On Wednesday, February 24, 2010, I met with Carmine Martignetti, Carl Martignetti and Mark Fisher at their offices in Norwood. Joining me were current MassPack President Richard Hurley, and three other retailers from around the state who could speak directly about the impact the economy and the newly imposed sales tax had on their businesses. These impacts, most significantly displayed in lost sales to New Hampshire, were the thrust of our discussion and our request that the Martignetti Companies reconsider their decision to reduce credit terms and cash payment discounts.

It is now clear that our discussions had a positive effect on the Martignetti’s. This morning, we received word (as have many of you) that the Martignetti Companies are returning to 60-day credit terms, and to offering 1% discounts for payments within 10 days. Additionally, they will continue their support of industry issues such as sales tax repeal, license ownership preservation, no increased excise taxes, and opposition to any bottle bill expansion.

February 18, 2010

Dear MassPack Member:

We write to you today in reference to the recent Martignetti decision to reduce credit terms over the course of the next year. We realize that this recent decision comes at a period of very difficult times. We recognize the fact that this serves as an additional business obstacle to an industry that is already feeling the impact of a newly imposed sales tax. You are all doing your best to make ends meet during this economic downturn. With that said, We assure you that MassPack is doing all it can to provide you with the most updated and helpful information we can gather, and we will keep you notified of any findings. We are also working to develop programs designed to help retailers survive and grow in a changing marketplace.

So that retailers can quickly calculate their sales tax obligations and keep track of what they will be required to remit to the state each month, we are providing you with a special "tax calculator" that will automatically compute your sales tax obligation. We suggest that you access the provided calculator at the end of each week. Simply plug in the total amount of your taxable sales without commas for that week, before sales tax is added, and the calculator will compute the amount of sales tax you will be obligated to pay. You can then keep a running file of your sales tax obligation.