When the falling pound hits your stash acquisition...

[Mabel Figworthy]

A little over a week ago I decided to give myself the pre-birthday treat of a selection of floche (what Percy the Parrot was stitched in) which unfortunately is pretty much only available from America. Ordered and checked on X-rates that it would come to about £92. But Needle In A Haystack (wonderful shop, highly recommended!) don't charge you until the order is actually sent. And when it was sent, a week later, it came to £101.... Ouch! I hope the import duties won't be too horrendous

[Serinde]

Oh, Mabel, I feel your pain. But as soon as the lovely threads are in your hands you'll forget all about it (until the credit card bill comes in, anyway).

[richardandtracy]

Gaah!
I feel your pain. I've always been irritated by the fact we have punative import taxes for stuff from the US (an allie) and no effective import duties from China, a country that cannot under any circumstances be considered one.
Makes no sense, and to be stung by varying exchange rates too, that's heaping insult on injury.

Regards,

Richard.

[Squirrel]

That is rather a steep change in a short time AND you have to pay Import Duties WOW your government is not nice. We do not pay export duties until we have imported X amount of dollars worth - not sure what the figure is as I don't buy from overseas very often.
However you have lovely threads to play with during this difficult time.

[poppy]

Oh well...in the grand scheme of things, it is not too much, Mabel. If you went to the pub regularly ( before the restrictions, of course), you would have spent a lot more money and not got beautiful projects at the end of it.
That is the way I see it.
Looking forward to see your new goodies.

[rcperryls]

Oh well...in the grand scheme of things, it is not too much, Mabel. If you went to the pub regularly ( before the restrictions, of course), you would have spent a lot more money and not got beautiful projects at the end of it.
That is the way I see it.
Looking forward to see your new goodies.

Just another example of how weird things can be. Still, you are going to use these materials in your home, creating beautiful projects, as poppy said, for all to enjoy seeing. Strikes me as patriotic actually.

Carole

[Mabel Figworthy]

Well, I've just been given an update to say my threads are now in the same country as I - I wonder how long they'll take to get to me, what with Customs and so on. Not to mention the other C word...

I've reconciled myself to the extra expense; I hardly ever buy new clothes (I love charity shops!), am very frugal as to hairdressers and don't do spa days, nightclubs or handbags so these are my way of treating myself.

[wendywombat]

Hmmfff

Having lived for 20+ years coping with a fluctuating exchange rate I can only sympathise, Mabel.
Our pensions are UK based and we have to transfer money to France regularly. Recently with the B-word the rates have dropped and dropped so we've lost a lot of our income, then they suddenly rushed up and have now dropped again to almost parity!

Bleat over, you'll find me in the S&G taking solace in a

BTW enjoy that New Stash, Mabel and take no notice of a Whinging Wombat!

[Mabel Figworthy]

I always take notice of my favourite Wombat whom I will now join in the S & G.

And when (ah, when....) the stash arrives, don't worry, I'll enjoy it with knobs on!

[fccs]

I know the sticker shock will be overshadowed by the joy you’ll feel when you get your treasures.

I second Needle in a Haystack - I’ve ordered from them numerous time and they are fabulous.

[Mabel Figworthy]

Having apparently left Heathrow airport on its way to its destination (me) last Thursday, nothing has happened since - status still says just that. Of course I realise that private parcels may have to take a back seat to more important transport at the moment, so I'm happy to wait, but I just hope they don't get lost in all the confusion...

[wendywombat]

Mabel that reminds me of the tracking system we have here. The Hub for packages is at Roissy which is part of the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. Many times I see that parcels have arrived there but then the message stays the same....Even After my package arrives Here!!


The postal system here has now gone Crazy. There is a notice on the local Post Office door that it is closed and that parcels can be taken to the nearest big town....which is also Shut!!
There is a system which works well though. Go on-line and register the parcel which must be under a certain weight and be able to fit into our post box at our house. Then the post worker collects it. Until of course when the Post office decides that that function is no longer available!
Which happened last week!
So no post offices open in our region. I was going to "Ambush" our lovely Post Lady today as I've just finished a cardigan for my daughter in the UK, then D/H said he would try the on-line service again as the parcel was quite light. It Worked so D/D will get the cardie on it's way tomorrow.

OK ...into the S&G for a Strong Coffee and a slice of favourite cake?

[Serinde]

Our postal system still working well at the moment. I suspect when (not if) the army & reserves are deployed they will, in part, be used to fill in for sick posties, bin men and other workers who between them keep the place ticking over.

[Mabel Figworthy]

Well, I've paid the import duty and handling fee. I think. The Royal Mail website gave me an "Oops" page to say something had gone wrong with my payment (WHY do they try to be twee and cute?) but then I got an email saying I had authorised a payment to Royal Mail. On hold right now trying to contact a person to speak to - wish me luck!

If it all works out, I should have my floche this Wednesday

[Mabel Figworthy]

Incidentally, the import duty was less than I had expected, so it goes towards compensating for the exchange rate hit. In the end I will pay only a few pounds more than I had expected to pay in total - not too bad!

Still on hold...

[wendywombat]

Someone here has seen sense as the "Register and pop it in personal Post Box" facility now is back up on-line.
So we have.

Hope your stash gets to you Soon, Mabel!

[Mabel Figworthy]

Glad to hear you are connected again Wendy

After 20 minutes I gave up on the phone; I've sent them a message instead (it's not easy getting hold of their contact details, which is silly seeing that they are, well, the post office!) It may be a bit longer before I get to wind that floche...

[Mabel Figworthy]

Royal Mail haven't got back to me on my query, but they have actually delivered the parcel
Pictures in the Stash thread later.

[RosemaryD]

Glad your parcel was delivered Mabel. I find the Royal Mail online portal quite unreliable - I've used it to pay customs fees and rearrange deliveries which have either turned up on the wrong day or not at all; so far they've always been in the local delivery office when I've been in to investigate. Not ideal now, obviously.

[Serinde]

All's well that ends better, Mabel!