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Excerpt: NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- A proposal requiring vending machines on state property to be equipped with energy efficient lights has been signed into law by the governor. Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen signed the measure late last week. Under the proposal, any vending machines installed on state property after July 1 will have to use energy efficient lighting. While the law does not require existing machines to be replaced, it does mandate that vending machines needing repair must have the new lighting installed if they are on state property. According to spokesmen for Nestle Waters North America, a plaintiff, and others in the courtroom, Griesa agreed with the water companies' contention that the scheduled June 1 implementation date was too soon. The judge also agreed that a mandate that all returnable New York containers carry a state-specific UPC bar code is likely unconstitutional, said those familiar with the ruling. Both aspects of the law have drawn objections from retailers, distributors and others in the beverage industry, who said they could not comply in time. They also described the state-only bar code provision as a costly distribution and production nightmare that would be virtually impossible to obey. Two weeks ago, a spokesman for GS1 US, the nonprofit group that serves as administrator of UPC bar codes in the United States told the Times Union that the organization had, so far, been unable to develop recommendations on how UPC users could comply with the law. Many supermarkets were poised to start removing bottled water from their shelves if the judge had not acted, Michael Rosen, vice president of the Food Industry Alliance of New York State, said Wednesday. "We are very pleased that the court cleared up some of the insurmountable problems that the law created regarding a New York-only bar code on products and the impossibility of labeling water in stores by the June 1 date," said Rosen, whose organization represents grocers including the Hannaford and Price Chopper supermarket chains. "Our members were looking at pulling product, going into the summer season," he said. "We had suppliers and distributors who were asking what could they do with their warehouses full of product and we didn't have a good answer for them." Gov. David Paterson signed the expanded deposit law, promoted by environmentalists for years as the "bigger, better bottle bill," on April 7. In addition to extending the nickel deposits to bottled water, the legislation increased the 2-cent handling fee paid to retailers to 3.5 cents per container. The measure also requires large retailers to install more reverse vending machines for container redemption and requires distributors and bottlers to pay 80 percent of unclaimed deposits to the state. Bills to amend the new law have been proposed by Paterson and leaders in both houses of the Legislature within the last two weeks, but the details vary and there is no agreement on a single plan. Source: Woodrruff, Cathy. “Water Bottle Deposit Put Off” The Times Union 28 May 2009 NewsBank Access World News. University of Texas at San Antonio, John Peace Library. San Antonio, TX. 09 Jun 2009 It works because it depends on impulse buying, which shrivels in tough times. Ask Lenny LeMaire of Derby, whose QNP Vending , like every other machine vending business, depends on people with spare change buying treats, snacks and sodas. In the past year, his business is down 80 percent. "It's even getting to the point where the moms aren't giving their kids any quarters for gum or candy," said LeMaire, 50, a thin, ponytailed grandfather struggling to stay afloat in his third decade in the business. "When money is tight, we're the low man on the totem pole." Despite some reports about the recession spurring an increase in candy sales, LeMaire's experience belies that. A few years ago, QNP had 110 clients statewide, four employees and harvested a steady income from office workers, kids and anyone with a few coins and an appetite. LeMaire has fewer than half the clientele now, a result of layoffs and closings, and he is his sole employee. His storeroom in Derby is crammed with $500,000 worth of machines he owns but can't place anywhere. "I had a $29,000 loss last year. I don't even take a salary anymore. I'm just working to keep the business going," he said, making service rounds recently with his oldest son, Leonard LeMaire Jr., in central Connecticut. "Places where I used to pull in $400 and $500 a week are down to maybe $30." Business is getting so bad, LeMaire said, that an IRS auditor who checked QNP books suggested maybe he should dump the company and find something better. "I took out ads trying to sell, and all I got was people with no money looking to buy a business," he said. Tom Britten, a Florida-based consultant to vending businesses nationwide, said LeMaire's struggle is typical in an industry that used to be so profitable "it was a license to print money." Now sales are down 20 percent, 30 percent nationwide and plunging. "There's no happy ending here," said Britten. This year is shaping up to be even worse for QNP than 2008, LeMaire said, as he and his son made rounds in his worn 1993 Dodge Caravan to companies, apartment houses, factories and offices in Middletown, Portland and Cromwell. Where he used to haul in five cases of sodas to replenish machines , LeMaire said he now only needs a dozen cans. That's awful money, especially in a business based on a profit of a few cents a can. He needs $1,300 weekly to pay his bills. His high point this afternoon - "a winner," he said sardonically - was the $28 take at the machines in a Portland nursing home. His worst haul of the day was $3.50 at a Middletown shop where he had to pump 25 cents into a parking meter to avoid getting a ticket. It's a far cry from times he'd pull inch-thick wads of dollars from his machines . Source: Leukhardt, Bill. “THINNER HAUL - VENDING MACHINE BUSINESS OWNER: FIRM STRUGGLING TO SURVIVE DROP IN SPENDING NO CHANGE TO SPARE” 28 Mar 2009 NewsBank Access World News. University of Texas at San Antonio, John Peace Library. San Antonio, TX. 09 Jun 2009 |