BREXIT... and sending parcels to the UK.

Darc19 wrote: »

I'm sure there's some form of consolidation service where you can send a batch of items and they put it into a local delivery service.

DHL might offer that as they use usps for last mile delivery (ups and FedEx do too)

Pestle and mortar in Naas ship worldwide from there and use DHL.

The advantage of dhl/FedEx /ups over an post is that they have their own cargo aircraft, so no delays.

Actually, Nightline, who are owned by UPS, may be your best option as they have European, local and worldwide services.

If use dhl use usps for the last mile, then isn’t that the same problem I’m having? The delays are caused with the backlogs from usps ( and an post) , but perhaps dhl are quicker at sorting and getting to usps at least.

Thanks for the tip on nightline, will try them also

paddylonglegs wrote: »

If use dhl use usps for the last mile, then isn’t that the same problem I’m having? The delays are caused with the backlogs from usps ( and an post) , but perhaps dhl are quicker at sorting and getting to usps at least.

Thanks for the tip on nightline, will try them also

Delays generally are in distribution centres of postal services. However if you dropped 50 parcels into the Kilkenny an post delivery unit with all addresses in Kilkenny, it bypasses Dublin and the items are delivered immediately.

Dhl/ups/FedEx do this on a larger scale in the US for non urgent or timed delivery and deliver bulk lots to local usps delivery stations, hence the name "last mile" literally means the last mile (or 5 )

Got my parcel from UK yesterday, 6 days after placing the order only charged UK VAT 20% at checkout, no extra import fees etc...
I think no one knows what needs to be charged and what paperwork needs to be filled out. I think i will be getting a lot of UK orders in a month so what's the best course of action then? I will be sending small up to 100g parcels? Which courier to use?

Scotty # wrote: »

Are you sure it wasn't Irish VAT? You should have been charged Irish VAT, not UK VAT. If you weren't charged Irish VAT at point of sale then you should have been charged it on delivery. Unless the item was only a few Euro?


I use DPD at the moment but they're not set up for returns. So, if you need to send out a replacement part under warranty you can't.

Just looked at the invoice again and it is definitely UK VAT that was charged 20% on total order value of 39GBP + 12.71GBP for tracked shipping by Royal Mail

I will be making customized products so returns will not be possible. Cost of goods is low so if the item comes damaged to my customer i can send out a replacement without need for returns.
Will contact DPD and see what rates will they give me for ROI and International shipping. Thanks

I've a food distribution business that luckily has its main supplier in the EU but I bring in a few things from the UK. Nothing major - maybe 8-10 medium boxes at a time. They've told me that no UK courier will bring in perishable goods ( its a drink with a 6 month shelf life) but Northern Ireland isn't a problem, apparently.

What are the implications of me getting something sent to Norn Iron and having it then subsequently redirected here by a sympathetic contact? Or even going to collect it there and bringing back here ( dodging roadblocks etc). Its a food item made in the UK so I think its custom free.
Any advice appreciated

So is there charges for foods going between mainland UK and Northern Ireland?

Could a Northern Irish company not simply act as a go-between and then ship on further south? I'm sorry if these questions are toddler level. I decided to cross the Brexit bridge when I came to it, rather than torture myself for months. Now I'm here

Kumejima wrote: »

I've a food distribution business that luckily has its main supplier in the EU but I bring in a few things from the UK. Nothing major - maybe 8-10 medium boxes at a time. They've told me that no UK courier will bring in perishable goods ( its a drink with a 6 month shelf life) but Northern Ireland isn't a problem, apparently.

What are the implications of me getting something sent to Norn Iron and having it then subsequently redirected here by a sympathetic contact? Or even going to collect it there and bringing back here ( dodging roadblocks etc). Its a food item made in the UK so I think its custom free.
Any advice appreciated

If its a small amount of stuff and being sent by a personal contact rather that a company, there is no real issue. Goes against the spirit of the agreement, but not illegal and its its only a small amount, I would not see any issue but there will be some difficulty in moving it to NI in the first place as the exact nature of the regs are not understood yet - not even Amazon have got to grips with it

Scotty # wrote: »

For all intensive purposes NI is still in the EU or at least still in the single market. So there will be charges between mainland UK and NI.

If what you are suggesting worked then we'd all be doing it.

I'm not sure what the extra regs are with the movement of food but I know NI was nearly all out of fresh fruit and veg last week.

The fear was that many people would be doing it and some transport companies are bypassing paperwork and going via NI. Seems they accept that it can be done privately, but a company cannot do it.

Kumejima wrote: »

So is there charges for foods going between mainland UK and Northern Ireland?

Could a Northern Irish company not simply act as a go-between and then ship on further south? I'm sorry if these questions are toddler level. I decided to cross the Brexit bridge when I came to it, rather than torture myself for months. Now I'm here

As above, a company cannot get involved in what would be a knowing circumvention of the rules and also there are declarations for goods going from Britain into NI.

Its a complete and utter shambles

Scotty # wrote: »

Got two emails from UK suppliers this week. One is charging £50 a pop for 'export documents' for all orders going forward and the other is charging +2.5% for all international orders and backdating it to invoices issued since 1st Jan!!

Container costs from EU and China are continuing to rise at a freighting rate. I got one of my China suppliers to quote me for a container as it was over €8500 here and he quoted me $6,500. A week later he upped it to $12,000! I'm hearing of people here being quoted €15,000! It would have been €2,500 a year ago.

Stainless steel is my main raw material and it's price is rising massively too.

Ireland is going to see some pretty severe inflation by the end of the year!

Why not look for EU based suppliers?

Would imagine when you factor duty and $15K shipping into the mix, that would surely tip the balance in favour of sourcing in the EU for a relatively low value product..

andrewfaulk wrote: »

TBH, no freight company would really be interested in half a pallet of food products at the moment..

A LOT of operators aren't offering groupage to/from the UK at the moment as it is a mess to manage if you don't have a bonded warehouse on both sides of the Irish sea..

Just to give you an idea, I had 9 pallets @ 3 Tonnes to move from Ipswich to Dublin with me arranging all the customs docs and no one was interested(approached 10 companies).. Ended up having to move them as a full load

Are you doing that sort of thing regularly? Bound to be a few people like me looking for space in a container. Could work in both our favor? i'm a total novice at this stuff as all supplies up to now have come from the EU. Would that arrangement be a major headache customs wise? Say if my supplier billed you initially and then you passed onto me for a fee type of thing?

Also, does anyone know if our nordie cousins are having the same issues?

Kumejima wrote: »

Also, does anyone know if our nordie cousins are having the same issues?

Short answer: yes:

Hundreds of miles away in Lisburn in Northern Ireland, the haulage firm’s operations team have had no luck in persuading the British supplier that the carrots that were ordered on 27 December are now, in the third week in January, classed as an export and must be accompanied by a litany of documents and certificates before the trailer can be cleared to board the ferry at Birkenhead.

Said carrots held up the movement of everything else on the truck for longer than it took to publish the article; and this incident also highlights how your supplier may still be operating as if nothing has changed.

Does the producer export to Continental Europe? If so, and they've got all their export documentation in order for a full load, you might be better off doing a deal with someone on the Continent who could send the few boxes you're looking for back on the Ferry from France.

It does sound, though, as if there's a potential gap in the market for someone to start moving small quantities of properly documented goods from GB to RoI.

This supplier is a small artisanal producer and I'm pretty certain I'm their only non-UK customer so via France isn't a goer. Of course I'm looking now at upping my orders to a pallet or so but the stuff has a relatively short shelf life so can't go crazy.


Its not just that there is an opportunity for a company serving someone like me, huge retailers cannot get UK products in. I know that a lot of the health food brands are either abandoning Ireland or are adopting a wait and see attitude. One health shop told me that most of their best selling brands are going to run out next week. Another lad told me that one of the big box UK retailers here is either closing down entire sections or renting them out to other businesses as it no longer pays them to try and get many of their product lines in.



For some its gutted profit margins, for others its unwillingness to devote large resources to a small market. Some transport company who can take away some of the pain and cost will still find plenty of takers. Surely saying "Can't be arsed" is slitting their own throats in the long run too? People are still willing to buy UK goods if it isn't made physically impossible. Once they switch to EU alternatives, plenty won't come back.