours. Clothes, beauty products, bedding, cats toys, kitchen towels, they’ve got it all in one easy place. I’d happily pay more for the convenience of it, no issue with the introduction of a levy. The convenience is the important factor for me, I don’t care whether it’s a bargain or not. Shopping on the high-street is old fashioned. Shops should be replaced by places where you need to physically go and can’t do online such as hairdressers, gyms, restaurants…

I think we all know by now that UK is outside the EU!

Anyway that IS a bonus but I’m sure Burnham will do his best to eradicate that as he also seems to think he can magically revive the high street.

I agree and some high streets have actually understood this. My local town centre is how a hub of pubs and restaurants and it is busier on a weekend evening that it ever was before.

To survive, things have to adapt.

Too damn right I am. The lower classes have gotten far too uppity, having access to nice things that should really be the preserve of those who have actually achieved something.

Cracking down on cheap imports and making them realise their place seems an excellent idea. And we know from the US doing it that it is wildly popular with those who know their place.

I'm hoping that the UK not only follows France here, but takes it much further.

That eould be a fantastic idea because it will reduce the amount of trash going into landfill.

Not necessarily. My family of three adults throws out 1 medium black bag a fortnight (and that includes cat litter). Everything else is recycled, reused or composted.

A top I have bought brand new for £5 can last years and years. I had a friend who used to buy her son’s holiday t-shirts from the high street and throw them out instead of washing them.

Cheap doesn’t automatically mean ending up in landfill.

I think that people who shop for the latest fashion and wear it for one season are far more wasteful

It’s funny you think the people who buy from Shein and temu will suddenly go to town and shop in M&S or the likes.

They won’t they will just move into the next website, B&m, Homebargains or just stop spending.

I’ve not ordered from Temu for a while but the things I do it’s always because it is so so much cheaper than say b&q for an identical looking item. If I couldn’t have got it for the temu price however I wouldn’t have gone to b&q I would have just not got it and kept my cash.

Much like I don’t go to little independent diy shops because they are always more expensive than b&q.

If I can’t find it for a price I want I’ll just keep my money.

Our city centre is horrible and has been since I was a teen it’s dirty, it smells it’s full of druggys and homeless people. Every other shop is a barbershop or nail bar or vapes and American candy. I only ever visit to go to the bank.

It’s funny you think the people who buy from Shein and temu will suddenly go to town and shop in M&S or the likes.

They won’t they will just move into the next website, B&m, Homebargains or just stop spending.

Or smuggling will make a comeback big time. All of a sudden people will be pleased for small boats.

Pre covid when our DC were still in children's clothing my retired IL used to love do days out shopping cinerma and meal - but they were getting increasingly frustrated as when they asked where kids clothes were even in big city stores they were directed to look on-line.

We've been in many times to city center for specific items and ended up coming home and ordering on-line.

The nearby town with a good shopping center has free parking but bus fares for adults are steep and it's as cheap for us to go into another nearby city to us and make a day of it - for many things needed immediately easier to order on line.

I don't think the high street has helped itself and one that are doing well either have tourist stuff or free parking or both.

The few clothes I tried from shein are cheap nasty electric shock filled plastic garments that bobble terribly. Prints are cheap and not done well.
pile of shit.

I can tell a shein dress now. Might as well go to the market in 1990. Horrible fabrics.

What a self centred post. It’s not one shop by the way…..And oh the shame of being “old fashioned” .Yes I’d much rather line the pockets of the people who use unethical if not cruel methods to produce cheap crap than be old fashioned. And yes, why dont people just magically open gyms , hairdressers and restaurants so people can flock to them?!

Then again those tariffs were not seen to be good here, so seems a bit muddled. Not you, I mean generally.

No true at all, if it was you wouldn't have high streets that are thriving, the difference arises from income. It's not really a coincidence that many places where the high street has disappeared are deprived and suffered under the decade long austerity measures.

At a broader level the UK needs to stop it's fixation on importing an American consumer culture that doesn't care about civic spaces - non of this is 'inevitable' but it does need a complete cultural shift in attitude that promotes civic duties and resists solipsism and indifference.

I spent months looking through on-line sites for DD2 prom dress - the dresses in actual shops were hundreds and similar on some on-line sites.

She was being very picky about style and colour - so being able to look through when I has spare moments was useful. Ended up via amaxon buying direct from china manufacturer - later did see same dress on another on-line UK based site it was hundreds. So an on-line levy may still have made it much cheaper for same product.

If it had pushed it beyond our means - we'd have found something else probably from similar source. I don't think we'd have tried the high street given the huge prices and very limited stock and price of getting into nearby city or town with better shopping - there was nothing local.

We shoule

We shouldn’t be buying from these places full stop. We don’t need their products and they’re horrific for the environment. We should buy less but better and more environmentally friendly.

The high street ain't coming back. As for a so called "Saturday" job, the only casual jobs for younger people round here are corporate fast food joints in retail parks/malls. Even the supermarkets round here are accelerating self checkouts. My older teen applied for 150 plus jobs before getting a corporate fast food one at a service station that you had to be able to drive to. He didn't get a look in at any "shops".