A billboard advertisement for floorcoverings along I-75 uses the word "wholesale." State officials and local business leaders are in a spat over the use of the word in Dalton's carpet outlet businesses.
Staff Photo by Andy Johns/Chattanooga Times Free PressDALTON, Ga. - After months of acrimonious exchanges, carpet business owners and Gov. Nathan Deal said a Wednesday meeting to discuss the use of the word "wholesale" was a step in the right direction.
"I believe we ought to be able to reach a resolution," Deal told more than a dozen carpet dealers and their lawyers after hearing their grievances. "After listening to you, I think we are all of the same mind."
The issue began last fall, when the Governor's Office of Consumer Protection, under then-Gov. Sonny Perdue, sent letters to Dalton carpet dealers who use the word "wholesale" or "wholesale to the public" in their name or advertising.
Under the agency's interpretation of Georgia law, the word "wholesale" can be used in advertising only when it refers to a business selling a product for another business to resell, not to vendors selling to the general public.
The agency also levied fines on the businesses using the word.
After Deal appointed John Sours in January to head the state consumer protection office, the agency agreed to a moratorium on levied fines, but said businesses still would be required to change their wording.
Meanwhile, state Reps. Tom Dickson, R-Cohutta, and Roger Williams, R-Dalton, vowed to pass legislation stripping the 1962 law of the "wholesale" wording, but they were opposed by other state businesses. The two legislators agreed to try to reach a compromise after Deal promised to work with carpet dealers and the consumer protection office.
Several weeks ago, Dalton leaders and business owners arrived for what they thought was an agreed-upon meeting with government officials. No one from the governor's office or the consumer protection office showed up.
On Wednesday, Deal took responsibility for the mix-up about the meeting, calling it "miscommunication."
Several attorneys for the carpet dealers addressed Deal and Sours, explaining that "wholesale to the public" means both retailers and the general public can buy carpet at the same wholesale prices. The law is in place to protect the consumer, attorney Greg Kinnamon argued, and no one is being taken advantage of under the carpet sellers' advertising.
"Our intent is not to deceive the public," Kinnamon said. "You are trying to accomplish things that are not really going to benefit the consumer."
Attorney Rick Brown noted that complaints to the consumer protection office had not come from consumers but from competitors within the business, a charge that neither Sours nor Deal denied.
The business owners present represented hundreds of jobs in northwestern Georgia that would be placed at risk if the government continued to impose the wording regulations, Brown said.
Deal and Sours promised that they had no desire to stymie business in the area. Deal said they would write a clear policy regarding the use of the word "wholesale" that he thinks will be agreeable to everyone. That policy will be issued soon, he said.