As I live on the Isle of Man and only have one shop supplying hobby items everything is difficult to obtain, the shop owner is very helpful but obviously restricted to what can be sold and still return a profit, a general cross section with no particular area covered, with the recent restrictions on postal deliveries this problem has been further compounded.
Internet buying of goods for my hobby model boats has become a way of life, the companies I use on a regular basis are both friendly and offer an excellent service, the one problem that arises on a regular basis is, some UK firms treat the Isle of Man as overseas and charge postage to match, as we are within the Royal Mail system this can be frustrating, I recently attempted to order a small item that would fit into a small jiffy bag and was quoted automatically £5 postage, but!!! credit to the supplier, on contacting him he emailed me back with a reduced price and promised to change the automatic postage rates on his site.
I was as guilty as most, if not all of us, looking for a cheap item only to find the shops that we visit have gone, driven out by excessive High Street rents and overseas purchases reducing the footfall, unfortunately this is only the start and we are masters of our own destiny, the saying "use it or lose it" is very prominent and can only make our hobby much more difficult.
Howard Q
