John Holub (Credit: News Works)
New Jersey’s Retail Merchants Association has dismissed the legislation as “unnecessary”.
News Works reported on the latest concerning the legislation tabled in New Jersey a month ago, which would require cartridge and printer manufacturers to list print yields on cartridge packaging under threat of fines.
The legislation was vetoed by Governor Chris Christie, and this decision was appealed last week, with the New Jersey Assembly “advance[ing]” the legislation in an attempt to help consumers “make better decisions” in terms of cartridge purchases. However, the New Jersey Retail Merchants Association contested and dismissed the legislation, claiming it is unnecessary “because the information is already readily available”.
The assocation’s President John Holub spoke at a hearing for the bill, noting that “you go on any website and do a simple search [for] toner cartridges, the first thing under the name of the product is going to be how many pages that product yields”. Assemblyman Paul Moriarty, Chairman of the Consumer Affairs Committee and a lead supporter of the bill, countered that the information should actually be on packaging however.
He stated: “There are a lot of people that make their decisions at point of sale. I don’t believe that we should have to check something online before we go to the store.” In turn, another Assemblyman, Brian Rumpf, spoke on why he had voted against the bill, claiming that small businesses selling cartridges with ink “they get from an out-of-state manufacturer” could get “caught in the middle”.
Rumpf added: “A mom and pop office supply store puts in on the shelf and suddenly they will be liable under the consumer fraud act to a $10,000 [€7,330] fine. That to me is something that certainly can put people out of business.”