The News Thread (for news that does not need a thread)

Dracos said:
Also technically I believe the value should include the postage, which means with how much some places charge for postage if they declare the value correctly you could get caught without realising.
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As I understand it the taxable amount only includes the postage when the value of the goods themselves (which is all that needs to be declared) is over the £15 limit.

Also, hello Dracos! It feels like it's been a good while since you ventured to these parts.
 
fabricatedlunatic said:
Dracos said:
Also technically I believe the value should include the postage, which means with how much some places charge for postage if they declare the value correctly you could get caught without realising.
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As I understand it the taxable amount only includes the postage when the value of the goods themselves (which is all that needs to be declared) is over the £15 limit.

Also, hello Dracos! It feels like it's been a good while since you ventured to these parts.
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I was not quite sure on the postage bit as most places don't declare it anyway.

It has been a while. I pop through now and again to check out a few bits but don't often have time or the inclination to comment. I never thought I would say it but there is too much legal stuff coming out to keep up with. And as it all has subtitles it needs more concentration hence less ability to multi-task and type on forums.
 
Toradora...great first license. I own NISA's Premium Editions though, so unless it's on blu-ray or by some kind of crazy magic receives a dub, I'll be congratulating the Aussies on getting a great show and be on my way.
 
Joshawott said:
Toradora...great first license. I own NISA's Premium Editions though, so unless it's on blu-ray or by some kind of crazy magic receives a dub, I'll be congratulating the Aussies on getting a great show and be on my way.
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As I also own the NISA Premium Editions I won't be getting it unless it is on blu-ray either.
 
Rosencrantz said:
The real lottery with customs is not how much they charge, the info is available if you can find it on HMRC/Royal Mail, but whether it'll get caught or not.
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This is, sadly, the truth of it.

There's no real rhyme or reason to it. Every time you import over the threshold limit, you take a chance of having your item inspected and being charged.

I've been slapped with VAT and handling fees on precisely three occasions. On the last two occasions, I've kicked up a fuss at the sorting office. I encourage ALL of you to do the same.

The last time I received a grey slip, I was told on collection of my parcel 'everything coming to the UK from the United States is being caught at the moment.

I was understandably concerned, as I had another DVD set in the post that was over the import limit. It arrived with no fees to pay. I was caught again a week or so later, and on collection of my parcel, told them about this.

I have no problem with paying VAT, as that's required by law. Royal Mail's handling fee, however, is obscene. I don't believe that we are LEGALLY required to pay it - and they certainly do nothing to earn it.
 
I made a complaint to the post watchdog when they doubled the fee from £4 to £8. They said there was nothing they could do about it but were also concerned about such a big rise.

There are only a few real ways around it one is to find companies willing to declare lower values on items or declare it as a gift or samples as they have a higher threshold unfortunately that can backfire when it goes missing and they have to claim. Another is to find places that like planetaxel (R.I.P) and I think sometimes amazon that pay the VAT up front.

I think there is a way to pay HMRC directly with lower fees but I don't think it works if it comes in through the postal service, unless there is some kind of option where you can have customs hold your stuff until you pay. This is how people like UP1 have to do it paying once for each shipment then passing on the fees at a kinder rate. That is why even if I find the prices a bit high they are still cheaper than trying to do it yourself most of the time.
 
HdE said:
I have no problem with paying VAT, as that's required by law. Royal Mail's handling fee, however, is obscene. I don't believe that we are LEGALLY required to pay it - and they certainly do nothing to earn it.
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When I first learnt of this handling charge (took me by surprise as it was a courier delivery where they wanted payment on the doorstop to hand me the item) I thought it was a right scam.

However consider this, they pay upfron the VAT owed on your item, what happens if you never bother to contact the Royal Mail to pay your VAT & handling fee? They are down money then. I still think it's excessive but it covers them for the people that never bother to pay.

mangaman74 said:
Joshawott said:
Toradora...great first license. I own NISA's Premium Editions though, so unless it's on blu-ray or by some kind of crazy magic receives a dub, I'll be congratulating the Aussies on getting a great show and be on my way.
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As I also own the NISA Premium Editions I won't be getting it unless it is on blu-ray either.
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I'm hoping NISA will release a Blu Ray set with the OAV sometime in the future, might be a ways off though as im seeing super expensive BR collections on ebay from Japan. Need to let them get their fill of expensive BR before we get out shot at a semi expensive BR release.
 
Tiger & Bunny's Viz Media page has posted up a short video, which is clearly of Wally Wingert (Bleach's Renji) recording lines for Wild Tiger. Although nothing has been confirmed by Viz Media, it is obviously Wally Wingert.

I had a feeling they would totally balls up the casting of the main two.
 
Joshawott said:
Real Gundams incoming?
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I'm just surprised it's the LDP and not the Sunrise Party.

I have no doubt we'll end up with something resembling mechs someday. Though given the way space exploration seems to be going (and the way most governments are broke) it'll probably be some private mercenary army that gets their hands on them first. Or China. Still, it's nice Japan has politicians who can discuss this kind of thing in all seriousness.

What's with people saying it's not practical? A giant metal humanoid is the most versatile thing I can think of in a battlefield situation. The only way I can think of making it more versatile would be to add more arms (mecha Durga? Perhaps India will get there first). Possibly the head's a bit vulnerable, that should probably be amalgamated into the torso. Hmm. Off to design a mech, brb.
 
ayase said:
What's with people saying it's not practical? A giant metal humanoid is the most versatile thing I can think of in a battlefield situation. The only way I can think of making it more versatile would be to add more arms (mecha Durga? Perhaps India will get there first). Possibly the head's a bit vulnerable, that should probably be amalgamated into the torso. Hmm. Off to design a mech, brb.
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Ah, I see that like everything else, it's already been done. I didn't actually realise there was new content in the films, might have to watch them.
 
I don't think a bipedal humanoid robot is the most practical thing. Just look at how far modern robotics has come and how long it has taken to get some thing to walk like a human. I think some thing like the spider tanks or tachikoma would be a more realistic solution if you really needed a legged vehicle. In the long run some form of powered armour that augments the user is probably the most practical given being able to hide it and access normal buildings.
 
Perhaps not with today's technology, but if you could get it working perfectly like a human body but without all limitations of flesh and blood biology, it would be pretty unstoppable. This form has already enabled humanity to bend pretty much everything on Earth to our will, bipedalism has distinct advantages and there's not much a big enough, strong enough replica of a human hand couldn't do... Even better if the joints in the digits could move both ways and it had another thumb on the other side. In fact if all the joints in the body had complete freedom of movement it would be useful.

Yeah, I tend to spend quite a bit of time contemplating on how I would improve pretty much everything in existence.
 
Rosencrantz said:
However consider this, they pay upfron the VAT owed on your item, what happens if you never bother to contact the Royal Mail to pay your VAT & handling fee? They are down money then.
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They're down considerably MORE money when I refuse to accept the item and they have to return it to sender. Which I've done three times now.

And yes, I AM proud of that, because it's a BS charge. If I choose to pay the VAT, it's no problem. If their charge was more reasonable, it'd be no problem. But I even have it on good authority from RM employees that it's a nonsensical charge.

I ask you, WHY should the British public have to endure this seemingly random, unpredictable charge? When it's impossible to predict if your parcel will be levied with VAT and handling fees - even when you know full well it should - how are you supposed to react to that.

RM need to either drop this BS or enforce it with 100 % accuracy. Their inconsistency is a big part of what does my head in.
 
ayase said:
What's with people saying it's not practical? A giant metal humanoid is the most versatile thing I can think of in a battlefield situation. The only way I can think of making it more versatile would be to add more arms (mecha Durga? Perhaps India will get there first). Possibly the head's a bit vulnerable, that should probably be amalgamated into the torso. Hmm. Off to design a mech, brb.
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Having Arms and Legs is great, i'm sure it'd be very versatile.

Trouble is on a battlefield you don't want to be the guy in the 12 ft tall suit, theres a reason tank designs have been getting shorter and shorter, last thing you want to do is stand out.
 
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