Small Business and Over Regulation

Over regulation of small business is so intense it is getting hard to make a buck.

For my example of the type of over regulation in small business, which turns the American Dream into an American Nightmare, I will use a simple business like a car wash. Partly because I am in the Car Washing Industry and partly because I am very familiar with all the crazy rules. We could pick any business for this topic since over regulation is so common place like Death and Taxes that it is expected. However it is not expected by the new entrant to a business and tends to double and triple the capital costs to start a business often putting the new owners in such financial hardship with unexpected initial expenses that they are doomed from the start. Which even if you believe in free enterprise in that you are allowed to amass whatever you can thru people voting with their dollar for whatever it is you sell and that with this great privilege you are also allowed to fail and lose all your money. Which is a known quantity. But are we in essence setting people up to fail? And if so why? And if so why have small business loans which are guaranteed by the tax payer if in fact most of these loans will go bad due to lack of knowledge and over regulations?

Here are just some of the things we must worry about when setting up a car wash, we will also pick a California Location to show how ridiculous it can actually get since most policies in CA tend to work themselves across the country and find themselves in the most interesting of reality based Midwestern towns:

Over Regulation in the Car Wash Industry (Industry Threatened by Regulatory Bureaucracy)

Over regulation in Car Wash industry: Car Washes and Government regulations are a sign that the car wash industry has fully matured. But also realize that most all industries have there own set of ridiculous regulations from a multitude of agencies. It really is quite sickening if you think about it. There is nothing Free about Free Enterprise in a market with non-reality based rules, which keep growing every year, until an industry or entire market sector goes stagnant.

Now a fixed site car wash in California has to deal with OSHA, EPA, DOT, IRS and things like SARA, RCRA, HazCom, VOC, MSDS. There are more than 100 different agencies that the owner of a car wash has to deal with. Here are just some of the necessary permits needed; Burglar Alarm Permit, Building and construction Permit, Occupation Permit, Conditional Use Permit, fire Protection Permit, Hazardous Materials Permit, Generator treatment permit, Underground storage tank permit, Accidental release prevention permit, Above ground tank permits, Land-use permit, Storage Tank Permit, Underground tank monitoring plan, SB198 Safety Plan, Zoning Approval, Landscape Authorization permit, noise Permit, Industrial water discharge permit, Business Personal Property County license, Fictitious name Filing, Public Health Permit, Weights and Measures permit if gas is sold, Cradle to grave form on all chemicals that are classifiable, Waste management Plan, Certificate of Disclosure of hazardous Substances and Plan, as well as other things like a Corporations number, Tax ID Number, OSHA plan, I'll stop here, but they don't.

You still think that things are reality based that some how this helps people? Not hardly, because we as business owners must continually hike up prices and in the end it is the consumer who pays.

"Lance Winslow" - If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs

News provided by Yahoo! News and Google News

The CNY Small Biz Project - Weekly Wake-Up - dBusinessNews New York (press release)

The CNY Small Biz Project - Weekly Wake-Up dBusinessNews New York (press release), NY - Nov 30, 2008 by Dale Sturdevant, President One of the areas often overlooked when small business owners are starting a business are government regulations, ...

Small biz demands some relief from Darling - Register

Small biz demands some relief from Darling Register, UK - Nov 24, 2008 By John Oates • Get more from this author Alistair Darling's much-leaked cut in VAT from 17.5 per cent to 15 per cent has been welcomed by the small ...

Small business woes (BBC Cornwall)
Small business leaders say the pre-Budget report should have done more to shield them from the credit crunch.

Feds hope to unfreeze small business and consumer lending (BizJournals)
The Federal Reserve Board announced plans Nov. 25 for a $200 billion lending facility aimed at unfreezing secondary markets for Small Business Administration loans and consumer loans.

Despite nervous lenders and borrowers, local small-business lending still seen as healthy (BizJournals)
For Phil Cooper, vice president for commercial lending at Louisville’s Commonwealth Bank & Trust Co., the way to encourage banks to make more loans guaranteed by the U.S. Small Business Administration is simple:

Small business resources (Houston Chronicle)
Events of interest to small business entrepreneurs.

Small Business: Being small can help in downturn (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
NEW YORK -- An economic downturn, while fraught with pain and problems for many small businesses, can also have some upsides for companies. Some are to be expected -- a tough economy motivates businesses to find new ways to work more efficiently -- while others are serendipitous, coming in the form of opportunities for expansion.

Small business feels the squeeze from big banks (Toronto Sun)
A struggling small business owner, fed up with obscene credit card rates, sent in his "stop the gouging" protest coupon with these remarks:

SMALL BIZ TIPS - Asheville Citizen-Times

SMALL BIZ TIPS Asheville Citizen-Times, NC - 12 hours ago Never let the telephone ring more than twice before answering. The last thing a customer wants to do is wait, no matter how routine the call may be. ...