He shared the experience for me and all of you.
Well done Jeremy and thank you! Best of luck to you in your upcoming meeting.
My meeting with US Rep. Sanford Bishop
Mr. Bishop and his chief of staff, along with secret service and members of the Lee County Sheriff’s Department came to the Good Life Vapor e-liquid manufacturing facility in Leesburg, Georgia, yesterday, August 5th, 2016. The meeting was to educate Mr. Bishop on our daily operations as well as to give him foresight into the vapor industry.
The meeting started with a tour of our 16,000 square foot facility. Along the way, we explained the entire process that we go through on a daily basis in detail and answering any questions he had regarding our manufacturing operation or the vapor industry. Mr. Bishop has genuine interest in everything we had to say and seemed very pleased with the extremes we go through to produce a consistent, quality product. His questions ranged from how liquid is made, including ingredients, to how it’s packaged and labeled. We discussed our marketing and advertising efforts, our sincere desire for fair regulations, as well as the details of the Cole/Bishop amendment.
Throughout the conversation, Mr. Bishop expressed concern about government having too much regulatory power when it comes to the FDA deeming regulations. He expressed major concern for the economical impact that regulations will have. He was moved by the fact that I employ my mother and our philosophies on family and how we put that first in everything we do. He does not believe that anyone in the industry is actively marketing to children and was pleased to hear our policies regarding that fact in our stores.
Mr. Bishop then asked to have a tour of our retail store in Albany, Georgia. When we arrived at the retail location we found out through conversation that Mr. Bishop’s Chief of Staff Michael Reed was a smoker. We walked him through how vaping devices work and allowed him to try some flavors of ours. He decided to start vaping and chose a house flavor we make called Menthol Cig. We were delighted to help in any way possible and we hope he succeeds in his new journey.
I had a political discussion with Mr. Bishop about what myself and other business leaders in the vapor industry can do to overcome our daunting challenges we are facing. His reply was direct and simple. Get organized. He compared his suggestion to gun control. The NRA is the organization that will always fight on behalf of guns. They put together political action committees to combat any legislation that plans to hinder our constitutional right to bear arms. This fact cannot be refuted and obviously it works in the favor of gun owners. He was shocked to know that there are multiple trade organizations on the federal level with electronic cigarettes and asked why so many are needed. I honestly couldn’t give a reply. He has a point. Why are so many organizations struggling to have power over the community? Why can’t we unify and do what needs to be done on a federal and state level? We are crying for help, but we are falling short of understanding that this, at its core, is about politics.
We need to stop the bickering and stop bashing one another and realize that if we want to have freedom to do what we do best, we have to learn to play the political game. Vendors should be donating some proceeds to the appropriate groups that in turn, put those funds into political action committees on both the federal and state level because essentially, we are paying our representatives to push our agenda to the congress, senate and all other entities that apply. I’m not a politician, I don’t claim to know much about this, but I do know that the groups that have vested interest in putting us out of business, are paying to do so. The politicians want to be re-elected to maintain their spots. We need to make that happen for the ones that can help us. We have to get organized on all levels. It may be too late, but maybe not.
The future is very cloudy for our industry and until we pay to play, it will stay that way. I have been asked to go to congress to tell my story when the sessions begin again. I have accepted the invitation. There are others out there like Sanford Bishop and they are willing to attend important events and industry meetings to help us through the process on a political level. I beg all the stake holders in the industry to re-evaluate things and take action. If it takes pulling a checkbook out to have our voice heard, I think it’s worth it to save lives in the end. Thank you for everyone’s kind words of encouragement and help to prepare for this meeting. I feel it was very successful and I can only hope that our story made an impact. Please pick up the phone and request a meeting with your representatives. It can mean the difference in saving our fragile industry or becoming a thing of the past.
Jeremy Dollar
CEO / Owner
Good Life Vapor LLC
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