Caporegime
- Joined
- 21 Jun 2006
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- 38,367
So you agree not all disabled or elderly folk can make it to the shops and online shopping is much better for them depending on their personal circumstances.
Online sales tax considered in bid to save the high street
- Thread starter chaparral
- Start date
So you agree not all disabled or elderly folk can make it to the shops and online shopping is much better for them depending on their personal circumstances.
If the wages are going to be that low then they will still be on benefits, it would effectively just be the state subsidising manufacturing to bring it back here.
It's irrelevant anyway, you could reduce pay to £3 an hour and companies still wouldn't move back as they would have responsibilities here as employers that they don't have to deal with in other countries. Or do you want to get rid of all workers rights as well to make us more competitive?
We need decent jobs not Victorian workhouses.
For various reasons there are people who can't make it to the shops but that's nothing new.
Caporegime
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- 21 Jun 2006
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You have to be realistic. Not everyone can have a decent job. Unless you want to resort to communism and just pay everyone the same wage.
How do you invent decent jobs?
You are all going to be so ****** when things go wrong online. No more corner groceries, bike shops, clothes, furniture shops etc.no cash payments, no person at a counter to sort out your ransom ware or fraud enquiries. No footfall on the streets, those not WFH are in their electric uber self hires failing to notice street robberies or property fires. The police and fire services have all gone online as well with automated answering services (oh **** gone down again). Cinema going is superceded by Netflix and you can alternate with your fave pron server. Libraries, what were they? You just order a couple of ebooks from your sofa alongside a 12" pizza for one. On the other hand make it an audio book then you don't even need to read it yourself.
Eventually you are all so ******* fat you cannot climb out of your custom sofa with built in commode that you die of exhaustion or the fire that the brigade cannot respond to burns you to a crisp...
...no one notices.
Eventually you are all so ******* fat you cannot climb out of your custom sofa with built in commode that you die of exhaustion or the fire that the brigade cannot respond to burns you to a crisp...
...no one notices.
Sounds as though someone needs a hug!
Just ranting, but thank you for the kind thoughts.
Soldato
- Joined
- 18 Oct 2012
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- 8,341
Certain things just arent amenable to online purchasing, for those items the high street will stay. But for everything else let the market decide.
Invest in new and emerging technologies and become leaders in them.
Personally I think we should be heavily investing in green tech, we have a great engineering past and it would be quite apt for the country that brought the industrial revolution to many parts of the world to also be the one that led the way in the clean energy revolution. That type of manufacturing can be done here as well, along with with sales, development, training, services etc etc
Sure it won't create jobs for everyone but I don't see the point in the subsidising poor jobs just to keep people busy. They'll still be as miserable and disillusioned as those just about getting by on benefits which leads to crime and antisocial behaviour (and all the costs that come with it). Eventually I think we'll get to some sort of universal income system as automation takes more and more jobs away which isn't necessarily a bad thing if it leads to freeing people to live more fulfilling lives rather than just paying bills. I don't see that happening any time soon though as it doesn't fit with how our current world economy works (or doesn't depending on your view).
Caporegime
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- 21 Jun 2006
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Who is going to buy green tech made here when it's half the price made elsewhere?
Everyone's money is flowing into China one way or another.
Because nobody can beat cheap labour. Even ikea buys from China to sell to us what they bought for peanuts.
You cannot become a leader in any new emerging tech unless you invent it.
The last great British invention was the bagless vacuum. Guess where they are made?
I don't buy in the high street unless it's something i need there and then as normally it's available next day anyway.
And a 2% uplift on web based costs will have zero impact as even £2 on a £100 purchase gets dwarfed by the cost of fuel, parking & time. I can buy what I want in my lunch break but to drive into town costs me a quid to park, another £3 ish for fuel, an hour of my time or more. Then I also have to put up with car park dings & the mass of mouth breathers, some of who smell of urine and/or BO.
Not sure what it is but in my local town a large portion of people in town seem to be dirty, unwashed, mouth breathers.
And a 2% uplift on web based costs will have zero impact as even £2 on a £100 purchase gets dwarfed by the cost of fuel, parking & time. I can buy what I want in my lunch break but to drive into town costs me a quid to park, another £3 ish for fuel, an hour of my time or more. Then I also have to put up with car park dings & the mass of mouth breathers, some of who smell of urine and/or BO.
Not sure what it is but in my local town a large portion of people in town seem to be dirty, unwashed, mouth breathers.
One of the most stupid things I've ever seen.
Retail model is changing. It's no longer about sale, it's about delivering an experience and customer service. Companies who embrace the change still have very successful retail businesses. Such as Apple retail stores or Amazon Go stores.
Putting a tax on online sales to save the existing, old, sale-focused retail industry that lacks any innovation is an awful idea. It's like putting a tax on electric cars because diesel cars aren't selling anymore, or putting a tax on smartphones because feature phones aren't selling anymore. You can't tax innovation and progress to keep the status-quo.
As a country we should embrace innovation, not shoot it in the foot to save the good old unimaginative industries that should die off. Guess which countries will lead the future growth?
Soldato
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- 13 Apr 2013
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- La France
I miss local bricks and mortar retailers. Retail parks killed most of them off decades ago apart from really specialist stores that maintain customer loyalty through excellent service and being within 5% of online prices.
My old local high street was almost all fast food outlets, charity shops, “metro or local” versions of supermarkets, chemists and estate agents. The local convenience store/news agents was a Martin’s and only survived as it was opposite the main exit of the Tube station. The exceptions were a florist that’s since shut, a vape shop and a showroom for a wooden shutter/blinds company that was reckoned to be a front for a money laundering operation as no-one I spoke to had ever seen staff or customers inside.
That 2% will just go to big business.
My old local high street was almost all fast food outlets, charity shops, “metro or local” versions of supermarkets, chemists and estate agents. The local convenience store/news agents was a Martin’s and only survived as it was opposite the main exit of the Tube station. The exceptions were a florist that’s since shut, a vape shop and a showroom for a wooden shutter/blinds company that was reckoned to be a front for a money laundering operation as no-one I spoke to had ever seen staff or customers inside.
That 2% will just go to big business.
The 2% isn't to save the high street. If it were then it would be a higher percentage. It is set at just the right level where people wont be deterred from buying online. It is simply a tax rise because the government now needs it from somewhere.
Man of Honour
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- 21 Nov 2004
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Great, another tax. Let all the large corporations get away with billions and prey on the easy poor folk instead. You couldn’t make it up. Just reduce business tax and high street rent and they’ll solve the problem. This country is a shell of what it once was.
It won’t change people’s shopping habits. Most stuff I can now have same day or next day to my door online without the hassle or cost of going out, parking etc.
It won’t change people’s shopping habits. Most stuff I can now have same day or next day to my door online without the hassle or cost of going out, parking etc.
Soldato
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- 17 Jun 2012
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- South Wales
Local council doubled parking prices where I live over the past two years. Granted it's not a lot but it doesn't encourage more people to shop there.
Man of Honour
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- 12 Jul 2005
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Sod the high street. Aside from needing to pay ever increasing car park charges there's nothing up our high street apart from charity shops, mobile phone shops, 99p shops and coffee shops. The world is a different place and changing all of the time, the day of the high street has gone. Take these empty shops, some with 2 or more floors of empty offices/storage above them and turn them into much needed affordable housing.