A while ago, I reviewed the Financial Times' video on the impact of Brexit on UK commerce. The takeaway is that it does have an impact, especially on the small and medium enterprises in the country, who are not in the best position to adapt to the new world without the EU.
Here is another example from the perspective of an actual small company, Henningham Family Press. The company is a small publisher that produces hand-crafted books.
In this thread, they take us through the journey of a 12.99 GBP paperback to illustrate the impact of Brexit on their business
A list of the issues:
- Britain does not produce paper for their books, they imported from Sweden, Germany, Italy and France. There doesn't seem to be alternative sources in Britain itself
-delivery of paper from the EU is delayed, taking weeks instead of days, affecting their stockpile
-this adds to cost as they have to pay for trucks which are delayed while transporting their supplies
-book covers are from Italy, and they ended up buying all supplies of this paper in the UK
-the gold foil used on their covers come from South Korea and the US, via EU.
-because of the transport problems, they have to make do with paper types that they have, rather than the ones they want
-postage charges increased as custom taxes have to be paid now, and they have to figure out how to pay, who should pay, and how to indicate to customs that the necessary taxes have been paid
-they can use third parties to alleviate the custom taxes issue but that adds to the costs.
-third parties also charge by volume in tiers, the more you use their services the cheaper the cost per unit is. Small enterprises may not transact in the volume required, or to make economic sense.
-goods shipped may be rejected because of incorrect paperwork (or even if paperwork is correct) and the returned good may be damaged
-they could be charged incorrect taxes or custom duties
-they resorted to using other countries' services which could lead to business moving offshore from the UK
The experience of Henningham Family Press is common with the experience of small enterprises in the Financial Times video. For someone who has never ran my own business, this gives a useful look at the kinds of complications a big exogeneous shock can impose on what is ostensibly a simple process (make books, sell books).
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