First off, kudos and congratulation to the 2005 Independence
Rally Committee for organizing yet another year of fun and
entertainment for our city. This year brought with it terrific
weather, terrific vendors and great bands.
Editor,
First off, kudos and congratulation to the 2005 Independence Rally Committee for organizing yet another year of fun and entertainment for our city. This year brought with it terrific weather, terrific vendors and great bands.
It also brought a group of friends of mine who traveled up from San Diego to take part in the weekend’s events. In years past, I have walked the streets as a local and haven’t thought too much about the experience this rally is for out-of -towners.
This year, however, I found myself meandering the streets as my friends collectively spent over $1,000 in merchandise from the rally vendors. In only one case did a vendor use a cash register and collect the proper sales tax. One friend purchased $300 plus worth of leather goods. The transaction was rounded down, nicely, to $255, total. No tax? No receipt? The wad of money then made its way into the vendor’s pocket, literally. No ring up, no written transaction of the sale.
I was under the assumption that this year all vendors were to have cash registers to monitor their sales. Were all transactions in downtown monitored? Could our local nonprofit organizations be getting squeezed? How much money left our city and went directly to these out-of-town vendors? In other cases, the cash registers that were present were not being used to “ring-up” transactions, but rather hold the money collected by the customer.
I understand that the nature of street vendors is to have the opportunity as the customer to bargain with seller, however if our city is going to continue this event, we must be more attentive to the activities taking place in the vendor booths.
Bill Mifsud II, Hollister
