Changes on the High Street

[Taf]

Cardiff's "High Street" in front of the castle has been turned into a covered al fresco dining area for 240. Orders by mobile phone app only.

Where will the traffic go?

[Carth]

High St Shopping:
You can see, feel, check for size/colour, consider quality, browse easily, and items are normally in stock.
You can take purchases home that day, or arrange delivery to suit for larger items.
You can socialise/meet & greet with other shoppers.
Downside is you have to leave the comfort of your home.

Online Shopping:
Pick what you want from who/where you want, at the price you want.
Arrange (and pay) for delivery, and hope it gets delivered correctly and undamaged.
Be prepared for disappointment if the item(s) ordered are wrong, crap quality or damaged, and consider the hassle and possible costs of returning the item(s) . . then wait another week for replacements/refunds (did you read the T&C? )
All done from the comfort of the home/car/garden shed/office/train/airport etc, secure in the knowledge that those nasty internet scammers have no way to steal any info.

Bet you can't guess my preference

[nomadking]

Originally Posted by 1andrew1

Amazon does several things. It's correct to describe it as a marketplace and a fufiller. But it's incorrect to say Amazon doesn't sell anything. Capitalising something unfortunately does not make it correct. This is the extensive Amazon basics range, for example, https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/Amaz...7?ref_=ast_bln

The overwhelming majority of products on Amazon, are not sold by Amazon UK.
Then they will pay tax on those specific sales, just the same as ANY other seller. Where is the evidence to the contrary? NO TAX DODGED in any way.

---------- Post added at 11:35 ---------- Previous post was at 11:27 ----------

Originally Posted by Carth

High St Shopping:
You can see, feel, check for size/colour, consider quality, browse easily, and items are normally in stock.
You can take purchases home that day, or arrange delivery to suit for larger items.
You can socialise/meet & greet with other shoppers.
Downside is you have to leave the comfort of your home.

Online Shopping:
Pick what you want from who/where you want, at the price you want.
Arrange (and pay) for delivery, and hope it gets delivered correctly and undamaged.
Be prepared for disappointment if the item(s) ordered are wrong, crap quality or damaged, and consider the hassle and possible costs of returning the item(s) . . then wait another week for replacements/refunds (did you read the T&C? )
All done from the comfort of the home/car/garden shed/office/train/airport etc, secure in the knowledge that those nasty internet scammers have no way to steal any info.

Bet you can't guess my preference

Then again, everything but your first item about online shopping, also applies to the high street. How many different places have there ever been on the high street selling the same goods? Trudging around from shop to shop in the vain hope somebody has the item you are looking for and at a price you're willing to pay, doesn't sound like much fun.

[Carth]

I find no difference between Amazon and Ebay, both 'sell' new and used stuff from a variety of sellers/agents, sometimes at strange and whacky prices

I don't use either, but am often directed there by the marketing used

[Sephiroth]

Originally Posted by jfman

Indeed. There is a lot more to come.

However, there is also a lot to come about what do we do to facilitate the recovery of the High Street.

I'd welcome that to reform the tax system against online conglomerates, who largely shift their tax burden offshore, in favour of local people in local communities running local businesses.

I look forward to the emerging forum consensus congregating around this... Carth, Seph, Nomad, Pierre (maybe) and the traditional socialist wing, myself, den, andrew, ianch. We all like this idea. Maybe not Old Boy....

Local jobs in local communities...

Hmmmm.

[jfman]

Originally Posted by 1andrew1

Amazon does several things. It's correct to describe it as a marketplace and a fufiller. But it's incorrect to say Amazon doesn't sell anything. Capitalising something unfortunately does not make it correct. This is the extensive Amazon basics range, for example, https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/Amaz...7?ref_=ast_bln

Indeed. And even where they are a middle man this is still a service.

[Carth]

Originally Posted by nomadking

Then again, everything but your first item about online shopping, also applies to the high street. How many different places have there ever been on the high street selling the same goods? Trudging around from shop to shop in the vain hope somebody has the item you are looking for and at a price you're willing to pay, doesn't sound like much fun.

I guess I'm just an old fashioned 'right first time' sort of bloke, as opposed to taking pot luck on a desirable outcome

[nomadking]

Originally Posted by Carth

I guess I'm just an old fashioned 'right first time' sort of bloke, as opposed to taking pot luck on a desirable outcome

So you've never bought anything from a shop, and found out it didn't work, was damaged, or even mysteriously has the guarantee form filled out with somebody elses name and address? Cards can be skimmed in shops, their databases of transactions hacked etc.



Never had a reason to regret or return an item bought via eBay or Amazon. It's the trudging around shops searching for an item, that I have often regretted.

[Carth]

It's only my shopping preference, others do whatever they like

lots of other things in life I don't get on with too, as a grumpy old man I'm allowed

[Taf]

Originally Posted by Taf

Cardiff's "High Street" in front of the castle has been turned into a covered al fresco dining area for 240. Orders by mobile phone app only.

And now pubs and indoor restaurants in Wales can open from Monday. What a waste of money. Do those in charge ever talk to each other about their plans?

[pip08456]

Originally Posted by Taf

And now pubs and indoor restaurants in Wales can open from Monday. What a waste of money. Do those in charge ever talk to each other about their plans?

Don't be silly Taf, that's too simple!

[jfman]

Originally Posted by Taf

And now pubs and indoor restaurants in Wales can open from Monday. What a waste of money. Do those in charge ever talk to each other about their plans?

It’s still desirable for folk to go for al fresco dining. It could increase “safe” capacity, and there’s no reason not to welcome it regardless.

[Hom3r]

I always do my food shop myself (apart from when I was self-isolating, my sister did it for me.)


I do buy a lot from Amazon, mainly because no shops near me sold it, like when I wanted port dust caps, Maplins were the obvious choice, but alas they didn't sell it.

So I went to Amazon, and had it shipped from China.

[ianch99]

Originally Posted by jfman

Indeed. There is a lot more to come.

However, there is also a lot to come about what do we do to facilitate the recovery of the High Street.

I'd welcome that to reform the tax system against online conglomerates, who largely shift their tax burden offshore, in favour of local people in local communities running local businesses.

I look forward to the emerging forum consensus congregating around this... Carth, Seph, Nomad, Pierre (maybe) and the traditional socialist wing, myself, den, andrew, ianch. We all like this idea. Maybe not Old Boy....

Local jobs in local communities...

Reform of the Tax System .. now there is an easy task It is a bit like reform of the voting system. In both cases, there is clear and compelling evidence to those with an objective and unbiased view that they need to happen. The problem is, as it has always been, is the minority of the populace that in whose interests that the status quo remains and, more significantly, the ability of said (even smaller) minority to convince people, though misinformation & misdirection, that reform is a "bad thing".

When the power is in the hands of those who do not want change, change is difficult.

This is the sort of bold thinking that can help with the funding of the Covid black hole and as a result help to fund the radical rethinking of the city & town centres.

Think-tank outlines £421bn Property Capital Gains Tax to cover Covid-19 costs

A new report from the Social Market Foundation says tens of billions of pounds of new taxes should be levied on increases in the value of homes to ensure the costs of the coronavirus crisis "do not fall unfairly on younger people".

The report recommends that the Treasury should raise £421 billion over the next 25 years by imposing a new 'Property Capital Gains Tax' on all homes sold in the UK. It says the tax could be set at 10% of the increase in the value of the property since it was last sold.

[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by ianch99

Reform of the Tax System .. now there is an easy task It is a bit like reform of the voting system. In both cases, there is clear and compelling evidence to those with an objective and unbiased view that they need to happen. The problem is, as it has always been, is the minority of the populace that in whose interests that the status quo remains and, more significantly, the ability of said (even smaller) minority to convince people, though misinformation & misdirection, that reform is a "bad thing".

When the power is in the hands of those who do not want change, change is difficult.

This is the sort of bold thinking that can help with the funding of the Covid black hole and as a result help to fund the radical rethinking of the city & town centres.

Think-tank outlines £421bn Property Capital Gains Tax to cover Covid-19 costs

There is no point in changing anything unless it is for the better.

As far as the voting system is concerned, although many can see the argument behind proportional representation for example, the public really would not appreciate a perpetual hung parliament as we had in the last year before Brexit. That is what we would get. Our present system may not seem fair to some, but at least it tends to produce strong governments with a working majority.

I would support some changes in taxation to help the High Street provided they were fair and proportionate to the Amazons of this world, but I think we should bear in mind that if such changes are an impediment to change, that would not be desirable. Just like changing the voting system, such changes could produce unintended consequences that the public would not support.