All things in moderation. Obviously 6 cases of wine a month will raise eyebrows. You have to order through your employer, you can't just walk up to the Cold Storage cashier and flash your diplomatic pass.JR8 wrote: Oh yah good plan, be known as the junior bringing in 6 cases of wine a month under your national banner/flag, to avoid tax and sell to your friends hehe.... not a good plan unless you're from bongo-land!
P-taking on the diplomatic-duty-free is really frowned upon. I was momentarily bereft to get a full-on diplomatic ID/waiver card, and then be told, that er, I was sort of EXPECTED not to be so cheap to go and buy duty free stuff with it...
If you are from a Mission that monitors these things (many apparently just don't care, it's considered fair-game), they will not take AT ALL KINDLY (> career death) to an employee who appears to be buying tax-free in sufficient quantity in order to resell for a profit.gailwynand wrote:All things in moderation. Obviously 6 cases of wine a month will raise eyebrows. You have to order through your employer, you can't just walk up to the Cold Storage cashier and flash your diplomatic pass.
Wasn't suggesting anyone buy and sell for profit - if your friend decides to give you a case of Tiger he got through the embassy, and you decide to buy him a pint out of gratitude, it's just a coincidence of course.JR8 wrote:If you are from a Mission that monitors these things (many apparently just don't care, it's considered fair-game), they will not take AT ALL KINDLY (> career death) to an employee who appears to be buying tax-free in sufficient quantity in order to resell for a profit.gailwynand wrote:All things in moderation. Obviously 6 cases of wine a month will raise eyebrows. You have to order through your employer, you can't just walk up to the Cold Storage cashier and flash your diplomatic pass.
How do you use your diplomatic privileges?gailwynand wrote:Wasn't suggesting anyone buy and sell for profit - if your friend decides to give you a case of Tiger he got through the embassy, and you decide to buy him a pint out of gratitude, it's just a coincidence of course.
Don't have them anymore, but when we did it was along the lines described in my last post. Same with my friends who still have them.JR8 wrote:How do you use your diplomatic privileges?gailwynand wrote:Wasn't suggesting anyone buy and sell for profit - if your friend decides to give you a case of Tiger he got through the embassy, and you decide to buy him a pint out of gratitude, it's just a coincidence of course.
I ask as I'd like to think we were on the very conservative (non pi$$-taking side of things).
... you know, you'll see people (dip plates) just rolling up at Harrods (etc) and parking right up on on the pavement. For a while they're untouchable. But it doesn't make it ethically right.
Yes I know what you mean...gailwynand wrote: In a more general sense I've heard of very questionable stuff happening with less developed countries but nothing I would post about in a public forum.
http://time.com/3421587/diplomats-parki ... -new-york/JR8 wrote:Yes I know what you mean...gailwynand wrote: In a more general sense I've heard of very questionable stuff happening with less developed countries but nothing I would post about in a public forum.
Talking about illegal parking, there used to be an annual table produced re: London of the traffic/parking violations issued vs unpaid per mission. It was pretty boggling. Some missions clearly have an institutionalised mindset of simply not giving a damn about local laws.
Surprised by Japan being anywhere on the list. Also surprised US is number one (but not that they're on the list). It would be interesting to see a ratio for fines:cars. I wonder if maybe the US just has a fleet of 10,000+ embassy vehicles that they lack parking for.JR8 wrote:Lol! Per-Zactly. The only 'usual suspect' missing from the top-10 is Russia.
p.s. It's amazing that tiny countries such as Senegal could rank so high. That's what I meant by 'institutionalised not giving a damn' I suppose.
Edit to add:
Here is the list for London
https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/ ... -the-uk--2
The figures are for parking fines + Congestion Charge (CC). The latter could be considered daily additional road-tax, and I believe the US position is that their mission and staff are not liable to foreign taxes (which of course is true). As you see from a representative link/quote it is something of an ongoing thorny issue.ZZM wrote: Surprised by Japan being anywhere on the list. Also surprised US is number one (but not that they're on the list). It would be interesting to see a ratio for fines:cars. I wonder if maybe the US just has a fleet of 10,000+ embassy vehicles that they lack parking for.
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