Z Breningstall.com

Waiting in line at the bagel shop and looking for something on Best Buy

It's surprising how poorly some major retailers have implemented their websites for example. Take Best Buy, for example. Today I went to their site and searched for "printer," then organized the results by price. Instead of getting some budget printers to choose from, the top results were a list of printer cables. Next came an infinite list of printer cartridges. Realizing this wouldn't work, I searched around on the mobile site (I was using my phone) and found a narrow results option. I tried narrowing by category, and was given a choice of "computers" or "office" among the categories, but no printers. Realizing that most new printers being released today were wireless, I did a search for "wireless printer" and eliminated the printer wires from the results, bringing the total down a manageable 75.

On those tricky manufacturer rebates

Manufacturer rebates are offered for several reasons, including 1) It allows companies to offer a short-term discount without effecting the long-term price of the product, 2) It allows companies to hold onto the discount dollars (and invest or collect interest on them) for a month or two until the rebate is issued, and 3) It leaves open the possibility that consumers will fail to send in the rebate forms and never collect the discount (though of course it still factors in their purchase decision).

As the recent beneficiary of a large rebate, I've observed it's even more tricky than that.

Pennsylvania the latest state to be boycotted by online retail affiliate programs

Pennsylvania has become the latest state to institute sales tax on online companies with affiliates inside their borders, which has resulted in the cancellation of website affiliate programs in that state by B&H and possibly Amazon (if they follow past practice).

Thom Hogan has written a rant about this on his website. While I am sympathetic to Hogan and other website managers effected by retailers' affiliate boycotts in states like Illinois, I am going to state that I unequivocally disagree. There is absolutely no reason why online retailers should not be collecting sales tax, particularly when state budgets are suffering such significant woes. While retail behemoths have been successful at boycotting (or threatening to boycott) some states in retaliation, they can't boycott them all and Amazon's delay in pulling out of Pennsylvania indicates that they see the writing looming on the wall: yes, online businesses will too someday have to pay full sales tax.

Brick and mortar businesses serve a valuable service to their community. They provide local jobs and in the case of establishments like bookstores, local centers of community. Why should they be forced to collect tax when online retailers are not? Furthermore, the law is clear- sales tax is intended for all purchases in a state, whether made online or not. States have just been slow about enforcing the law.