Stockpiling

[Jak*]

What, if anything are people stockpiling for January? I don’t mean food or wine (which unfortunately I seem to have missed the boat on). I am thinking of motorcycle parts, particularly consumables. Virtually all the spares that I have in my garage either were made in the EU or came through the EU looking at those with postage marks on them. Whilst if you believe Boris, some time in the future it will all be sweetness and light and Britannia will rule the waves again, in the short term it is likely that there will be delays at the ports and possibly with air freight as well. There are already delays with some parts due to Covid. As my motorbikes are my daily transport I can not afford to be off the road, therefore I need to plan ahead. I have already ordered some spare inner tubes and will get a set of tyres next pay day. Oil filters are on my list and possibly a chain and sprocket set. Is there anything else worth stocking up on?
My other option is to pull my finger out and get my 1959 Norton back on the road as there tends to be quite a stock of bits for bikes this old with UK suppliers. I guess that will be in keeping with the spirit of getting the UK back to the fifties. Cheers

[daveuprite]

Jak - not sure if this is a workable proposition or not. But I've noticed over the years, living in France but occasionally posting stuff to friends in the UK, that privately posted parcels tend not to be custom-checked in the same way as commercial goods are. I might be quite wrong about that, and stand ready to be corrected by anyone with some decent customs/import/export knowledge. Maybe everything will be checked more thoroughly after December. But if it is the case, then I'm happy for you to use my french address to have EU products you buy posted here (staying within the EU) and then I re-post them in plain packing as a private parcel to your UK address. I really don't know if that would be cost effective, and I don't want to end up as a busy depot (!), but it could get a few products to you that would otherwise fall foul of the lack of a trade deal. This offer is not open to brexiters obviously, because they caused the problem...

[MotoCP]

This is the only stockpiling I’ve done.

A477CD99-8E87-497B-AB4E-703351A3BD5A.jpeg (197.19 KiB) Viewed 1998 times

I noticed it was on offer at Tesco late one evening so grabbed what they had before the deal ended that night.

[daveuprite]

[Richard Simpson Mark II]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-54908129

[Richard Simpson Mark II]

I've stocked up on motorcycle tyres, and am ordering some car tyres. Also have a small stash of bits for the 950.

[Jak*]

Thanks for the offer Dave. I guess, like most people I have got used to having freedom of movement of goods and all that brings with it. Whilst the loss of that freedom may be a nightmare for some businesses and mean the end of some of them, it also has implications for those of us who do our own maintenance. Before I got my Himalayan my main commuting bikes for many years have been Guzzis. Usually the UK suppliers were excellent and I could get parts within 24-36 hours, but if they did not have them in stock Teo Lamers in Holland would not take much longer.
The downside of the loss of freedom of movement will effect all of us, in the long run there may be some positives. For instance some food that is grown in the UK, like peas, is then sent to EU countries to be processed and packed before returning to the UK. Eventually I guess this may stop, which would be better for the environment, but at the moment we do not have the facilities to handle this in the UK. Of course the ‘New Dawn’ may bring unforeseen benefits, it is just that at the moment they are unforeseen.

[daveuprite]

For instance some food that is grown in the UK, like peas, is then sent to EU countries to be processed and packed before returning to the UK. Eventually I guess this may stop, which would be better for the environment,

Yes, there will be a few rare examples where localism will mean fewer food miles. Not that the brexiters were or are in the least bit concerned about that, nor was it ever cited as a good reason for brexit. Most of the key right-wing brexiters at the height of the campaign were climate-change deniers, for god's sake! And the small gains made environmentally from some home-grown success stories will be far-outweighed by imports of New Zealand lamb and other far-flung imports previously sourced within the EU and meeting high certificated standards.

We all know where the meager benefits of brexit lie - in the bank accounts of a relatively small group of rich gamblers who stand to gain big time, from shorting the market, off-shoring, and taking their business activity out of Europe (and the UK!). Those most likely to have voted for brexit have the most to lose from it, ironically, but they are happy to drag the rest of us down with them.

Just trying to think what british-made products I should be stocking up on (the other way round for us in France) before tariffs and bans are applied next year. Melton Mowbray pies perhaps?, even though I don't think I've ever eaten one in my life...

What a total shower of shit.

[Tramp]

Ive just finushed transporting 8000 pallets of incontinence pads to a secret airbase in oxfordshire for brexit...that was 2 trips a day for nestly 3 weeks in 44t arctic just so the old folk dont get nsppy rash ...we thats uk hauliers are flat out moving bulk items to warehouse...most are nesrly full.

The irony is if the deal is done they wont be needed so soon....

[dave h]

madness,

the scaremongering goin on here,

were all doomed,

I'm off to buy a spare ktm

[cue the reliability jokes]

dave.