Rick's b.log - 2025/01/11
It is the 26th of April 2025 You are 3.148.248.235, pleased to meet you!

My "parcel"

Whut?

As you can see, not only is it not a parcel, it is also - yet again - marked on the La Poste website as being something that I cannot pay taxes on yet because it is going through customs. This is very clearly a massive legalised scam being perpetrated by La Poste. I'm going to say that right out in the open as I have had three "parcels" from the UK this winter (well, two actual parcels and a card!) and all three have been outright scams:

• The first - the Tilley lamp spares, VAT was paid in the UK so I don't think additional taxes were required, sender was a business so filled in the forms correctly, but more tellingly it was not 'in the system' so unable to benefit from cheaper handling fees by doing it online.
• The second - cake mix from a friend in the UK, very clearly said "GIFT" on the customs label, total value under €35, this should have been exempt from duty (and thus, handling fees). Was able to pay online, but shouldn't have had to pay at all (items exempt from tax are also exempt from handling fees).
• This card - probably got hit for fees due to erroneously adding a customs declaration and filling it in wrongly, again was not 'in the system' so couldn't pay the lesser rate online.

I'm not angry with the sender, he probably didn't know or had bad advice. Sadly, the fustercluck that is Brexit has greatly changed things.

Oh, and it was a nice card, even if it took nearly a month to get here...?!

The piece of paper that just cost me nine euros.

With this in mind, allow me to elucidate...

About import fees into the EU

Secondly, anything you send that is unsolicited that requires a customs sticker (anything that isn't a letter) MUST have the "GIFT" box ticked (you'll see it on the upper right of the set of boxes in the middle), and say "GIFT" clearly in the item description. Additionally, it must have a total value, this includes postage, of under €35. If these conditions are met, then it should be exempt from any importation fees, though as you can see La Poste has no qualms about scamming anyway.

If any other box is ticked, customs fees will apply. No if/but/maybe, it should say GIFT and nothing else.

For actual purchases, there's a pretty good chance that the recipient may be double-taxed. There is a way to declare that duty has been prepaid in the UK, but whether or not any attention is paid to that I wouldn't like to say. The problem is that this is usually done sight-unseen, you are told to pay and then to receive the parcel (and find out it was a gift that should have been exempt). I'd file an official complaint, but given my attempts to raise the issue with La Poste's customer service has resulted in promises to find out and call me back - which never happened - I honestly don't think anything will change until I win the lottery and have the resources to drag the bastards before a court.

Yes, there is a way to reclaim tax paid in error, this can be done if something that was ordered is returned, but it is a convoluted process and La Poste won't refund their handling fees; so unless you ordered a computer or something, it's just not worth it. You'd have to sent a tracked signed-for letter to be certain it doesn't get "oops, lost in the post" and in my case that's almost as much as they're scamming for. And, alas, that's just how it is nowadays, thanks a lot Farage, Johnson, and Cameron.

As a result of this, I simply don't buy things from the UK. I had no choice with the Tilley parts as it's a uniquely British object, and searching for spare parts didn't throw up any results in the EU. Having to potentially factor import fees, and potentially taking my time to have to go to the post office (it's about 8km away, and for me that usually means a Saturday morning as it's a little rural office with few hours open) to pay/sort it out, means that it's just not worth it.

And thanks to the experiences of this winter, I'm afraid to say now that any and all parcels sent to me from the UK that I have not been notified about in advance will be refused. Not that people send me unsolicited stuff, mind you...

...that being said, a few years back I did something for CJE. Chris sent me some bits to work with and I sent them back when I was done. I won't do that any more as these days that would attract duties on both sides of the Channel. That's what it means when you leave the EU customs union.

Blame Brexit. Blame Johnson. Blame the Tories for taking such a hard line on what "leaving the EU" meant that it resulted in a shit "deal" that hurts people, trade, and the economy.

FINALLY! A Brexit benefit!

Anyway: Thanks to no longer having to abide by EU rules, the UK is now free to set tampons (and other feminine hygiene products) as zero rate tax items.

Under EU rules, these items are considered a "consumer product", therefore standard VAT applies. France has, for their part, rated them as "necessary consumables" which fall into a lower rate of 5.5% rather than the regular 20% rate.

It gets even worse. Because tampons are consumer products, there is no obligation for them to carry any identification of what they are made of.
Just back up a moment. A wodge of some sort of material gets inserted into a woman, pressed against the mucal membranes of her reproductive system, and the makers don't have to say what's in them? Things that have the potential to trigger anaphylactic shock in certain sensitive people? That's barely better than chucking peanut dust into random foods and then not having to say that there's peanut within. So what if it gravely hurts, or kills, somebody?
This is utterly indefensible - and I say that as a Y-chromosome carrier that will never have a need for a tampon.

France, for their part, is aware of this and wants the rules changed. They point out that in the US, Canada, and Japan tampons are considered "medical devices" so are not taxed and have fairly strict rules about what can be in them. That the EU doesn't is, actually, a little shocking. Why are we Europeans living in the menstual dark ages? What the hell?

Mower fix

The metal cable, wrapped around the bolt, tugs on the
metal thing which tightens the belt which makes the mower go.

It was pleasantly warm working in the sun. And perishing in the shade with the cold breeze. It's going to be...unpleasant (-3°C) tonight, tomorrow night, Monday night, and Tuesday night. So this may be the last blog article for a while as it'll probably be too cold in the living room to want to sit there and write anything. I heat me in here, not the room, as there's no insulation so most heat will rise and, well, be briefly enjoyed by the bats and owls in the loft.
Well, I guess I could use the Android portable in my room, but that depends upon how I'm sitting.

Oh, I won't be doing any work outside tomorrow. I learned the unpleasant way that the disc blade of my bread cutter that doesn't feel particularly sharp is, actually, very bloody sharp when a fleshy appendage touches it in the right manner. It was my little finger that was sort of just in the way and it was a slice that didn't hurt at all but bled like a frying burger. I gave it a quick wash, and squeezed it with paper towels until I dug up a plaster. It isn't bleeding now as the bits fit together nicely, but... let's just say that my inner voice spoke out loud and it wasn't complimentary.

So I think I'm going to make a burger, it put the idea into my mind, and then call it a day.

Your comments:

jgh, 14th January 2025, 17:56

I have to warn people that whenever there's mention of "period poverty" I point at Asda's website showing that through the glorious process of free market competition you can get a fanny pack for 2 pee, and if 1/10th of a penny in tax thrusts you into poverty, there are a whole lot more things wrong with your life that changing the prices of hygiene products will not address.

Rick, 14th January 2025, 18:32

What sort of woman would want to insert something like that up inside? Price that low, its surely going to be plastic pretending to be paper and a load of PFAS so it slides in nice and easy...

William Black, 26th January 2025, 00:23

Parcel Farce does exactly the same thing here. £15 handling fee because they checked it. Point out it’s illegal to delay the post and the angry woman in the depot will offer to read the law to you as that clause was scrapped upon privatisation.