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Last month, President Scott
McClure told you about our
upcoming year. One of the items on his list was
updating our
by-laws. “But why?” you might ask. “They have
served us well for so
long”. It’s really simple. The world we live in today
is very
different from what it was. Back in 1982 the ODCA
board realized the same
thing and revised them to ensure our association was
up to date. At that
time all board meetings were held in person and many
members had to drive
hundreds of miles every year to carry out association
business. Today we
have email and conference calls to get the job done
faster and more
efficiently. And we can communicate instantly with
our members with just a
few key strokes on our computers. I suppose one
day our brilliant
webmaster will set us all up with video conferencing,
but until then, we will
still gather in person periodically. The point is, our by-
laws, as they are,
simply don’t address a world today.
The current topic in this
arduous task is defining
membership. I have to thank the committee for
keeping the discussion open
among all board members on our yahoo group. The
dialogue has been
incredibly interesting and the whole process is
nothing less than
fascinating.
Do you have your “Unclaimed
Garments” notice posted in your
call office? Read all about the requirements on this
subject in my article
“Understanding Oregon’s Unclaimed Garment Law.
While I wrote that, huddled
in front of the fireplace for warmth, last years Tom
Mosher Award winner was
sunning on the beach in the Bahamas. Kathey
Butters shares her experiences
with us in her first in a series on NCA’s Brainstorming
with the Best event held
at the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island.
Leslie Kettenhofen, our
webmaster extraordinaire, has been
very busy updating the ODCA website. Check out
the links in her
article. And just so you know, she has been an
incredible amount of help
as I muddle through putting this newsletter
together. Thank you Leslie for
making that table work.
Have a great month and
don’t forget your
Valentine!
Brian Olson, Director, District 1 - Newsletter Editor
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A Message From President Scott McClure |
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My how time flies! Here it is
February 1st and
we are all busy getting those w-2’s out, doing year-
end reports and compiling
all that information for taxes. It seems as though it
will never
end. But these things are part of being a small
business owner. We
are all looking at the increases in gas, electricity,
water, sewer, supplies and
labor and asking ourselves, how do we make a
decent profit this year? The answer
is to charge a reasonable fee for the service we
offer, just the same as
restaurants, carpet cleaners and plumbers do. The
list goes on and
on. If you provide quality work and service then
your customers will never
begrudge your doing so because that is why they
come to you.
Now on a completely different
subject; last month I
told you about the plans to revamp our by-laws.
You might be asking
yourselves, “What’s wrong with the current by-
laws?” To begin with, they
have not been revised since 1982 and we live in
completely different world
today. First we want to make sure that we continue
to keep our tax-exempt
status. Secondly, we need to clearly define what a
membership is as well
as determine what dues are necessary to keep this a
viable organization.
We also need to bring up to date what officer
positions are and change other
language to accommodate the electronic age we live
in. As President, I
have named a By-laws Committee to work on these
revisions and they will report
their recommendations at our next board meeting.
After the Board has
reviewed them, we will ask you, the membership, to
vote on these changes.
That being said, I look forward to helping the ODCA
continue to be the driving
force that protects the rights of all dry cleaners in
Oregon.
Thanks for your support of
this organization.
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Understanding Oregon's Unclaimed Garment Law by Brian Olson |
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 Oregon’s
Unclaimed Garments Law received praise in the
January 2007 edition of the Western Cleaner and
Launderer. Correspondent
Jack Ellison said, “It is the simplest and best law in
the country”. But
how did it come about that we should have such a
great tool at our “disposal”
and how does it work?
In 1990, Ben Bleich of Bee
Tailors and Cleaners in Portland
lamented to one of his customers, an Oregon
Legislator, the problem with the
unclaimed orders piling up. Customers were not
coming in to pick them up
and there was no legal means of disposing of them.
At the time, you were
required to hold onto these items until the customer
called for them or risk
reimbursing them for the missing order no matter how
long it took them to
return. Through Ben’s work, for which he received
the Tom Mosher Dry
Cleaner of the Year Award in 1991, our Unclaimed
Garments law was
born.
The law really is simple. Any
item unclaimed after 180
days, (6 months), is yours to do with as you please.
You own it.
Many cleaners assume the disclaimer on the back of
their invoice, which states
30 days, is the standard but you have to remember it
is not the law and a savvy
consumer can easily obtain compensation in small
claims court. The other
requirement of the law is that if you don’t post the
law in your call office you
will be stuck with those old orders until 180 days
after you do. Obviously
you will want to make every attempt to contact your
customer before you dispose
of the items.
So what do you do once you
own these items? Some
cleaners sell them for the cleaning charges; some sell
them individually for a
negotiated price. Others take advantage of tax
deductions and donations to
charity. Note that you cannot deduct the invoice
total as a loss on your
taxes. According to Beverly Stone, an enrolled agent
with the IRS, only
the actual cost to provide the service, such as labor
and supplies, is
deductible and you have already claimed those
deductions in your
expenses. Since you now own these items, you can
donate them and
claim the reasonable value as a deduction.
Whatever method of disposal
you decide to use, Oregon’s
Unclaimed Garment Law has made running your
business a lot
easier.
DONATED GOODS
& THE
IRS - A TAXPAYER'S GUIDE |
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NCA's Brainstorming With The Best by Kathey Butters |
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 That’s right, brainstorming in the
Bahamas,
what a place to meet! Our journey started Wed.
January 10th. We (my traveling
companions were my husband Gary & “the Kid”,
that would be David, he’s 8)
flew from Portland to LA and then from LA to Miami
on the redeye. We then puddle
jumped to Nassau Bahamas arriving Thursday morning
at 9:30 their time (they are
3 hours ahead of Pacific Time). Rest assured the sun
was out and temps were
already in the high 60’s. What a difference from the
snow flurries we left in
Portland!
The Atlantis resort was to be
our home for the next
few days, what a place! As we were checking in,
Nora – the Executive Director of
NCA (National Cleaners Association) welcomed us.
While we were waiting on our
room we did a little exploring of the resort, “the Kid”
could hardly wait to see
his playground for the next few days. The Atlantis
houses the largest sea life
sanctuary – several different types of sharks,
including hammerhead, stingrays,
sea turtles, swordfish, and many others. All amongst
the waterfalls, caves,
lagoons, rivers, palm trees, and tropical plants and
surrounded by the crystal
clear ocean and white sandy beaches. It truly is
Paradise Island.
 Later that evening we gathered at the
Lagoon Poolside
with the other Brainstormers from all over at the
NCA’s Welcome reception
featuring food and music of the region. It was a
wonderful opportunity to catch
up with old friends and meet new ones. The warm
tropical night air, wonderful
conversation, and networking galore, was a great
way to end the day and start
the conference!
Look for more next month –
NCA provided outstanding
seminars!
(All the pictures where taken
by “the
Kid”).
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Website Updates by Leslie Kettenhofen |
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