Small-biz owners fuming over ‘plethora’ of rules

Boston Herald ^ | 7 May 2006 | O’Ryan Johnson

[Radix]

Peabody businessman Bruce Lerner is joining the fast-growing list of entrepreneurs “frustrated out of business” by strict state and local regulations that small-business advocates say are choking the lifeblood of America’s economy.
    “It’s the sheer plethora of regulations,” said Carolyn Logue, a state director with the National Federation of Independent Businesses. “It seems many were just drafted to give someone, somewhere a job to do. Nobody looks at the goals and whether they’re actually accomplishing anything.”
    Three weeks ago, the North Shore Tobacco Control Program sent a 17-year-old decoy into Lerner’s Main Street Smoke Shop in Peabody. She made it 14 feet from the store entrance to the register before a clerk told her to leave because she lacked ID.
    Moments later the antipuffing G-men pounced, slapping Lerner with a $200 fine, not because he sold cigarettes to an underage person - which he hadn’t - but because an underage person had simply walked into his store.
    “I just feel as a business owner for 19 years, what does it benefit me to run a business?” Lerner said. “If the state wants to run my business, they can get up at 4 a.m.”
    Lerner is entertaining offers to sell the shop rather than endure the aggressive policing of the Tobacco Control Program. Logue said that puts him in league with businessmen across the country who, rather than wade through piles of paperwork in a ceaseless battle with bureaucracy, are simply closing shop.
    “That’s the frustration of small business owners who are saying,my employees are safe, I’m doing the right thing,” Logue said. “But someday someone will walk through my door, I don’t know who that person is, but when they show up I’m going to have to pay thousands of dollars as a result.”
    Lerner said he appealed the fine to the Peabody Board of Health, which agreed to waive it as long as there were no further violations. But he said the Tobacco Control Program wants him to lock away all his tobacco, which he refuses to do because it would eliminate his “roll your own cigar” display.
    Asked if he’s being pushed out of business by bureaucracy, Lerner said he hopes not. “Everyone you talk to who’s in a position of power says no,” he said. “But it certainly doesn’t help.”  

[patton]

Kind of odd, given that it was founded as a Puritan religious community.

[EGPWS]

A few weeks back, I was told to give my drivers license so they could swipe it (magnetic strip) after asking for a pack of smokes at a Holiday Station Store before I could purchase them. 49 yrs. old here....

I'm eagerly anticipating all the junk mail and unwanted phone after that electronic interrogation.

I am pleased with the inability of some to question if I am 21 or not by looking at me, however am disappointed that this is required of me with my verbal demeanor.

[TexasTransplant]

>>>>>"Here are all the different kinds of taxes that our government loves imposing upon us"<<<<

Add to that a boat load of mandated Insurance and then the Regulations as mentioned in the Article and it's easy to see how much of our day is dedicated to nothing but Government.

TT

[Military family member]

Actually, there is a clause in the ADA that allows for hardships. Reasonable accommodations are required.

[spinestein]

[Once you steal a firetruck, there's really not much else you can do except go for a joyride.]



Great tagline. That reminds me of a friend of mine who bought a used fire truck (early 60's model) from the village he lived in and fixed it up and started driving it around town for fun.

The police chief tried to give him a bunch of tickets for driving an obviously unlicensed, uninsured vehicle around for no reason, but he eventually convinced the officer of the truth; he actually DID license and insure it just so he could have the pleasure of driving it around town a few times.

[EGPWS]

So, what you're saying is.... You're a babe?

Well, we already knew that.

Randall! That isn't the kind of smokin' that this thread was built on! /snicker

[patton]

Thanks - it was a comment by another freeper on a thread about some kid in canada who actually stole a firetruck. I like it so much, I stole it.

LOL. I hung it on my office door, and all my coworkers look at it and say, "That is so...you"

[EGPWS]

Ted forgot Internet access tax....

The Bush tax cuts federally have brought me down to just over 50% in tax payment via income!

Gee, not bad.

[sgtyork]

One grocery store chain here cards EVERYBODY. Eighty year olds have to get out their ID to buy alcohol. Its nuts!

[Copernicus]

One of the many joys of life on "official" government mailing lists is to receive threatening letters from non government public/private corporations who will sell you (at a hefty price) laminated posters with all the latest employee/minimum wage/discrimination policies etc.

There are several of these corporations, most from California, some more local, all of whom seem to have a bottomless supply of "new" regulatory posters for both Federal and State policies.

Apparently, the day is not far off when an entire wall may need to be dedicated to the display of these Orwellian tracts.

The topic for a satirical skit you will never see on Saturday Night Live or elsewhere.

I may post the text from one of these letters if I get a chance.

Best regards,

[ClaireSolt]

Did you know that the main reason 3 of 5 new businesses fail is due to the IRS? They think that the first responsibiity of a business is to pay taxes. Paying taxes is more important than paying the lights or the phone.

But anyone who contributes to this populist demagogery against oil companies these days contributes to the mentality that attacks business.

[Muleteam1]

The same thought has crossed my mind but if one looks at the "blue" areas in the last elections, the map seems to resemble the growth and the decay in a biological laboratory petri dish. I don't know much about the Puritans but assuming they were a conservative influence on the founding of MA, it does seem strange that their influence would not still be felt.

[ishabibble]

Socialist state workers aka PARASITES who make work to justify stealing their paychecks. Mr. X owned two small businesses, and has a million "useless idiot" stories, just like any other guy who thought, once upon a time, that owning your own business was part of the American Dream.

If MA voters really want to cut off the head of this poisonous snake, they need to fire all their legislators, and close it down. This awful story is the end result of some state legislator pushing through some ridiculous law because his cousin works for the Health Department, or his mother works at Dept. of Business Regulation.

You see, this is why there are Kennedys, Kerrys, Barney Franks, and Marty Meehans in office. It is the sickest form of incest.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Great post.

[george76]

The un-funded mandates are a big kick in the stomach for businesses. This also means less money for the owners and less money for the employees.

There is a long list of mandated insurance and educational requirements that is expanding.

We use to waste days per year, now we waste weeks per year listening to the new government regulations.

The government hires lots of new lawyers to create new regulations and then we have to go to class to try to memorize the hundreds of new pages of new rules. Soon these "new" rules will be changed again...back of the merry-go-round.

[KoRn]

Heads up.

[brazzaville]

Good morning.

Failing to post TPTB's latest decrees is a crime and will cost you money if they choose to make it so.

Michael Frazier

[oldtimer2]

I would like to do as Heinlein suggested: Each new congress would for the first year be allowed only to remove laws from the books. The second year they could make new laws.

[patton]

petri dish - great analogy. Dieing in their own biotoxins.

Puritan influence of the US is very strong - even is MASS. It molded our form of government.

Then they took G_D out of the equation, and ... well, the whole expiriment went bad.

[patton]

When Heinlein wrote that, the Tax code was only one volume...