Once a year, a bureaucrat from the Department of Bedding and Upholstery stops in to see us at my work in a fabric showroom here in Columbus Ohio. They want to make sure we have a tag that we are required to put on the bottom of our upholstered items. Why do we have to put a tag on the bottom? I don't know. I suppose, so that the consumer can check to see who upholstered it if they ever forget. I guess I can hang with that, even though it seems a bit silly. I have a bunch of the tags in the back room.
But then the weird thing is they also make you give them, once a year a piece of each of the materials you use in upholstering--- some foam, some polyester batting, some burlap, some deck pad, some decking fabric. They charge you a fee--- I think it was $65 last year to test the foam, batting, burlap, deck pad, and decking certify that it is really foam, batting, burlap, deck pad and decking. You then get a certificate that you can show to customers--- as if anyone was interested. My question is why we have to do that? If they are worried that the foam we use is not really foam, shouldn't they be asking for a sample from the supplier that we get the foam from? And what if we decide to switch suppliers because another one has a better price--- would we have to get it re-certified? I suppose so.
So why do they REALLY want you to put tags on your furniture and get your foam certified? Because, in the old days, if you were an upholsterer, you might want to limit competition. If you could show that the guy/gal working down the street, or out of his house was not certified, I suppose you could keep him from competing with you. I suppose, I should even be in favor of the annual hassle from the Ohio Bedding and Upholstery Dept. After all, we do enough upholstery that we can afford the tags and the fees. Then when Jane, who does a little upholstery out of her home because her husband recently lost his job due to additional government regulation tries to upholster her neighbor's wing chair, I could report her and drive her out of business and into the welfare rolls. But hey, more business for me.
But will this help the consumer? Will this help potential business-people who want to help themselves? Of course not.
How about we compete in a free market, appealing to what the CONSUMER wants, or doesn't want? Wouldn't we all be better off for that? And wouldn't Ohioans be better off if they didn't have to pay taxes for the government to engage in such useless regulation? Couldn't Ohio very easily eliminate this yearly hassle and save its taxpayers thousands?
Of course, but that's not what is happening, according to the article below, quoting the Wall Street Journal, one in four Americans need government permission--- that is, a state license--- in order to work.
What are your thoughts? Do you see this, as I do, as a negative trend?
Best Wishes,
Bernie Iven
http://blog.aynrandcenter.org/one-in-four-americans-needs-permission-to-work/
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