Import duty?
Well, it never even crossed my mind that I'd have to pay import duty as I'm not savvy about such things, I rarely travel and the only other things I've ever ordered from the US are two secondhand books which cost me £0.01p and £1.49 each on Amazon with £2.75 postage respectively. The first book was Franky Furbo
by William Wharton and the other A Sinless Season 
by Damon Galgut, neither of which I could purchase in the UK for a reasonable sum.( By the way I have written an article about Damon which also includes a review of his Man Booker nominated novel In A Strange Room
over at The View From Here. There's also an interview with Damon, and if you've never read any of his work I heartily recommend all his novels and suggest you start with either The Good Doctor 
or The Imposter. )
To drift off on a tangent for a moment...Why don't publishers put authors' back catalogues into digital format? I can't believe it is that difficult or expensive to do so when all the manuscripts are already stored digitally. It seems utter madness to me that authors should lose out on sales because people can't find or afford older publications. For example, at the time I wanted to read A Sinless Season it was only available
in the UK for some ridiculous sum so I ordered it from the US for a total of £2.76 of which Damon would have received nothing. I would have happily have bought an electronic copy for a few pounds which I could have downloaded immediately and not been forced to wait several weeks for it to arrive from the US. Doesn't that make sense? Now okay, so maybe it's impractical to get all authors' work into digital format but both Galgut and Wharton are, in my opinion, big names in literature. Why hasn't it been done yet?Anyway, I opened my letter and my import duty and the £8.00 "clearance" charge (whatever that is but it sounds like just an excuse to con me out of some more cash) amounted to £38. 24. Yes that's right £38.24 or $61.62.
Wait for it...
Are you wondering what expensive item I'd bought? Had Mrs T splashed out on a tiara on a box of chocs the size of the Statue of Liberty? Nope, I'd merely bought some tennis equipment which had cost $209. 91 which included a $34.95 postage charge from the US. Now to covert that to pounds and deduct postage the actual cost of the equipment was £108.58. So my import duty and clearance charge is over A THIRD of the value of the goods.
You know what Readers, and I rarely say such things,
BUT I HAVE BEEN SCREWED!
I mean it's one thing to protect your own economy but when you don't make the same product in your own country and it's for personal use I call that ONE BIG RIP OFF.
I hope the government uses my £38.24 for something sensible.
But I'm not counting on it.
They do get you coming and going.
ReplyDeleteHere in good old Connecticut, they have a nifty way of making you part ways with your dollar.
In order to renew your car registration ($85 US), you have to take it through emissions ($20 US). If it fails, you can get it fixed or do it yourself, but if you want to apply for a waiver, you have to take it to where they say you can take it and you have to spend at least $650 US before you qualify.
That is just crazy Jane. How irritating. But I'm sure your invite to the Royal wedding made up for it. :)
ReplyDeleteG - Yep these governments know how to screw folks. I'm still trying to figure out what we get in exchange for all the cash they strip us off every month.
ReplyDeleteMarie - I'm planning on wearing my best pinny:)