Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Brexit, joe glass, post, post office

Brits Can't Post Anything Abroad Right Now?

Can we call him Joe The Post? Because Welsh comic book creator and publisher of The Pride, and former Bleeding Cool reporter Joe Glass, tweeted out the following;

Hey, in case UK comic makers didn't know and I just learned: the post office are not taking any packages or mail for outside the UK for the foreseeable, at least until freight routes start opening up again. You can't even ship to Ireland atm. This, of course, hitting just before the inevitable massive jump in postage costs after Brexit next weekend, likely all the worse because of a likely No Deal situation, is just peak British hellscape right now. F-ck, honestly, between all this, my bullsh-t government and the chaos of Brexit literally just around the corner, I dunno how I'm going to manage next year.

The identification by British scientists of a new, more infectious strain of coronavirus in the South East of England (though there is no evidence that it originated there, or even in the UK) has seen not just Tier 4 lockdown, but also British trade routes being curtailed. The ten thousand lorries or trucks that traverse the channel between Britain and France every day have been halted, now stuck on motorways over Christmas, as the French government has stopped lorry drivers from entering the country from the UK.

Some blame for this on Brexit – but it's not, any country in the European Union has always had the right to do this against another. It's just not often used. However, with full-blown Brexit coming and a trade deal with the rest of the European Union looking increasingly unlikely, all sorts of issues are about to hit.

Post Office prices are jumping massively from January – Bleeding Cool advice is to buy as many standard first-class stamps as you can afford right now, as they are about to jump by 12% in value overnight.

Comics – as well as all physically printed materials – are exempt from duty in the UK, whether VAT or customs charges. However, the £18 waiver for almost anything else being imported is vanishing – it was a European Union directive. Which means that people will have to start paying additional sales tax, VAT, customs charges and postal charges on their Loot Crates coming in. While international countries are now going to have to start dealing with British customs rather than the EU standards they have been dealing with. This also includes the paying of all sorts of taxes before sending items, with many more forms to fill, to the extent that several firms have told me that they are likely going to stop bothering and say they won't send items to the UK. I have had to point out that this doesn't – or shouldn't apply to printed material.  But it would apply to T-shirts, stickers, toys, statues or other ephemera.

More of this to come. But for many Brits, it looks like it may be about to be quite the bleak midwinter.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!