Ok, this is an unconventional post, but I felt the urgency to write something about that international mess called Brexit.
Before going on, let me reassure you: this post won't talk about politics. I'm an Italian guy, I simply can't judge something that I've never lived on my skin, it would be silly.
However, Brexit will surely afflict Durgin Paint Forge, in a way or another, and consequently my life: so here I am, trying to face the storm with you!
UK guys and gals represent a huge slice of this community, so it's easy to understand why I'm so worried about the Brexit affair: it's likely that things will mess up a bit, in the future, and it would be really bad to lose all my Albionic people out there!
I delayed my Kickstarter campaign, originally planned in March, to better understand the situation and to avoid being in the middle of the storm right during the campaign (it would be a nightmare!), but it seems that we still don't know what exactly will happen, after March 29th.
I think that the Brexit affair would be delayed to find a deal between EU and UK, so I'm quite positive concerning our upcoming Kickstarter campaign, but if Young Frankenstein taught me something, is that things can easily get worse than expected.
So, let's imagine the worst situation possible: a No Deal Brexit.
First of all, let's be honest: in that case, I think that you'll have more important concerns than worrying about miniatures, but after all it's my work, so I have to do my part as well.
I think that there are two main issues that could make your hobby worse:
•customs fees/shipping costs
•the currency (£) trend
Let's start from the easier one.
As you may know, I ship my international orders (which are 90% of the total -nemo profeta in patria est-) with PostNL.
This courier is slower than the most famous one, like UPS/TNT/DHL, and I confess that their customer assistance is quite frustrating, sometimes (ok, we are in 2019, but managing the customer assistance only on Twitter it's ridiculous, to me...).
However, I chose PostNL for a main reason: they operate, in the most "important" foreign countries (USA/Canada/Australia etc) in strict connection with local postal services.
That means that they manage those deliveries like they were internal ones and, if the parcel has a value less than 350€, there are no customs fees.
Concerning UK, and considering that I already have the possibility to ship my parcel using Royal Mail, through the internal preferential PostNL channel, I think that it's very likely that also in case of no-deal Brexit, I will be able to ship your miniatures in UK, without making you pay customs fees.
Please, be careful: I asked more infos directly to PostNL, and I'm waiting for an official confirmation of my assumption, but I am optimistic about that.
As soon as I have further news, obviously, I'll update you (believe it or not, it seems that nobody still knows how this situation will develop!).
Let's talk about the more difficult issue: the currency trend. I'm not an economist, so I probably should avoid to make statements about these technical arguments, but in my ignorance I suppose that, in case of No Deal Brexit, the actual £ value could change: I don't know if it will gain or lose compared to €, but I want to be prepared about that.
Obviously, if the £ will raise its value, you won't be worried, concerning the idea of buying foreign stuff, so let's focus on the worst (for you) case.
I'm not the International Monetary Fund (it would be surely easy to find resources to produce a whole army of Dwarves..), but I think that, in case £ will dramatically lose a lot of its value, I will take counter-measures.
Again, I suppose that if £ will lose a lot of its value, you would be concerned about a lot of more important things, than buying my miniatures, but I can't ignore the fact.
I confess I have different ideas in mind, about it, and considering the importance of UK market for me, I surely prefer (for example) to make special sales for UK customers, rather than seeing them disappear.
I imagine that all the mighty customers that don't live in UK might be a bit annoyed about that, but I was taught that in a family we should all help those in needs, so I hope you will understand.
However, I imagined the worst scenario possible, but that doesn't mean that it will happen: I think that even if sometime it doesn't seem, the goodsense will prevail, in this Brexit mess, and people will find a deal that it will prevent us from rowing in the storm.
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