{"id":766,"date":"2023-01-01T10:06:37","date_gmt":"2023-01-01T09:06:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/?p=766"},"modified":"2023-01-01T10:06:39","modified_gmt":"2023-01-01T09:06:39","slug":"three-lessons-learnt-before-2022-ended","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/?p=766","title":{"rendered":"Three lessons learnt before 2022 ended"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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Cheer for 2023! Wishing you a better year<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We have just been through the season of giving and receiving. Like most of you, I gave and received. For a change, I ordered groceries – as a present to one family member – from a company whose website promises a one-day delivery. To date, these groceries have not been delivered. Until now, they have not responded to my half a dozen emails. After three phone calls, a man answered the phone and said they wouldn’t deliver and could only refund me if I gave them a UK bank account, which I refused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lesson 1. Stick to a proven or reputable company. (Seek redress. I have contacted Customer Service Coventry & Visa Worldline and am waiting for their responses).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We’ve been receiving parcels from Australia for many years. For the\nfirst time last December, we had to pay 20 euros as Value Added Tax (VAT) on a\ngift that cost 100 euros. I was surprised, so I visited\nhttps:\/\/www.douane.gouv.fr\/fiche\/recevoir-un-colis-envoye-par-un-particulier.\nThis is what I found out:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the case of non-commercial mailings between individuals, VAT and\ncustoms duties may be requested upon receipt of the package. These shipments\nmust be occasional, concern goods reserved for the personal or family use of\nthe recipients only and sent without payment of any kind. To benefit from\ncustoms duties and taxes exemption, the goods’ intrinsic value (excluding\ntransport and insurance costs) must not exceed a certain threshold. These value\nrequirements also apply to gifts: No customs duties from\/to the EU (VAT has\nalready been paid in the EU country of origin); Import from a non-EU country to\nan EU country or to an overseas department (example: Canada to France) \u2264 45\neuros – no customs duties and VAT (> 45 euros – customs duties and VAT are\ndue). Exchanges between the EU to their overseas territories “DOM” \u2264\n205 euros – no taxation and customs duties (> 205 euros -overseas taxes and\nVAT are due).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lesson 2. I should not have told my Aussie family not\nto send us presents by post anymore, taking their joy from giving. We’re\ngrateful for their kindness.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On December 15, I left our end-of-year party early to be home at 10 pm.\nAfter 15 minutes of waiting for the tram, my gut feeling told me it wasn\u2019t\ncoming. I decided to walk and jog for 20 minutes (in high-heeled boots!) to\ncatch my bus home at 9:14 pm. I reached the bus stop, sweating at six \u00b0C, and\ngot on in time. I would have arrived home after midnight, instead of 10:30 pm,\nif I had stayed longer at the tram station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lesson 3. Always react promptly to the unexpected and\nchanges.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you can\u2019t change your fate, change your attitude.\u201d<\/strong><\/em>– Amy Ruth Tan (American author of the novel “The Joy Luck Club”, which was adapted into a film of the same name).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cheer for 2023! Wishing you a better year We have just been through the season of giving and receiving. Like most of you, I gave and received. For a change, I ordered groceries – as a present to one family member – from a company whose website promises a one-day delivery. To date, these groceries … Continue reading Three lessons learnt before 2022 ended<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,6,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-personal-and-social-development","category-social-political-cultural-economic-issues"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=766"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":767,"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766\/revisions\/767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}