Outside the SM+CU will not be the reduction in red tape or frictionless trade that Brexiters expect. Devastating for many small business owners (and their families and employees) across the U.K.
The 48 and Beyond : Why Brexit Will Devastate U.K. Manufacturers: A Rare Treat to Boring Facts
The 48 and Beyond : Why Brexit Will Devastate U.K. Manufacturers: A Rare Treat to Boring Facts
We process around 40 orders a week, retail, wholesale the lot, order value average £400, between £5 - £20,000. We are good at what we do, and compete with Chinese made, American marketed products. I can process and ship around 20 UK or EU orders per day, because an EU order takes about 45 seconds longer than a UK one (declare value from the invoice I have to make anyway, email customer tracking number). Shipping to the EU costs £13 for a box up to 35 kilos (yes, it’s that cheap), so no issue to recover from customers. Once a month I need ½ hour to send ESCL and Intrastat reports to HMRC as part of EU export. BUT the minute I go to countries outside the EU, but in the customs union i.e. Norway, Switzerland etc, I must: produce 5 extra invoice copies, with a manufacturers declaration, harmonised commodity code (to be fair we do that anyway now in our product data), and manually sign them = plus 20 minutes, and time is money. Then I must pay a £25 customs clearance fee – so I can no longer split shipments, and be flexible for the customer, because that fee is per shipment, regardless if 1 box or 20. Then if an order for Switzerland is over £6k, I must apply for for SD11 (I think) from the Chamber of Commerce, wait to receive it and complete it = add 2 weeks for form to come back and at least 2 hours (profit slips away).
For non-EU shipments same story with 5 x customs invoice (10 for UPS, sorry guys but you do lose them all the time); and a much longer process for booking shipment – for larger waiting for quotes for air versus ocean shipment (not an issue for Europe, goes on lorry through tunnel), and also supply packing lists, airway bill or bill of lading copies to receiver and shipper, for China and Australia I must produce declarations regarding “no wood” packaging. There is frequently additional work to check the package status, provide extra documents or information etc – all of this is not profitable. We instinctively prefer EU work to non-EU.
For non-EU shipments same story with 5 x customs invoice (10 for UPS, sorry guys but you do lose them all the time); and a much longer process for booking shipment – for larger waiting for quotes for air versus ocean shipment (not an issue for Europe, goes on lorry through tunnel), and also supply packing lists, airway bill or bill of lading copies to receiver and shipper, for China and Australia I must produce declarations regarding “no wood” packaging. There is frequently additional work to check the package status, provide extra documents or information etc – all of this is not profitable. We instinctively prefer EU work to non-EU.
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