COMPENSATING, GOUGING, TOBACCO AND... TAXES

Our marketing community is being targeted by various interests on various fronts. While this is not new, the level of intellectual honesty seems to be descending to new lows—who’s zoomin’ who? Let’s take price gouging, for example. How is it that businesses that post their prices in big bold numerals on a street sign for all the world to see could possibly “gouge” anyone other than a complete moron? What politicians are truly seeking with their price gouging shenanigans is to repeal the laws of supply and demand by outlawing high prices, or possibly prices that rise too quickly disturbing their sense of fairness and equilibrium. As one of my local congresspersons assured me, “this law would only affect the big [bad] oil companies,” conveniently ignoring that nearly 95% of retail prices are set by other than big oil. And so it goes.

On to temperature compensation…Perhaps frustrated by their lack of a quick score on the MTBE front, the trial lawyers are ginning up a collective sense of consumer discontent by arguing that the standard industry conversion factor of 60 degrees Farenheit to change from gross to net gallons is in fact a key specification for the sale of product at the retail level. When is the last time your customer asked to take your tank’s temperature before filling up? Maybe we are all missing a great marketing angle here—in Buffalo we can offer some of the coldest gas in the country—fill up now before you head south. We can hope that some of the solid engineering minds at the National Conference of Weights and Measures (NCWM) will prevail in this debate and help us retain the transparency of fuel standards that has benefited the consumer for so many years.

Want to operate an in-store pharmacy? You may want to reconsider if the FDA is going to pay you a visit anyway. Last time I checked, it appeared the FDA was pretty busy keeping up with drug approvals and monitoring food quality. Why anyone in Congress thinks this federal agency can do a better job of controlling tobacco marketing than all the collective state health departments, simply confirms how elitist some in this branch of government have become. If the government really cared about underage sales and related issues, it would have long ago moved more aggressively to reign in the unregulated sale of tobacco products at reservation smoke shops across the country…and while we are on the topic of reservations, what about those taxes?

New York State of course is the poster state for how to allow the tribes to run roughshod over a tax system. The states like to say the tribes are a federal matter and of course the Congress likes to say that it is really up to the states to deal with tribal interests. The truth is that the tribe’s money machine has so corrupted the politicians, that few of them have an interest in even discussing this issue. Here in New York, we are hoping our new Governor Spitzer is one of that rare breed that can rise above the money. Stay tuned…

As you can see, there is no shortage of issues. Ongoing communication with our elected officials is an essential part of running our businesses. That’s why SIGMA sets aside one day every summer to lobby on Capitol Hill. It is a well organized and highly effective grassroots lobbying operation IF you are there to help. Please pencil (no… INK!) in July 17-18 on your calendar right away and plan to be with SIGMA for our Summer Legislative Meeting that will be held at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Washington, DC. Our lobbyists need the voters (us) to show up some of the time. Your commitment and participation is crucial to our collective success. I hope to see you there. ‘Til then…

Paul D. Reid
President, The Reid Group