Live From San Francisco: Catalogers Face Tough Issues, Privacy, Use Tax, Postal Rate Hike
Privacy, data security, use taxes and postal reform are the critical issues facing catalogers, Direct Marketing Association President, H. Robert Wientzen, told a crowd yesterday at the opening session of the 17th Annual Catalog Conference & Exhibition in San Francisco.
Wientzen said that while the Internet has stoked the privacy bonfire, the issue of data collection for marketing purposes, regardless of the marketing medium, is “pure political dynamite, and this is not lost on policy makers scouting for a sound bite,” he said.
He said the DMA continues to attack the issue, most recently by joining the recently launched Privacy Leadership Initiative, an industry coalition working to address consumer concerns about privacy.
As for use tax, he said, at stake is whether or not the 7,600 U.S. state and local tax jurisdictions will be given the authority to tax all cyber sales. He reminded the group that after eight months of public hearings, the members of an Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce in March failed to reach the two-thirds vote needed to back any formal recommendations. He said the DMA is not straying from its position of “no nexus, no sales tax.”
He cautioned that the proposed 6.4% rate hike, expected to take effect early next year, will be “small-fry” compared to increases in the not-to-distant future unless Congress takes action to reform antiquated laws that have governed the U.S. Postal Service since 1970. He reiterated the DMA’s support of postal reform bill HR22, which he said did not look good for passage before the fall elections.
In closing, Weintzen said that only 60% of Americans have purchased products or services through direct channels and that the industry must work hard to increase that 60%.
