ETS Tanning Bed Blog

The following is a July member update from the Indoor Tanning Association. 

As you know from our previous alerts, the Internal Revenue Service formally published the final and temporary regulations on June 15. The IRS issued these regulations as “temporary” to provide guidance to users and providers of indoor tanning services. The text of the temporary regulations also serves as the text of the “proposed” regulations.

Before these regulations are final, the IRS is required to receive and respond to public comment. The comments are due by September 13. The ITA will submit comments on behalf of the industry. In addition, our tax counsel and the Board of Directors believe it is important for businesses affected by the regulations to weigh in with the IRS.

Here is an excellent article that John Cannell at the Vitamin D Council recently shared with me. The article explores why governments are not acting on vitamin D and are not likely to act anytime soon.

Why governments are selling Vitamin D short: By Sam Apple, Financial Times.com.

... Reinhold Vieth is frustrated. A thin, bald professor at the University of Toronto’s Department of Laboratory Medicine and Patho-biology, Vieth is among the most knowledgeable people in the world on the subject of vitamin D. He began studying it as a graduate student in 1974 and hasn’t changed his focus since. “I stick with vitamin D and follow it where it goes,” he says.

We at ETS Tan have the privilege of working with some great people every day. Lisa Brooking is certainly no exception.

Lisa worked for 17 years in retail before she decided to open a tanning salon. Within five years of first opening her doors, Lisa opened eight new tanning salons in southern Indiana. Today, True Colors Tanning salons welcome customers in Jeffersonville, New Albany, Sellersburg, Georgetown, Scottsburg, Floyds Knobs, Charlestown, Madison and Prospect, Ky.

Dr. Frank Lipman writes on The Huffington Post today, ... "For the last 30 years or so, doctors (dermatologists in particular), health officials, beauty experts and many product companies have been demonizing the sun. They've told us to avoid it because without sunscreen, exposure to the sun's rays will damage skin and cause cancer. But this oversimplification distorts the facts. In the past few years, numerous studies have shown that optimizing your vitamin D levels may actually help prevent as many as 16 different types of cancer including pancreatic, lung, breast, ovarian, prostate and colon cancers. And the best way to optimize Vitamin D levels is through safe, smart and limited sunscreen-free exposure to the sun."

Read Lipman's entire article, "Vitamin D health -- why you shouldn't shun the sun," online at the Huffington Post.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-frank-lipman/vitamin-d-health-why-you_b_619558.html

New from the Federal Register’s June 15 publication: Final and temporary rules and regulations from the Department of the Treasury regarding indoor tanning services, cosmetic services and excise taxes. Read the report at http://www.TanTaxInfo.com.

By Doug Fleener One of the differences between good and extraordinary retail associates is that extraordinary associates use assumptive language. Extraordinary retail associates know that their store is full of wonderful products and that a customer who walks in the door is likely there to shop, not just kill a few minutes. They're not cocky or obnoxious or out to unload products on people who don't need them, they're confident.

Another difference between good and extraordinary is the ability to help the customer visualize owning the product. Visualizing helps the customer to make a purchase, which is one of our primary responsibilities. And last but not least, assumptive language increases their conversion rate. Here are some examples of how to use assumptive language.

On their second of four vacations to Las Vegas last year, Kevin and Shannon Fleming noticed that for such a large city with a huge population, it was odd that no tanning salons were open around the clock.

Back home in Texas, the couple had a membership to a 24-hour gym that had two tanning beds in the back. Due to her work schedule, some days Shannon Fleming couldn’t get to the gym or tan until late at night. “That was such a convenience,” Shannon Fleming said. “We love Las Vegas and knew we wanted to move here, so we put our heads together to develop a good business plan and here we are today.”

Open nearly three weeks, Super Star 24-Hour Tanning is a 1,750-square-foot salon located about four miles off the Vegas strip. Its customer base has grown substantially week by week due to several factors, including special pricing packages offered on Facebook and its uniqueness in offering tanning 24 hours a day. But the biggest lure that has drawn new clients to Super Star 24-Hour Tanning has been the new tanning technology offered inside.

The salon offers 10 new-to-market tanning beds by ETS Tan, the world’s largest manufacturer of tanning beds and tanning equipment. The new e3™ line of beds feature the latest in energy-saving science, ergonomic design principles and eco-friendly lamp configurations. No other salon in Las Vegas offers the new e3 line of tanning beds.