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Amazon’s UK FBA operations will be split from the EU

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101–110 of 219 posts

Re: Amazon’s UK FBA operations will be split from the EU

#102
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't Amazon not deliver to Switzerland or something? I think I heard that Swiss people for example can't order from Amazon.co.jp. Meanwhile I can order from Amazon.co.jp to Finland and Amazon (or DHL) handles everything from shipping to VAT and to customs declaration.

I could be off, but here's what I recall: A couple years ago Switzerland changed the rules that companies shipping to Switzerland must collect and administer Swiss VAT and companies the size of Amazon said fuck it! and thus don't ship from the US any more. I suspect that the same goes for Amazon Japan.

That sounds very strange. Norway is in a similar position as Switzerland in terms of trade, and Amazon has for the past 10 years collected Norwegian VAT up front when using express shipping.

This year the government mandated that international sellers registered for VAT and Amazon has registered all their local stores in Norway

Re: Amazon’s UK FBA operations will be split from the EU

#103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many of the jobs Eastern Europeans were taking simply aren't being filled by UK workers. They consider themselves too good to pick fruit, clean toilets and care for sick people.

Would not the praised invisible hand take care of this? If toilet cleaners provide more value than stock brokers (they do), they should be paid more. There is also the fact that Eastern European construction workers in Germany do not follow German regulations, rip out Asbest without precautions etc., thus undercutting local builders.

Is this a problem due to the existence of Easter Europeans or a problem of Government not enforcing the regulations. Why don't you demand enforcement of regulations instead of wholesale ban of Eastern Europeans?

Also, how do you feel about sending all non-complient workers to Eastern Europe or do you think that German non-complient workers should just get a fine?

Re: Amazon’s UK FBA operations will be split from the EU

#104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In context of Brexit, the inevitable consequences of the UK's actions is quite often a "bombshell" to the UK. The denial is strong.

Is it? The denial in Europe is currently that the flooding of the labor market with Eastern European workers has no consequences for the common man. Countries have been sold out to the stock markets for the last two decades. It is refreshing that the UK is the first to recognize this officially.

This is called the "lump of labour fallacy". There aren't just a fixed number of jobs to be filled by the people who live in a country. As more people arrive, those people need to pay for services such as rent, groceries, cars etc. etc. creating more work and more jobs. The fact is that the majority of immigrants in the UK are young, and therefore contribute a disproportionate amount of tax relative to what they take out from government services.

It's not all roses - UK companies, such as fruit farms, are able to treat low-skilled immigrant workers worse than long-term residents. But there are also plenty of high-skilled immigrants, so to pretend that it's about countries being "sold out to stock markets" is naive. Just wait to see what happens to the NHS as foreign workers leave over the next few months.

Re: Amazon’s UK FBA operations will be split from the EU

#105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In context of Brexit, the inevitable consequences of the UK's actions is quite often a "bombshell" to the UK. The denial is strong.

Is it? The denial in Europe is currently that the flooding of the labor market with Eastern European workers has no consequences for the common man. Countries have been sold out to the stock markets for the last two decades. It is refreshing that the UK is the first to recognize this officially.

Britain before the virus had close to full employment. We had 3 or 4 unfilled positions for every person on unemployment benefit. Most people unemployed found jobs quickly. In mid 2019 there were only 327,000 Britons who had been unemployed for more than a year, but over 3.5 million foreign nationals working in the UK.

The British jobs for British people argument is utter garbage. It’s so incredibly far from reality it beggars belief. It’s flat earth economics. The Johnson government knows this perfectly well, that’s why they extended work visa rights for foreign students in the UK and guaranteed that foreign nationals in the UK would keep long term rights to work here.

Our economy is crying out for skilled workers, it’s the number one roadblock to increased growth. Foreign workers tend to be young, more productive, consume fewer social services, pay more tax and commit fewer crimes than native Brits, by a lot. With an ageing population and increasing health care and pension costs, we need them more than ever.

Re: Amazon’s UK FBA operations will be split from the EU

#106
post #6

I’m in the UK. I can see this is going to mean a huge chunk of products disappearing from amazon here. A lot of stuff I order comes from Europe. So supply chain problems for months here we come! Fun times ahead. And no I didn’t vote for this shit show.

In this case, I'm not convinced that it's people in the UK in particular who'll have trouble ordering things from Amazon. For historical reasons, the UK has a disproportionate amount of Amazon logistics infrastructure compared to most other EU countries and I think they've even been fulfilling European "sold by Amazon" orders from the UK warehouses. If anything does affect the supply of goods from UK Amazon it's more likely to be disruption of shipping into the warehouses.

Re: Amazon’s UK FBA operations will be split from the EU

#107
post #70
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dan Hannan and a bunch of the other dishonest brexiteers deliberately misled people into thinking they could be.

It is a politician's modus operandi/job to mislead in order to achieve political goals. It would have been the job of the press to point out the problems and the job of the public to form a qualified opinion. Only the politicians did their jobs, unfortunately... (And yes, I'm a cynic)

The press were largely campaigning for Brexit. Including one of the highest paid journalists in the entire campaign, Boris Johnson.

Re: Amazon’s UK FBA operations will be split from the EU

#108
post #6

I’m in the UK. I can see this is going to mean a huge chunk of products disappearing from amazon here. A lot of stuff I order comes from Europe. So supply chain problems for months here we come! Fun times ahead. And no I didn’t vote for this shit show.

The opposite will be annoying as well: I sometimes order products from non-European companies which use UK sellers as their official resellers for the EU. They will probably need to find new EU resellers outside the UK.

Re: Amazon’s UK FBA operations will be split from the EU

#109
post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would not the praised invisible hand take care of this? If toilet cleaners provide more value than stock brokers (they do), they should be paid more. There is also the fact that Eastern European construction workers in Germany do not follow German regulations, rip out Asbest without precautions etc., thus undercutting local builders.

Is this a problem due to the existence of Easter Europeans or a problem of Government not enforcing the regulations. Why don't you demand enforcement of regulations instead of wholesale ban of Eastern Europeans? Also, how do you feel about sending all non-complient workers to Eastern Europe or do you think that German non-complient workers should just get a fine?

Poor, desperate people who don't speak the local language are not exactly likely to turn whistleblower. We've seen this in the UK recently with the Covid-19 outbreaks on vegetable farms - which are (as Brexit opponents in the press repeatedly and smugly pointed out) almost entirely staffed by migrant workers from Eastern Europe to the point that when Covid shut down travel they had to charter special planes to fly them in - when the people who went to the press about the dodgy hygene conditions were the only British workers. There's a reason these companies prefer migrant workers, and it's not a good one.

Re: Amazon’s UK FBA operations will be split from the EU

#110
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't Amazon not deliver to Switzerland or something? I think I heard that Swiss people for example can't order from Amazon.co.jp. Meanwhile I can order from Amazon.co.jp to Finland and Amazon (or DHL) handles everything from shipping to VAT and to customs declaration.

I could be off, but here's what I recall: A couple years ago Switzerland changed the rules that companies shipping to Switzerland must collect and administer Swiss VAT and companies the size of Amazon said fuck it! and thus don't ship from the US any more. I suspect that the same goes for Amazon Japan.

Weird... in Romania, I can order from Amazon US with expedited shipping and they'll charge me for VAT and DHL will handle customs for me.

Or I can order with slow cheap shipping and stand in line and pay VAT myself at the post office.

Either way, they will (mostly) ship. What's different with Switzerland?

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