Moving to London for work from Miami, FL - Gadgets to bring?

[Oakey]

Cocaine? Miami is famed for that right?

[element6]

bingybongy said:

Are you for real?

First day at work...
Meet Hank it's his first day
Hi, I'm Hank anyone want to buy an iPad I bought 40 over to make a profit out of my new workmates.

I think you are about to become very popular.

Anyway I call bullst on all of this.

Well, I was kidding about stuffing 40 iPads into my cargo.. I might bring some interesting stuff with me but I have to do my homework on what is sensible to bring with. I wouldn't be selling to co-workers/workmates regardless. If I were to bring anything over to make a profit off of, it would simply be listed up on eBay or gumtree (not sure how reliable gumtree is yet.. we have craigslist here and most buyers are pretty flaky).

I'm coming over because we are opening an office in the UK. My employer has had a decent sized presence in the EU for years but we've been growing substantially and they now want a brick and mortar presence in the UK, Netherlands, and Singapore. I'll be working in a very small office with only a few others. Much of what I will be doing at first is hiring local employees and providing support on complicated service delivery issues, etc.

But to answer your question; Yes, I am for real.

Edited by element6 on Tuesday 6th January 21:01

[element6]

megaphone said:

I think the OP will be very impressed with London's public transport, far better than anything they have in Miami.

Yes.. as a huge fan of NYC's metro system (I grew up visiting the city every weekend) I can tell you how disappointing our public transport in the majority of the US is. Just imaging spending 75% of your life in a car stuck in traffic, because you can't get anywhere with public transit. That's Miami in a nutshell. Every public transit proposition here gets shot to the ground... not just here.. everywhere in the US.

Miami has an above ground Bombardier-made tram called the Metro Mover.. it's free, but it doesn't go anywhere. Enjoy.
We also have the metro-rail.. Light-rail which also doesn't go anywhere useful. Until the past year, it went absolutely NOWHERE useful. Only since 2013 has it been of any usage. They built an extension line that goes to and from Miami International.. so now it's slightly useful.

[element6]

wolves_wanderer said:

Wow, 2 pointlessly narky posts. Did you and OP break up on bad terms or something?

I just joined the other day after realizing PH had a forum. Who knows? Can't win 'em all.

[element6]

King Herald said:

A hertz converter? Really? You bought one? I don't think so.

I figured that other poster was referring to one of these:
http://www.bombayelectronics.com/Orei_XD_990_HDMI_...

That's what I was thinking at least.. the power supply is one thing.. no issue with dc adapters but when you start talking about PAL and NTSC video signals (50hz refresh vs 60hz refresh) that's a different issue. I guess most TV's can handle both nowadays. But I don't think my NTSC Xbox or PS3 can output 50Hz video.. that was my only concern. Not bringing a TV with me.

[element6]

andy-xr said:

Just bring Twinkies, there's nothing else you have there that there isnt already here.

If you want to bring a working, reliable public transport infrastructure then that would be good too

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twinkie#Return_of_Twinkies_to_US_market - We actually have them again.. For a while I noticed that Entenmanns (another manufacturer of such quality foods that will likely give you colon cancer in your mid 20s) was making a knock-off Twinkie.. They sell them in gas-station convenience stores here.

No comment on the transport infrastructure..

[element6]

Webber3 said:

If you use eBay UK & Paypal you'll struggle to make any profit after fees.

Ahhh.. I figured there was something tricky with eBay there.. I'll look further into it. Been using eBay for years here.

...May be an excuse for me to buy the new GoPro 4 and sell off my Hero 3 Black when I get there

[element6]

Hilts said:

There's a desperate shortage of AR-15 assault rifles in London.

And Glocks, any calibre.

You could make a killing.

Leaving my guns here

Florida is a weird state. I've had a concealed carry permit here since 2012. This allows me to have a gun on my person (concealed) anywhere I go except for certain defined places, such as schools, court houses and other government buildings, etc.. there is a list of places you obviously can't have a weapon. But for the most part, I can carry wherever I go.

I typically just leave my Ruger SR9c in the glove box of my car.. I sometimes end up passing through some sketchy areas by myself at odd hours for work.. So that's the only major reason I have the concealed carry. Gun culture is pretty big here in FL. But again, it's probably been mocked and made fun of in the UK just as much as it has here.. It got pretty crazy back in 2012-2013 when we had that big stink about Assault Rifles and "right to bear arms" and such.. I believe we are past that stupid phase at this point.

[element6]

Oakey said:

Cocaine? Miami is famed for that right?

Yes, and it's cheap. But I have no interest in risking my colon health and criminal record for a few bucks.

Good documentary if you're interested in Miami It's on NetFlix
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZ4pWzA6gIE

[George111]

element6 said:

I believe we are past that stupid phase at this point.

I doubt it. Being black in USA appears to be more dangerous than anything you can think of doing in London.

[Oakey]

element6 said:

Yes, and it's cheap. But I have no interest in risking my colon health and criminal record for a few bucks.

Good documentary if you're interested in Miami It's on NetFlix
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZ4pWzA6gIE

Yep, seen that before, that's what I was thinking of.

So what does your company do?

[element6]

Oakey said:

Yep, seen that before, that's what I was thinking of.

So what does your company do?

We are a warranty service provider for datacenter equipment. Mainly hardware maintenance and occasionally remote system maintenance.

We sell warranty contracts for servers, storage systems (disk and tape), and networking equipment. Currently I am a field engineer and backline engineer but assume many roles. When I arrive I will be titled as either Operations Manager or Lead Engineer. A little tough to explain without a lot of understanding of the IT industry and the working environment here.

[element6]

George111 said:

I doubt it. Being black in USA appears to be more dangerous than anything you can think of doing in London.

That's probably accurate.. but if you're referring to the recent headlines regarding ferguson, MO and such.. those are extremely ridiculous "made for tv" incidents.

[rottie102]

element6 said:

Ahhh.. I figured there was something tricky with eBay there.. I'll look further into it. Been using eBay for years here.

...May be an excuse for me to buy the new GoPro 4 and sell off my Hero 3 Black when I get there

Pretty much the same price in the US and in the UK and if you buy it in John Lewis you get their 2 years warranty.

[element6]

rottie102 said:

Pretty much the same price in the US and in the UK and if you buy it in John Lewis you get their 2 years warranty.

Hmmm.. I took a look at John Lewis.. never heard of them before of course (gonna take a long time to get acclimated to retailer names and such). They sell the Hero 4 for 360 GBP with the 2 year warranty (Is that before or after taxes and fees?)
http://www.johnlewis.com/gopro-hero4-black-edition...

Meanwhile, I can get a brand new, sealed in the box Hero 4 for approximately 250 GBP ($375). I'm sure I could price shop around if I understood UK retail and online sellers better but as a US resident for now, I only know the best places to look for electronics "here".
http://www.ebay.com/itm/GoPro-HERO-4-Camcorder-Bla...
^ There are no further taxes or fees when we buy things online here. Unless it is a business that resides in the same US state selling the item, no sales tax or any other fees to speak of can be added on. Individuals (not businesses) are typically selling their items on eBay here.

Edited by element6 on Wednesday 7th January 06:03

[rottie102]

element6 said:

Hmmm.. I took a look at John Lewis.. never heard of them before of course (gonna take a long time to get acclimated to retailer names and such). They sell the Hero 4 for 360 GBP with the 2 year warranty (Is that before or after taxes and fees?)
http://www.johnlewis.com/gopro-hero4-black-edition...

Meanwhile, I can get a brand new, sealed in the box Hero 4 for approximately 250 GBP ($375). I'm sure I could price shop around if I understood UK retail and online sellers better but as a US resident for now, I only know the best places to look for electronics "here".
http://www.ebay.com/itm/GoPro-HERO-4-Camcorder-Bla...
^ There are no further taxes or fees when we buy things online here. Unless it is a business that resides in the same US state selling the item, no sales tax or any other fees to speak of can be added on. Individuals (not businesses) are typically selling their items on eBay here.

Edited by element6 on Wednesday 7th January 06:03

BestBuy GoPro Hero 4 Silver $399 + 6% tax = $423 = £279
John Lewis GoPro Hero 4 Silver with two years warranty = £ 289
http://www.johnlewis.com/gopro-hero4-silver-editio...

I'm comparing store price to a store price. I'm sure you can buy cheaper in both countries.

[ecsrobin]

I would give up with your idea of importing items to sell.

However if there are any items you need like the new go pro I would purchase it in the USA before you travel over.

[Kermit power]

element6 said:

Hmmm.. I took a look at John Lewis.. never heard of them before of course (gonna take a long time to get acclimated to retailer names and such). They sell the Hero 4 for 360 GBP with the 2 year warranty (Is that before or after taxes and fees?)

Prices here are pretty much always inclusive of all taxes, unlike the daftness in the US! The only exception is business to business providers, as VAT-registered businesses don't pay VAT on purchases.

I used to hate bloody sales tax when I was travelling to the States! Philadelphia airport has different prices in different terminals because one of them is in a different county to the others!

On another occasion, with the weather being unseasonably warm and my hotel having an outdoor pool, I decided to get some trunks and go for a swim. Off I went to the King of Prussia mall next door, happy now that I'd established that clothes don't incur sales tax.... until I took the things to the till, only to be quoted a price with sales tax, because apparently swimming trunks aren't clothing. They're a luxury! Strangely, the salesgirl wasn't willing to come back to my hotel to tell the inevitably arriving police officers that swimming trunks are a luxury rather than a necessity,

[King Herald]

NNH said:

This is obviously the thread for people to make snarky comments without knowing what they're talking about.

Take a chill pill dude, we're talking about tellys and xboxs here, not gun control or who really won in Vietnam.

I was assured by many people that changing the hz of anything is impossible, so I assume we are talking about a different type of hz. And your link doesn't work.

[TEKNOPUG]

I guess any small, high value items where you can avoid import duty. Things like SD cards, headphones (Dr Dre beats things are very popular) etc are small and easy to chuck in a bag. Probably not going to make more than £10-£20 a pop though. Best to look on UK Ebay/Amazon and compare to prices in the US. Then do the math, as they say...