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County Government Shuts Down 7 Year Olds Lemonade Stand - Demands $120 Licensing Fee

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Doc Savage Fan said:
It's sad to see these glimpses of just how ugly we have become.
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Sad? Some unemployed person might be able to feed his family if only he could sell lemonade for a fair price at these events. Yet I'll bet you wouldn't spare HIM the $120 licensing fee.
 
Yeah this seems like faux outrage mostly. While i agree it seems stupid to target a 7 year old just trying to make a few bucks (and at 50c per, a few bucks is right). But at the same time the rules are the rules. Other vendors had to have a license and so should she.

Best bet would be to get rid of the licensing fee all together for everyone. Just another money grab by the county.
 
The only thing disturbing in the article was the mention of the law requiring a license for small scale commerce on your front lawn. Although the article mentions that it is not generally enforced, I don't agree with that. So far as what happened here, however, where it presumably was public property, regulations have to apply to everyone, or no one at all.

Adorable kid, though. Hope she gets to sell her lemonade elsewhere.

- wolf
 
shira said:
Well, since she hasn't been paying that $120 licensing fee, I imagine her overhead is pretty low.

On the other hand, lemons are at least 50 cents apiece in most supermarkets. Hell, even at Costco a 5-pound bag is $5.50, and that's for maybe 14 lemons at most.

When I make fresh lemonade, I use the juice of one entire lemon per (big) glass. So if this girl is REALLY selling lemonade for 50 cents a glass either (a) it's not the REAL stuff, made fresh, or (b) she's watering down her product. So, sounds like she needs some competition to keep the public happy. And fair competition means she should be paying the same fees that any other lemonade vendor has to pay.
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do you really think she is makeing REAL lemonade? i am willing to bed she is getting the powder wich is $1.20 for 6 packages.

each package makes 2 qts.
 
waggy said:
do you really think she is makeing REAL lemonade? i am willing to bed she is getting the powder wich is $1.20 for 6 packages.

each package makes 2 qts.
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So not only is this corrupt businesspers..., er, . . . businesschild evading the licensing laws, she's also violating truth-in-advertising standards.

"Lemon flavored beverage" is what her poster should say.

Sounds like a case for the FDA and FBI.
 
shira said:
Sad? Some unemployed person might be able to feed his family if only he could sell lemonade for a fair price at these events. Yet I'll bet you wouldn't spare HIM the $120 licensing fee.
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If it was my call...there wouldn't be a $120 licensing fee...but that's clearly not my point. Barney Fife has every right to bring her up on charges and you can cheer with him that justice was done when the 'guilty' verdict is read...and then proceed to smugly preach to me of my 'inhumanity'. We've lost something here that you apparently never knew existed.
 
drebo said:
Requiring a $120 "temporary restaurant license" for someone who is selling refreshments at a fair is stupid, regardless of who is selling the refreshments.
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I don't think so.

Here's why:

The County Health Dept needs funds to operate. Where do you get those funds? Well, you can use general funds (in this case likely property taxes) or you have the businesses that use their 'services' fund it. I.e., restaurants.

I prefer it be funded by the restaurants themselves. WTH would I want my money (prop taxes etc) go to restaurants so they run their businesses right?

The Health Dept people have to travel down there and do inspections, very similar to regular restaraunts. The fact you may only open for 1 day is irrelevent. While her booth is less complicated because she sells only lemonade, many booths sell seafood etc and have all the refrigeration, cooking, and dishwashing issues of regular restaurants. I bet the licence is a flat fee, you pay the same whether you're selling pork, seafood or just lemonade.

Now, if any of you are active in your community and do non-profit type work like these 'fairs' you'll immediately understand why the (permanent) restaurants wouldn't find it fair or reasonable that these booth vendors either aren't subject to the same health standards or don't have to pay their fair share towards the health Dept.

So temp food booths need to pay too; they're using the service.

And this is a tiny example of what has been said here before by some of us - regulations cost money and make things more expensive. They can also be barriers to entry in a market. This little girl and her mother just got a Business 101 lesson; they didn't do their homework - at all.

Fern
 
woolfe9999 said:
So far as what happened here, however, where it presumably was public property, regulations have to apply to everyone, or no one at all.
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Think about the people that paid the fee to set up a legitimate business selling lemonaid. Now we get this illegal stand undercutting business because she does not have to pay for the fee?

If you are going to sell concessions to the public at a public event like this you have to follow the same rules as everyone else who is selling concessions at the same place
 
BoberFett said:
The sign in the story says 50 cents. I'm sure she's raking it in. 🙄



Sounds like it's a small community driven event, not a county fair.

Land of the free my ass.
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I supspect the post above yours is the real reason for the fee, i.e. she expected to compete on an unfair basis. Would you buy $0.50 lemonard or $2 to $4 lemonade? Not saying its fair. But aren't you libertarians big on "live with it, life ain't fair".
 
If people got food poisoning from this, the same crowd blaming the government for doing this would be blaming it for not doing this.
 
hal2kilo said:
I supspect the post above yours is the real reason for the fee, i.e. she expected to compete on an unfair basis. Would you buy $0.50 lemonard or $2 to $4 lemonade? Not saying its fair. But aren't you libertarians big on "live with it, life ain't fair".
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And aren't you Democrats supposed to stand up for "the little guy" and against those evil corporations?

Well done.
 
Exterous said:
Think about the people that paid the fee to set up a legitimate business selling lemonaid. Now we get this illegal stand undercutting business because she does not have to pay for the fee?

If you are going to sell concessions to the public at a public event like this you have to follow the same rules as everyone else who is selling concessions at the same place
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You do know that what you wrote was a paraphrase of what I wrote, and that we do not disagree, right? Just checking to make sure that you don't think you were disagreeing with me.

- wolf
 
BoberFett said:
If you drive a car I’ll tax the street;
If you try to sit, sit I’ll tax your seat;
If you get too cold I’ll tax the heat;
If you take a walk I'll tax your feet.

Cause I’m the taxman!
Yeah, I’m the taxman!
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Great song, bad example. I believe the guy who sang this song about the terrible taxman-is worth something like $640 million.
 
shira said:
So, if I were to try to open a lemonade stand at the art fair, and the authorities required that I first obtain a license, would that upset you? Or do you feel that a business operated by a 7-year-old should receive a special government-provided advantage over a business operated by an adult?
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Reminds me of the episode of The Simpsons where bart is selling beer. The cops want to shut him down because he doesn't have a liquor license. I can't remember what happens; I think he successfully bribes the cops and they go away.


So not only is this corrupt businesspers..., er, . . . businesschild evading the licensing laws, she's also violating truth-in-advertising standards.

"Lemon flavored beverage" is what her poster should say.

Sounds like a case for the FDA and FBI.
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Too tedious. This bitch should be killed for breaking the law.
 
Genx87 said:
Evil corporation got what it deserved!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Yeah, I'm sure the state inspector enjoyed giving the little girl a $120 fine.

If the inspectors were smart they would have let her get away with it, then at the next fair they could have given dozens, maybe even hundreds of $120 fines!!!
 
nobodyknows said:
Yeah, I'm sure the state inspector enjoyed giving the little girl a $120 fine.

If the inspectors were smart they would have let her get away with it, then at the next fair they could have given dozens, maybe even hundreds of $120 fines!!!
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It's about health, how do you know the girl washed her hands and handled food properly and there are no feces in the lemonade? You don't, you need a health inspector to verify, health inspectors need to get paid, hence the $120 fee. The girl is getting a free lesson in the costs of doing business, particularly food business. Are you saying 7 year olds need to be exempt from licensing requirements? Should they be able to open a Dr's office and write prescriptions without a license too?
 
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