GSO Literature Ordering Update

Dear CER Region,

We have received a lot of feedback about literature order issues following Brexit and the failure to see some orders arrive or the additional costs if they are delivered.

The Literature Team at GSO have been as disappointed as anyone to see the impact of a change that was outside of their control. On Friday the 9th of September we held a meeting at GSO offices in York, UK and reviewed the number of orders placed from within CER and the associated issues and potential solutions.

The result of which is that GSO have offered a solution that requires our support.

Problem:
Firstly the issues relate to Customs Duty now that the UK have left the EU Customs Union:
This has seen a number of countries applying their local VAT to the orders even though UK VAT has already been paid. This can see Groups having to pay at least 20% in addition to the order value already paid, in addition the local countries also add an administration charge.

Solution:
The GSO Literature Team have offered that they will take several key steps for CER orders which will see them
a) paying all related Customs and VAT charges
b) using a courier service to deliver rather than leaving it to the local postal services

Impact:
When we order literature from GSO it not only covers the cost of the item(s) but also the taxes, the postage and the required allocation for costs of processing and storage.  GSO are willing to absorb the additional charges which will mean that any surplus (profit) on an order will be minimal, but you as the Group placing the order will not be required to pay anything in addition to the listed price from GSO.

It does mean that on the Customs paperwork that accompanies the order, GSO will reflect the production cost (‘bare cost’) of the item(s) to which all duties and charges will be applied, meaning that they will hopefully be able to take care of all costs within the order price.

What you need to do:
This will make no change to your ordering process.
Continue to order from the GSO site and pay the listed price as you always have.
https://www.alcoholics-anonymous.org.uk/Shop/Categories

Please ensure that you carefully provide all address and contact information. These packages arrive in unmarked packaging, the sender is “GSO 10 Toft Green York YO1 7NJ GB”, your anonymity is protected. GSO will never share your contact information other than using the details required for delivery and the package cannot be identified as coming from Alcoholics Anonymous, so please give the full name, address and contact information to ensure the courier can find you.

GSO are going to implement this with immediate effect. We will continue to monitor it closely and so please let us know when it works and let us know if you still see any issues and please be clear in your feedback on exactly what the issue was.

We thank you for your patience and understanding to this point and we assure you that everyone involved in the process is doing all that they can to ensure access to literature at the listed price and with confidence that it will be delivered with no additional cost.

Yours in Fellowship and Service,

Rob W.
Public Information Liaison Officer (PILO)